Ogiwara Seisensui (1884-1976)

Ogiwara Seisensui was a Japanese haiku poet of the Showa period in Japan.  He is famously regarded as the pioneer of the free verse haiku style that was established in Japan.  His birth name was Ogiwara Tokichi but he later took up Seisensui as his pen-name.  Ogiwara was born in Minato, Tokyo and his father was a retailer.  Starting at a young age, Ogiwara worked closely with the literary and journalistic groups in his school. 

One day, Ogiwara was expelled from Junior High School for criticizing the school system in the school newspaper.  He was also drinking and smoking at an early age but gave that up to become more serious in his studies.  He was finally admitted to the Tokyo Imperial University where he took up his interest in haiku poetry.

In 1911, Ogiwara and Kawahigashi Hekigoto, a free verse haiku poet, became the founders of Soun, which was an avant-garde literary magazine.  As an emerging haiku poet, Ogiwara developed a strong opposition towards traditional haiku writing.  He was especially critical of Kigo, or seasoned words, which were essential for the traditional styles of poets such as Takahama Kyoshi.  Ogiwara also rejected the 5-7-5 syllables and began to break away from other traditional rules.  The rejection of traditional haiku shocked many, but Ogiwara made great effort to establish free verse haiku as an actual style and he succeeded.  His students, including Ozaki Hosai and Taneda Santoka, were also his supporters. 

Ogiwara had a tendency to “correct” masterpiece poems that he found worth criticizing, especially ones written by Basho.  Additionally, he wrote collections of free verse haiku poems along with essays and commentaries.  Ogiwara travelled around on numerous occasions and finally resided in Kamakura where he lived until his death in 1976.