SATO Kazuo was born in Tokyo in 1927, is Emeritus Professor at Waseda University and the author of many books and essays in the fields of comparative literature and haiku. He is advisor to the Association of Haiku Poets and the Haiku International Association in Japan. He received the Minister of Education's Prize in 1992 for his book "Haiku across the sea", a Special Award from the Haiku Society of America in 1998, and the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Prize (EIJS Special Prize) in 2000.