Hattori Ransetsu

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Hattori Ransetsu 1654-1707

服部嵐雪 はっとりらんせつ

承応3年（1654年） - 宝永4年10月13日（1707年11月6日）

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kigo for early winter

Ransetsu Ki 嵐雪忌 Ransetsu Memorial Day


. Memorial Days of Famous Poeple .

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He was the eldest son of a low-level Samurai family in Awaji Island.

承応3年（1654年） - 宝永4年10月13日（1707年11月6日））は、江戸時代前期の俳諧師。幼名は久馬之助、通称は孫之丞、彦兵衛など。別号は嵐亭治助、雪中庵、不白軒、寒蓼斎、玄峯堂など。江戸湯島生まれ。松尾芭蕉の高弟。雪門の祖。
Wikipedia
Biography and many poems / Japanese


His handwriting : Kosai no Ki
服部嵐雪筆「胡塞記(こさいのき)」
（本紙　縦　30.0cm 横　92.4cm)


©　Copyright:2005　 The Sumitomo Foundation all rights reserved.



Haiku with Explanations / Japanese LINK


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Soft Upon My Shutters
by Jane Baker

Basho is rightly famous but why does the western world know so little of his contemporaries? Deep in Basho’s “old silent pond” dwell all sorts of interesting other frogs – Kikaku’s that “command the dark”; Onitsura’s “froglets” that in summer “sang like birds” but with winter’s onset “bark like old dogs”; Joso’s “good Buddhist frog…/ rising to a clearer light / by non-attachment” as well as Issa’s “fat frog / in the seat of honour / singing bass”.

The fact that a poet is not widely known as often reflects his history and social circumstances as it does his being of lesser literary stature than better-known contemporaries. Little is known of Hattori Ransetsu beyond his inclusion in the circle of Ten Philosophers as an intimate as well as a student of Basho yet any trawl of the Web will turn up his poignant “childless woman” haiku.

Born in 1654 his name first appeared in literary circles with the 1680 publication of two anthologies under Basho’s name which included works by both Ransetsu and Kikaku. Obviously Basho thought highly of his student’s writing if he collaborated in a joint production when Ransetsu was only twenty-six.

In the winter of 1702 Ransetsu was obviously well established as a poet because he circulated a New Year Haikai Ichimazuri – the sort of poem that was not offered for sale but distributed on a single sheet of quality paper among fellow haijins (poets).

When Basho died Ransetsu shaved his head and became a Buddhist monk, perhaps an indication that he closely shared Basho’s later life preoccupation with Buddhism and inclination towards monastic life. Certainly, retirement to a monastery ruled out any possibility of a Ransetsu school and of disciples in whose interests it would be to promote his life and works.

Nothing seems to be known of his death other than the year of its occurrence, 1707, just five years after his New Year Haikai’s circulation, when he was fifty-three. Like his contemporaries, Ransetsu was concerned with time passing, with the transience of beauty, with capturing the unity of man and the natural order in the experience of natural phenomena and universal processes.

A hallmark of Ransetsu’s work is his compassion for all living things and their condition.

Read the full article HERE :
©　Jane Baker / Yellow Moon

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Compiled by Larry Bole

Blyth says that Ransetsu "became [Basho's] most representative disciple. ... Basho said of him, 'I cannot equal Ransetsu in poetical austerity.'"

Blyth also says "Kyoroku wrote of Ransetsu:

'He is a man of small calibre, soft and weak by nature; he seems to have flowers, but has no fruit.'

"There is some truth in this [Blyth goes on to say], though it is perhaps inspired by envy."

Yoel Hoffman, in "Japanese Death Poems," quotes Kyoriku comparing Ransetsu to someone "'who invites guests to a feast and serves no more than a menu.'"

Jane Baker points out that "any trawl of the Web will turn up his [Ransetsu's] poignant 'childless woman' haiku."

umazume no hina kashizuku zo aware naru

The childless woman,
How tender she is
To the dolls!

trans. Blyth

Blyth admires the quality of "Zen" in this haiku. I wonder if his opinion would be the same if it had been written by a woman!

Just because Ransetsu shaved his head and became a Buddhist monk doesn't mean he necessarily entered a monastery.

According to Hoffman:

"Old sources say that Ransetsu's first wife was a bathing house prostitute. She died after giving birth to a son, whereupon Ransetsu took a geisha as his wife. The couple became converts to Zen Buddhism."

