Takarai Kikaku

Who was Takarai Kikaku?

Takarai Kikaku also known as Enomoto Kikaku, 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.

Kikaku is best known for his haiku, such as the one in this anecdote about him and his master:

One day, Kikaku composed a haiku,

which Bashō changed to,

thus saying that poetry should add life to life, not take life away from life. His master is known to have denigrated Kikaku's 'flippant efforts'. Kikaku wrote of coarser subjects than Bashō, and in this respect his poetry was closer to earlier haikai. Kikaku set the tone for haikai from Bashō's death until the time of Yosa Buson in the late 18th century.

Kikaku left an important historical document, describing Bashō's final days, and the immediate aftermath of his death, which has been translated into English.

In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Kikaku's death, Nobuyuki Yuasa led an international bilingual renku, or collaborative linked poem, which opened with the following hokku by Kikaku: