Hattori Ransetsu

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

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

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

• Mukai Kyorai
• Takarai Kikaku