Takarai Kikaku

Takarai Kikaku (; 1661–1707) also known as Enomoto Kikaku, was a Japanese haikai poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō.

Early life

His father was an Edo doctor, but Kikaku chose to become a professional haikai poet rather than follow in his footsteps.

Literary career

Kikaku set the tone for haikai from Basho's death until the time of Yosa Buson in the late 18th century. He also left an important historical document describing Bashō's final days, and the immediate aftermath of his death, which has been translated into English.

Later influence

In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Kikaku's death, Nobuyuki Yuasa led an international bilingual (Japanese and English) renku, or collaborative linked poem, which opened with the following hokku by Kikaku:

Bashō's criticism

• Kikaku wrote of coarser subjects than Bashō, and in this respect his poetry was closer to earlier haikai, as well as to senryu, and his master is known to have denigrated Kikaku's 'flippant efforts'.
• Comparing Kikaku's paired haiku in 'The Rustic Haiku Contest', Bashō remarked of one that "these are artifices within a work of art; too much craft has been expended here".
• One day, Kikaku composed a haiku,

which Bashō changed to,

thus saying that poetry should add life to life, not take life away from life.

See also

• Hattori Ransetsu
• Mukai Kyorai

References

External links

• A selection of Kikaku's haiku translated into English
• Kikaku's An Account of Our Master Basho's Last Days
• Springtime in Edo , the international renku composed in memory of the 300th anniversary of Kikaku's death