WRITER

Ihara Saikaku

1642 - 1693

Photo of Ihara Saikaku

Icon of person Ihara Saikaku

Ihara Saikaku (井原 西鶴) (Japanese pronunciation: [i.ha.ɾa saꜜi.ka.kɯ, iꜜ.ha.ɾa | saꜜi.ka.kɯ], 1642 – September 9, 1693) was a Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose (ukiyo-zōshi). His born name may have been Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五), the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, and he first studied haikai poetry under a follower of Matsunaga Teitoku and later studied under Nishiyama Sōin of the Danrin school of poetry, which emphasized comic linked verse. Scholars have described numerous extraordinary feats of solo haikai composition at one sitting; most famously, over the course of a single day and night in 1677 Saikaku is known to have composed 1,600 haikai verses and an amazing 23,500 verses in a single day and night in 1684. Later in life he began writing racy accounts of the financial and amorous affairs of the merchant class and the demimonde. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Ihara Saikaku is the 1,410th most popular writer (up from 1,426th in 2019), the 438th most popular biography from Japan (down from 376th in 2019) and the 26th most popular Japanese Writer.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Ihara Saikaku by language

Loading...

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Ihara Saikaku ranks 1,410 out of 7,302. Before him are James Baldwin, Cees Nooteboom, Roland Topor, Hartmann Schedel, Machado de Assis, and Sergey Mikhalkov. After him are Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, Jean-Jacques Ampère, John Berger, Roger Caillois, and Fulcher of Chartres.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1642, Ihara Saikaku ranks 8. Before him are Suleiman II, Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Gülnuş Sultan, Andrea Pozzo, Shitao, and Johann Christoph Bach. After him are Seki Takakazu, André Charles Boulle, Louis I, Prince of Monaco, Marie Anne de La Trémoille, princesse des Ursins, Zheng Jing, and Hâfiz Osman. Among people deceased in 1693, Ihara Saikaku ranks 5. Before him are Mehmed IV, Madame de La Fayette, Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, and Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier. After him are Willem Kalf, Nicolaes Maes, Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma, John de Britto, Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, Elisabeth Hevelius, and Johann Caspar Kerll.

Others Born in 1642

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1693

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Ihara Saikaku ranks 438 out of 6,245. Before him are Toru Takemitsu (1930), Sawao Kato (1946), Nobuyuki Oishi (1939), Emperor Yōzei (867), Yodo-dono (1569), and Emperor Antoku (1178). After him are Isao Iwabuchi (1933), Emperor Juntoku (1197), Kenji Doihara (1883), Jisaburō Ozawa (1886), Kinjiro Shimizu (null), and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (1950).

Others born in Japan

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among WRITERS In Japan

Among writers born in Japan, Ihara Saikaku ranks 26. Before him are Mori Ōgai (1862), D. T. Suzuki (1870), Sugawara no Michizane (845), Eiji Yoshikawa (1892), Ono no Komachi (825), and Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653). After him are Kenji Miyazawa (1896), Ichiyō Higuchi (1872), Ueda Akinari (1734), Akiyuki Nosaka (1930), Ryū Murakami (1952), and Yosano Akiko (1878).

Japanese born Writers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous