He was born in Iga, now a part of Mie prefecture in a samurai (Japanese warrior) family. After many years of samurai life he found that poetry would be his life work, and gave up being a samurai. He started his life as a poet when he served his lord as a samurai. Matsuo became educated in classical Japanese poems. First he named himself "Tosei" (桃青) meaning "unripe peach in blue". Basho took this name because he admired a Chinese poet, Li Po whose name means "plum in white".