Uejima Onitsura (上島鬼貫; April 1661 – 2 August 1738) was a Japanese

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

poet of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. Prominent in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and belonging to the

Danrin school The Danrin school (談林派) is a school of haikai poetry founded by the poet Nishiyama Sōin (1605 to 1682). The name literally means 'talkative forest' – in other words a ‘Literary Forest’. Origins The school arose in reaction against the ...

Japanese poetry Japanese poetry is poetry typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, as well as poetry in Japan which was written in th ...

, Uejima is credited, along with other Edo period poets, of helping to define and exemplify Bashō's style of poetry.

Biography

Born to a family of brewers in

Itami is a cities of Japan, city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 197,215 in 83,580 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Geography Itami is located in south-east ...

(present-day

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

), Uejima showed exceptional talent in poetry at the age of eight. At the age of 25, Uejima moved to Osaka, where he began his professional career in haiku and other forms of poetry. In later life he worked as a masseur, before becoming a priest.

''Hitorigoto''

In his meditation on the art of haiku, ''Hotorigoto'', Onitsura maintained that the best way to learn to write haiku was to first imitate one's teacher, and then to develop one's own style. He also considered makoto or

sincerity Sincerity is the virtue of one who communicates and acts in accordance with the entirety of their feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and desires in a manner that is honest and genuine. Sincerity in one's actions (as opposed to one's communications) m ...

to be the key to humanity, and to the humane writing of poetry; and urged the application of the best principles of classic Japanese poetry to haiku, so as to ensure its artistic quality.

Legacy

Unlike Bashō, Uejima had few direct disciples. However he continued to have a broad influence upon the writing of haiku, one exponent opposing him to his own actual teacher, Ryōta: “Onitsura said, ‘Face it that way.’ Ryōta said, ‘Face it this way.’ Oh, what can I do....”.L Zolbrod, ''Haiku Painting'' (Tokyo 1982) p. 40

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uejima, Onitsura 1661 births 1737 deaths Writers of the Edo period 17th-century Japanese poets Japanese haiku poets

Biography

''Hitorigoto''

Legacy

See also

References