Nishiyama Sōin

Nishiyama Sōin (西山 宗因, born Nishiyama Toyoichi (西山 豊一) March 28, 1605 in Higo Province, Japan – May 5, 1682 in Kyoto) was a haikai-no-renga poet of the early Tokugawa period.

In this Japanese name, the surname is Nishiyama.
Nishiyama Sōin

R H Blyth called Sōin "one of the Fathers of Haiku".[1]

Influence and importance

Sōin founded the Danrin school of haikai poetry, which aimed to move away from the serious 'bookishness' popular in Japanese poetry at the time and become more in touch with the common people, infusing a spirit of greater freedom into their poetry. Their poems explored the floating world of popular urban amusements in a fully colloquial style.[2]

Sōin's haikai (comical renga) became the transition between the light and clever haikai of Matsunaga Teitoku and the more serious and aesthetic renku of Matsuo Bashō.[3]

Disciples

Among the most important members of his school were Ichū, a versatile figure who also painted and wrote waka, and Saikaku.[4]

See also

References
  1. R H Blyth, A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 82
  2. Nobuyuki Yuasa trans., The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1983) p. 17-8
  3. Soin
  4. L Zolbrod, Haiku Painting (1982) p. 7
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