Yokoi Yayū


Yokoi Yayū was a Japanese samurai best known for his haibun, a scholar of Kokugaku, and haikai poet. He was born Yokoi Tokitsura, and took the pseudonym Tatsunojō. His family are believed to be descendants of Hōjō Tokiyuki.

Life

Yayū was born in Nagoya, the first son of Yokoi Tokihira who served the Owari Domain. He inherited the Yokoi House's patrimony at twenty-six and held important posts of the Owari Domain. He was for example yōnin, Ōbangashira and Jisha-Bugyō. In 1754, at age 53, he retired for health reasons. Yayū moved to Maezu, and lived in the Chiutei hermitage. He was a prolific and respected composer of haibun, Classical Chinese poems, waka and Japanese satirical poems, and was an adept of the Japanese tea ceremony.

Works

Yayū also excelled in Japanese martial arts, studied Confucianism and learned haikai from Mutō Hajaku and Ōta Hajō. Hajaku and Hajō were pupils of Kagami Shikō, a leading disciple of Matsuo Bashō. Mori Senzō, a student of old Japanese literature, compared his hokku to senryū, and said they were not as interesting as his haibun. Yayū has been described as a master of haibun, and Nagai Kafū 永井荷風　called Yayū's haibun a model of Japanese prose.