The Seashell Game

The Seashell Game is a 1672 anthology compiled by Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, in which each haiku is followed by critical commentary he made as referee for a haiku contest. It is Bashō's earliest known book, and the only book he published in his own name. The work contains 60 haiku by 36 poets, including two by Bashō himself.
The format is based on a List of [traditional children's games|children's game] where two seashells were placed side by side and compared. Bashō compares pairs of haiku by different authors in the same manner in the book. According to scholar Sam Hamill, The Seashell Game shows Bashō "to be witty, deeply knowledgeable, and rather light-hearted."

Example

Bashō compares the following pair of verses on the topic of colourful autumn leaves:
In his commentary, Bashō declares that the first poem "ranks thousands of leagues" above the second.