Japanese Haiku poet, 1763 to 1827. Born Issa Kobayashi. Published "The Diary at My Father's Death" (1801) and "My Springtime" (1819). Put Kashiwabara (now part of Shinano-machi, Nagano) on the haiku map. Issa is said to be famous for having composed subjective and individualistic haiku, based on his family situations, often using the familiar dialects and words of his daily conversations.

Source: Yoshi Hikami. "Issa's Haiku Home Page." 24 October 1997. <http://www.threeweb.ad.jp/logos/ainet/issa.html> 23 August 2000.