Ōta Nampo

Who was Ōta Nampo?

Ōta Nampo was the most oft-used penname of Ōta Tan, a late Edo period Japanese poet and fiction writer. He wrote primarily in the comedic forms of kyōshi, derived from comic Chinese verse, and kyōka, derived from waka poetry. His pennames also include Yomo no Akara, Yomo Sanjin, Kyōkaen, and Shokusanjin.

Born into a lower-status samurai family in Edo, Nampo served the shogunate in various ways throughout his life. He began his literary career as a student of Chinese Ming Dynasty writings, and adapted traditional Chinese comic verse, under the mentorship of playwright Hiraga Gennai, to daily life in Edo. His first collection of work was called Neboke sensei bunshū, or the Literary Works of Master Groggy.

Nampo soon began to write kyōka, comic waka verses, as well. His popularity grew in the 1760s and 1770s, as a result of his down-to-earth subject matter and unabashed style. During this time he also wrote a number of works of popular literature, and edited a collection of comic verses called Manzai kyōkashū, which truly cemented his position as a central literary figure of his time.

For political reasons, he was forced to abandon his writings for a time in the 1780s. He committed himself for several years to shogunal duties, but eventually returned to poetry.