The wandering poet and Buddhist monk Saigyô (1118-90) was regarded shortly after his death as the representative voice of Japanese poetry of his time. For Matsuo Bashô (1644-94), he remained the benchmark of excellence in Waka—the classical 31-syllable form of Japanese short poetry that has been around since the eighth century—five hundred years later. 'Sankashû' ('Poems from the Mountain Retreat') is the title of a collection of approximately 1550 Waka by Saigyô, which he compiled about ten years before his death. The verses transform what is seen and experienced into poetic images of simple beauty and connect them in a profound way with existential insights. The renowned Japanologist Ekkehard May has selected, translated, and commented on one hundred Waka from the 'Sankashû', thus making Saigyô's poems accessible for the first time in a larger individual anthology.