Hattori Ransetsu (1654–1707) was an Edo samurai who became a haikai poet under the guidance of Matsuo Bashō.Nobuyuki Yuasa trans., The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1966) p. 66 and p. 155
R. H. Blyth considered Ransetsu to be Bashō's most representative follower.R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 139
Poetry Ransetsu's poetry is low-keyed and austere, reflecting the sabi aspect of Bashō's writing,R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 139-40 but showing a real empathy with all living creatures.S Addiss, The Art of Haiku (2012) p. 132
A critical contemporary called him "a man of small calibre...he seems to have flowers, but has no fruit".R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 140
R. H. Blyth would later partially concur, saying that "even his death verse, beautiful and justly famous as it is, has something nerveless about it:
A leaf falls,
Totsu! Another leaf falls,
Carried by the wind".R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 140
Diary Ransetsu wrote a diary about his 1705 travels in Southern Japan, highlighting such exotic features as "snake-strawberries", and "southern barbarians, be they devils or be they human beings".R H Blyth, >A History of Haiku Vol I (1963) p. 143
See also Mukai Kyorai Takarai Kikaku
References
External links Three poets: picture