I'm curious about the source of Ms. Baker's contention that Ransetsu's monastic life "ruled out any possibility of a Ransetsu school and of disciples in whose interests it would be to promote his life and works..."

In discussing the following haiku:

hebi-ichigo hankyuu sagete meotozure

Snake-strawberries;
Carrying small bows,
Husband and wife together.

Blyth says:
"In 1705 Ransetsu went, with several of his disciples, on a journey from Ise to Southern Kishuu. The above verse is found in his diary of the journey, 'Those [sp?] Hamayuu..."

And in "The Path of Flowering Thorn," Makoto Ueda says:
"Buson's master Sooa, known as Hajin in his earlier years, had studied haikai in Edo under Takarai Kikaku (1661-1707) and Hattori Ransetsu (1654-1707)." [In fact, according to Hoffman's 'old sources,' Ransetsu moved in with Kikaku for a while at one point.]
Ueda briefly mentions a couple of others who studied under Kikaku and Ransetsu.

Buson apparently held Ransetsu in high regard. According to Ueda, a colored drawing on silk by Buson survives from 1738, "entitled 'Gathering of Haiku Immortals' (Haisen gunkai zu), which portrays fourteen famed haikai masters such as Basho, Kikaku, and Ransetsu..."

And Ueda says that Buson, in a conversation with his student, Shooha, "recommended the reading of the works of four haikai poets...

'Seek out Kikaku, visit Ransetsu, recite Sodoo, and accompany Onitsura. Meet those four elders every day.'"



Yosa Buson was the "second-generation" student of Ransetsu and often thought about him.
He even shared his futon bedding with the master:

嵐雪とふとん引合ふ侘寝かな
. ransetsu to futon hiki-au wabine kana .


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HAIKU

一葉散る咄（とつ）ひとはちる風の上
hito ha chiru totsu hito ha chiru kaze no ue

one leaf falls
now, another leaf falls
in the wind



元日や晴れて雀のものがたり
ganjitsu ya harete suzume no monogatari

New Year's Day -
fine weather and
the sparrow'w story
(Tr. Gabi Greve)


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ふとん着てねたる姿や東山
futon kite netaru sugata ya Higashiyama

looking like a person
covered by a quilt -
Higashiyama


. Bedtime, quilts, futons and haiku 　　

Higashiyama Mountain in Kyoto

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うまず女の雛かしづくぞ哀なる
umazume no hina kashizuku zo aware naru

A childless woman ...
how tenderly she touches
little dolls for sale
Tr. Jane Baker


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梅一輪いちりんほどの暖かさ
ume ichirin ichirin hodo no atatakasa

On the plum tree
one blossom, one blossom worth
of warmth.
Tr. Henderson

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名月や煙はひ行く水の上　

Harvest moon,
And mist creeping
Over the water.
Tr. Robert Haas


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mi hitotsu o moteatsukaeru suika kana

Able to look after
Its own self,--
The melon.
Tr. Blyth

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相撲取　ならぶ　や秋の漢錦
sumootori narabu ya aki no kara nishiki

sumo wrestlers
lined up in their Chinese brocade aprons -
autumn tournament
Tr. Gabi Greve


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Wohl fünf- bis sechsmal
Farben mischen
am Bambusvorhang

© Peter Lange, Bambus

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雪は申さず先ず紫の筑波かな
yuki wa mosazu mazu murasaki no Tsukuba kana

do not talk of snow -
for Mount Tsukuba it is
first and foremost purple
Tr. Gabi Greve


Read a discussion of this translation and
. Mt. Tsukuba .


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松虫のりんとも言はず黒茶碗
matsumushi no rin to mo iezu kurochawan

the pine bug
does not make one sound -
this black tea bowl


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Matsuo Basho wrote this in summer of 1687 貞亨4年夏.

His straight criticism of a painting from his disciple Ransetsu 嵐雪.
This poem shows that there was really no need for enryoo 遠慮 polite holding back or polite reserve, between him and his student.


朝顔は下手の書くさへあはれなり
asagao wa heta no kaku sae aware nari

morning glory:
even when painted poorly,
it has pathos
Tr. Terebess

. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .



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Reference

. - Yamaguchi Sodoo 山口素堂 Yamaguchi Sodo - .


***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets


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