Soin - Soin

A Renga (linked verse) master and haiku poet in the early Edo period. His family name was Nishiyama. His common name was Jirosaku, and his given name was Toyokazu. Soin was mainly a pen name in Renga, and in haiku he was known by the pen names Ichiyuu, Saiou, Saiyushi, Nishibaikaou, and Baio. He was born in Yatsushiro, Higo Province (Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture). From an early age, he learned waka poetry from the monk Goshin Sozu of the Tendai sect's Shakusho-ji temple, but in 1619 (Genna 5) at the age of 15, he served Kato Masakata, the lord of Yatsushiro Castle, who was an avid renga poet, and this prompted him to aspire to renga poetry, and he studied renga poetry for nine years, from the age of 17 to 26, under the tutelage of Satomura Shotaku in Kyoto. In 1632 (Kan'ei 9), he became a wanderer after his master's family was abolished, and the following year he traveled to Kyoto, where he served his former master, who was in seclusion, for 15 years, but after his master was driven out of Kyoto, in 1647 (Shoho 4) at the age of 43, he was appointed master of the Rengasho in Osaka Tenmangu Shrine, where he achieved great success, such as reviving monthly renga poetry, and became famous throughout the country. However, he felt a deep sense of impermanence due to the succession of misfortunes that befell him, and in 1670 (Kanbun 10) at the age of 66, he became a monk under the Zen master Houn of Kojusan Fukuju-ji Temple in Buzen Kokura (now Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture), handed over the position of master of the Renga School to his son Soshun, and devoted himself to haiku.

The Renga world also had a haiku circle attached to it, and Soin, who studied at the Satomura family, began composing haiku around 1647 (Shoho 4), and by the end of the 1650s, along with his fellow student Shigeyori, had become quite well-known. At the time, his style was still ordinary and not completely free of the Teimon school of poetry, but he quickly added new elements to it, and was enthusiastically welcomed by anti-Teimon school elements. In the 1670s, he became the leader of the so-called Danrin school, which had many disciples, including Saikaku in Osaka, Takamasa in Kyoto, and Tosei (Basho) and Shoi in Edo. His style of haiku was characterized by freedom unconstrained by rank, familiarity of the material, and originality of the ideas, but compared to his disciples, it was generally moderate, perhaps because he was attracted to the training of Renga poets. The significance of its existence in the history of haiku can be summed up in Basho's comment, "Without Shuin, we would have to drink the saliva of virtuous virtue. Shuin is the founder and revival of this path." (Kyouraisho) He passed away on March 28, 1371, at the age of 78.

Frost on the bridge where the villagers cross

[Hiroyuki Inui]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸前期の連歌(れんが)師、俳人。姓は西山。俗名は次郎作、諱(いみな)は豊一(とよかず)。宗因は主として連歌の号で、俳諧(はいかい)では一幽(いちゆう)、西翁(さいおう)、西幽子(さいゆうし)、西梅花翁(にしばいかおう)、梅翁(ばいおう)などと号した。肥後国八代(やつしろ)（熊本県八代市）の生まれ。幼時から天台宗釈将寺の僧豪信僧都(そうず)に和歌などを学んだが、1619年（元和5）15歳のとき、連歌の好士八代城主加藤正方(まさかた)に仕えたのをきっかけに、連歌道にも志し、17歳から26歳までの9年間、京の里村昌琢(さとむらしょうたく)門に長期留学して連歌を修行した。1632年（寛永9）主家改易のため浪々の身となり、翌年上洛(じょうらく)、隠棲(いんせい)中の旧主に従うこと15年に及んだが、旧主が京を追われてのち、1647年（正保4）43歳で大坂天満宮連歌所宗匠に着任、月次(つきなみ)連歌を再興するなど功を積み、諸国に名声を馳(は)せた。しかし、相次ぐ身辺の不幸に深く無常を感じ、1670年（寛文10）66歳のとき、豊前小倉(ぶぜんこくら)（福岡県北九州市）の広寿山福聚(ふくじゅ)寺の法雲禅師のもとで出家、連歌所宗匠の座を一子宗春(そうしゅん)に譲り、もっぱら俳諧に遊ぶこととなった。

　連歌壇は、それに付属する形で俳諧の座を営んでおり、里村家に学んだ宗因も1647年（正保4）ごろから俳諧を始め、50年代のすえには同門の重頼(しげより)とともにかなり俳名を知られるに至ったらしい。当時の作風はまだ貞門風を脱しきれず平凡であるが、以後急激に新しみを加え、反貞門分子から熱烈な歓迎を受けて、1670年代には、大坂の西鶴(さいかく)、京の高政(たかまさ)、江戸の桃青(とうせい)（芭蕉(ばしょう)）・松意(しょうい)ら多くの門人を擁する、いわゆる談林(だんりん)派の盟主となった。その俳風は、格に縛られない自由さ、素材の卑近さ、着想の奇抜さなどを特徴とするが、門人らに比べると連歌師の素養に引かれてか、概して穏健である。俳諧史上の存在意義は「上に宗因なくんば我々が俳諧今以(もっ)て貞徳(ていとく)の涎(よだれ)をねぶるべし。宗因は此道(このみち)の中興開山なり」（去来抄）という芭蕉の評に尽きる。天和(てんな)2年3月28日没、78歳。

　里人のわたり候ふか橋の霜

［乾　裕幸］

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