Yokoi Yayū
# Yokoi Yayū

Yokoi Yayū (横井 也有, October 24, 1702 – July 15, 1783) was a Japanese samurai best known for his haibun, a scholar of Kokugaku, and haikai poet. He was born Yokoi Tokitsura (横井 時般), 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 (時衡) 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 (manager of general affairs), Ōbangashira (chief of guard) and Jisha-Bugyō (manager of religious affairs). In 1754, at age 53, he retired for health reasons. Yayū moved to Maezu (前津) (now in Naka-ku, Nagoya), and lived in the Chiutei (知雨亭) 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 (武藤巴雀) and Ōta Hajō (太田巴静). Hajaku and Hajō were pupils of Kagami Shikō (各務支考), a leading disciple of Matsuo Bashō. Mori Senzō (森銑三), 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.

* "Uzuragoromo" (鶉衣)　: An anthology of haibun, partially translated in Monumenta Nipponica, vol. 34, no. 3, Autumn 1979, by Lawrence Rogers.
* "Rayō Shū", "Tetsu Shū" (蘿葉集), (垤集): Anthology of haiku.
* "More Oke" (漏桶): Anthology of renku
* "Kankensō" (管見草): Essay on haikai
* "Rain Hen" (蘿隠編): Prose and poetry in Classical Chinese
* "Gyō-Gyō-Shi" (行々子):　An anthology of Japanese satirical poems
