Illustrated with beautiful images by Japan's most famous artists, this book includes a selection of much-loved haiku focusing on the world of animals, birds and insects. The haiku form is a perfect way of capturing a moment of experience or a fleeting impression, and in this book, the impressions are strengthened and extended by the illustrations. Special use is made of Utamaro's exquisite Ehon mushi erabi (A Selection of Insects). The fact that this sophisticated artist chose insects for one of his most luxurious woodblock printed albums underlines the Japanese appreciation of even the most diminutive of animals in the haiku. Elsewhere in the animal kingdom, horses, dogs, monkeys, and a variety of birds also make good subjects. This beautiful book inspires readers to regard the animal kingdom with new eyes.