Uejima Onitsura (上島鬼貫, April 1661 – 2 August 1738) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or s ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, famous in the

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

region for his

poetry. Belonging to the

Danrin school The Danrin school (談林派) is a school of haikai poetry founded by the poet Nishiyama Sōin (1605 to 1682). The name literally means 'talkative forest' – in other words a ‘Literary Forest’. Origins The school arose in reaction against the ...

of Japanese poetry, Uejima is credited (along with other Edo-era poets) of helping to define and exemplify Bashō's style of poetry. Born to a family of brewers in Itami (present-day Hyōgo Prefecture), Uejima showed exceptional talent in poetry at the age of eight. At the age of 25, Uejima moved to Osaka, where he began his professional career in haiku and other forms of poetry. In later life he worked as a masseur, before becoming a priest.

Hitorigoto

In his meditation on the art of haiku, ''Hotorigoto'', Onitsura maintained that the best way to learn to write haiku was to first imitate one's teacher, and then to develop one's own style. He also considered makoto or

sincerity Sincerity is the virtue of one who communicates and acts in accordance with the entirety of their feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and desires in a manner that is honest and genuine. Etymology The Oxford English Dictionary and most scholars state ...

to be the key to humanity, and to the humane writing of poetry; and urged the application of the best principles of classic Japanese poetry to haiku, so as to ensure its artistic quality.

Aftermath

Unlike Bashō, Uejima had few direct disciples. However he continued to have a broad influence upon the writing of haiku, one exponent opposing him to his own actual teacher, Ryōta: “Onitsura said, ‘Face it that way.’ Ryōta said, ‘Face it this way.’ Oh, what can I do....”.L Zolbrod, ''Haiku Painting'' (Tokyo 1982) p. 40

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uejima, Onitsura 1661 births 1737 deaths Japanese writers of the Edo period 17th-century Japanese poets Japanese haiku poets

Hitorigoto

Aftermath

See also

References