Hattori Ransetsu (1654 – 1707) was an Edo samurai who became a
haikai
''Haikai'' (Japanese 俳諧 ''comic, unorthodox'') may refer in both Japanese and English to ''haikai no renga'' (renku), a popular genre of Japanese linked verse, which developed in the sixteenth century out of the earlier aristocratic renga. I ...
poet under the guidance of
Matsuo Bashō
born then was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest ma ...
.
R. H. Blyth considered Ransetsu to be Bashō's most representative follower.
Poetry
Ransetsu's poetry is low-keyed and austere, reflecting the
sabi aspect of Bashō's writing, but showing a real empathy with all living creatures.
A critical contemporary called him "a man of small calibre...he seems to have flowers, but has no fruit".
R. H. Blyth would later partially concur, saying that "even his death verse, beautiful and justly famous as it is, has something nerveless about it:
A leaf falls,
Totsu! Another leaf falls,
Carried by the wind".
Diary
Ransetsu wrote a
diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
about his 1705 travels in Southern Japan, highlighting such exotic features as "snake-strawberries", and "southern barbarians, be they devils or be they human beings".
See also
*
Mukai Kyorai
was a Japanese haikai poet, and a close disciple of Matsuo Bashō.
Family and character
A physician's son, Kyorai was born in Nagasaki to a samurai family. Fond of the martial arts, he was after his death described as having "a soft part and a ...
*
Takarai Kikaku
Takarai Kikaku ( ja, 宝井其角; 1661–1707) also known as Enomoto Kikaku, was a Japanese haikai poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō.Katō, Shūichi and Sanderson, Don. ''A History of Japanese Literature: From the M ...
References
{{Reflist, 2}
External links
Three poets: picture
1654 births
1707 deaths
Japanese writers of the Edo period
17th-century Japanese poets
Japanese haiku poets