Enomoto Kikaku Takarai

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Kikaku Takarai Kikaku 宝井其角
Enomoto Kikaku (1661-1707) 榎本其角（えのもときかく）

寛文元年7月17日(1661年8月11日) -
宝永4年2月30日（ 一説には2月29日）(1707年4月2日)）

Kikaku Ki 基角忌 (きかくき) Kikaku Memorial Day
Shinshi Ki 晋子忌（しんしき）
Shinoo Ki 晋翁忌（しんおうき）
kigo for mid-spring

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He was a Japanese haikai poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō. His father was an Edo doctor, but Kikaku chose to become a professional haikai poet rather than follow in his footsteps.

One day, Kikaku composed a haiku,

Red dragonfly / break off it wings / Sour cherry

which Bashō changed to,

Sour cherry / add wings to it / Red dragonfly



鐘ひとつ賣れぬ日はなし江戸の春
kane hitotsu urenu hi wa nashi Edo no haru

Springtime in Edo,
Not a day passes without
A temple bell sold.

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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Takarai Kikaku 宝井基角 (1661-1707, also known as Enomoto Kikaku) was one of Basho's leading disciples.

But his relations with his master were often tense—he is often the butt of anecdotal lore handed down among the disciples—and there seems to have been a final falling out.

Kikaku's poetry is known for its wit and for its difficulty. Whereas Basho, especially in his later years, focused on the countryside and espoused an aesthetic of simplicity, Kikaku preferred the city and the opportunities it provided for extravagant play. He also preferred a more demanding form of poetry, one laced with wordplay, allusions, and juxtapositions of images that defy easy explanation. At the time of his death, he was perhaps the leading poet in Edo (today's Tokyo), which then had a population of around one million, making it perhaps the largest city in the world at the time.

© Eighteen Haiku by Kikaku
translated by Michael K. Bourdaghs





Japanese Reference
Tarai Kikaku 宝井 其角

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Shrine Mimeguri Jinja 三囲神社　/ 三囲稲荷社
2 Chome-5-17 Mukojima, Sumida, Tokyo
Related to the Mitsui merchant family - Echigoya 越後屋.

晋子 Shinshi wrote a poem and after that, it rained:

雨乞や田を見めぐりの神ならば
amagoi ya ta o mimeguri no kami naraba

rain rituals -
if the gods are here now
to see the paddies

. amagoi 雨乞 rain rituals .


- reference : Mimeguri Jinja -

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Things found on the way

On the occasion of a memorial service for Kikaku's mother

u no hana mo haha naki yado zo susamajiki

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

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HAIKU


我らまで天下祭や山車ぐるま　
warera made tenkasai ya dashiguruma

we are all part
of the tenka festival -
these huge floats

. Sannoo matsuri 山王祭 Sanno festival in Edo
tenka matsuri 天下祭（てんかまつり）


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shiru-nabe ni kasa no shizuku ya sanae tori






picking up rice seedlings -
raindrops from their sedge hats
fall in the soup pot

（Tr.Gabi Greve)

Illustrations by Nakamura Sakuo

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aoyagi ni koomori tsutau yuubae ya


Echigoya ni kinu saku oto ya koromogae


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kanbutsu ya sutego sunawachi tera no chigo


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我が雪と思えば軽し笠の上

Discussion is here !

waga yuki to omoeba


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inazuma ya kinô wa higashi kyô wa nishi

> flashes of lightning -
> yesterday in the east
> today in the west

Tr. Gabi Greve
Discussing this translation


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Related words

***** Hats and Haiku


***** Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets

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