Occupation writer Name Ogiwara Seisensui Education University of Tokyo | Genre haiku poetry Role Poet | |
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Born Ogiwara Tokichi
16 June 1884
Tokyo Japan ( 1884-06-16 ) Died May 11, 1976, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan | ||
Ogiwara Seisensui (荻原 井泉水, 16 June 1884 - 11 May 1976) was the pen-name of Ogiwara Tokichi, a Japanese haiku poet active during the Taisho and Showa periods of Japan.
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Early life
Seisensui was born in what is now the Hamamatsucho neighborhood of Minato, Tokyo, as the younger son of a general goods retailer. Both of his siblings died in infancy. Although he attended Seisoku Junior High School, Ogiwara was expelled after publishing a student newspaper criticizing the school's educational methods and administration. After entering Azabu Junior High School, he quit drinking and smoking, seriously engaged in studying, and gained admission to Tokyo Imperial University. While a student majoring in linguistics, he became interested in writing haiku.
Literary career
Seisensui co-founded the avant-garde literary magazine Soun ("Layered Clouds") in 1911, together with fellow haiku poet Kawahigashi Hekigoto. Ogiwawa was a strong proponent of abandoning haiku traditions, especially the "season words" so favored by Takahama Kyoshi, and even the 5-7-5 syllable norms. In his Haiku teisho (1917), he broke with Hekigoto and shocked the haiku world by advocating further that haiku be transformed into free verse. His students included Ozaki Hosai and Taneda Santoka. His role in promoting the format of free-style haiku has been compared with that of Masaoka Shiki for traditional verse, with the contrast that Seisensui was blessed with both vigorous health, and considerable wealth. He also was able to use new media to promote his style, including lectures and literary criticism on national radio.
Seisensui left more than 200 works, including collections of haiku, essays, and travelogues. His principal anthologies are Wakiizuru mono (1920) and Choryu (1964). He also wrote a number of commentaries on the works of Matsuo Basho.
In 1965, he became a member of the Japan Art Academy.
Private life
Seisensui's wife and daughter perished in the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923, and his mother died the same year. He moved to Kyoto briefly, and lived for a while at a chapel within the Buddhist temple of Tofuku-ji. He also began a period of travel around the country. He remarried in 1929, and relocated to Kamakura, Kanagawa. He moved to Azabu in Tokyo until his house was destroyed during World War II. He then moved back to Kamakura in 1944, where he lived until his death.