Takarai Kikaku

Takarai Kikaku (; 1661–1707) also known as Enomoto Kikaku, was a Japanese haikai poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō.

Early life His father was an Edo doctor, but Kikaku chose to become a professional haikai poet rather than follow in his footsteps.

Later influence

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

鐘ひとつ賣れぬ日はなし江戸の春

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

Bashō's criticism Kikaku wrote of coarser subjects than Bashō, and in this respect his poetry was closer to earlier haikai, as well as to senryu, and his master is known to have denigrated Kikaku's 'flippant efforts'. Comparing Kikaku's paired haiku in 'The Rustic Haiku Contest', Bashō remarked of one that "these are artifices within a work of art; too much craft has been expended here". One day, Kikaku composed a haiku, Red dragonfly / break off its wings / Sour cherry which Bashō changed to, Sour cherry / add wings to it / Red dragonfly; thus saying that poetry should add life to life, not take life away from life.