Summary
Hattori Ransetsu (1654 – 1707) was an Edo samurai who became a haikai poet under the guidance of Matsuo Bashō.[1]
R. H. Blyth considered Ransetsu to be Bashō's most representative follower.[2]
Poetry edit
Ransetsu's poetry is low-keyed and austere, reflecting the sabi aspect of Bashō's writing,[3] but showing a real empathy with all living creatures.[4]
A critical contemporary called him "a man of small calibre...he seems to have flowers, but has no fruit".[5]
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".[6]
Diary edit
Ransetsu wrote a diary 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".[7]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Nobuyuki Yuasa trans., The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1966) p. 66 and p. 155
- ^ R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 139
- ^ R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 139-40
- ^ S Addiss, The Art of Haiku (2012) p. 132
- ^ R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 140
- ^ R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 140
- ^ R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 143
External links edit
- Three poets: picture