WRITER

Ihara Saikaku

1642 - 1693

Photo of Ihara Saikaku

Icon of person Ihara Saikaku

Ihara Saikaku (井原 西鶴, 1642 – September 9, 1693) was a Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose (ukiyo-zōshi). Born as Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五), the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, he first studied haikai poetry under 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 reported to have composed at least 16,000 haikai stanzas, with some sources placing the number at over 23,500 stanzas.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

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ihara Saikaku has received more than 173,829 page views. His biography is available in 30 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 29 in 2019). Ihara Saikaku is the 1,427th most popular writer (down from 1,383rd in 2019), the 376th most popular biography from Japan (down from 318th in 2019) and the 30th most popular Japanese Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 170k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 58.91

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 30

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.56

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.66

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Kōshoku goninʾonna
Fiction, Social life and customs
1927
Nippon eitaigura
Fiction
1688
Ihara Saikaku shū
1927
The life of an amorous man
ukiyo, floating world, ukiyo-zoshi
From first page -- Depicts the pursuits and follies of the most glorious age of old Japan, when the new bourgeoisie, unfettered by the societal constraints of the traditional aristocracy, indulged in the free and easy life of Japan's celebrated pleasure houses ... The novel follows the hero, Yonosuke, or "Man of the World", from precocious childhood to the close of his amatory career. Along the way, Saikaku exploits the full gamut of sexual indulgence, always with frankness, often with humor, and occasionally with pathos -- chronicaling the erotic escapades of his hero and providing vivid character sketches of the women (and sometimes men) with whom Yonosuke dallied.
1964
Kōshoku ichidaiotoko
1927
Seken munesanʾyō
1928

Page views of Ihara Saikakus by language

Over the past year Ihara Saikaku has had the most page views in the with 79,292 views, followed by English (20,771), and Chinese (5,678). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Catalan (73.85%), Occitan (68.80%), and Ukrainian (44.13%)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Ihara Saikaku ranks 1,427 out of 7,302. Before him are Du Mu, Jane Hawking, Chico Xavier, Else Lasker-Schüler, Fran Krsto Frankopan, and Károly Kerényi. After him are Marcel Aymé, Karin Boye, Torben Ulrich, Rafael Alberti, Ivan Vazov, and Branko Ćopić.

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, Gülnuş Sultan, Johann Christoph Bach, Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Shitao, and André Charles Boulle. After him are Andrea Pozzo, Seki Takakazu, Louis I, Prince of Monaco, Abdul-Qādir Bedil, Marie Anne de La Trémoille, princesse des Ursins, and Zheng Jing. Among people deceased in 1693, Ihara Saikaku ranks 6. Before him are Mehmed IV, Madame de La Fayette, Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, and Willem Kalf. After him are Nicolaes Maes, Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma, Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Elisabeth Hevelius, and John de Britto.

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 376 out of 6,245. Before him are Ichirō Hatoyama (1883), Yoshitoshi (1839), Emperor Montoku (827), Emperor Heizei (773), Ko Takamoro (1907), and Masahiro Hamazaki (1940). After him are Hara Takashi (1856), Usaburo Hidaka (null), Tanaka Giichi (1864), Ōyama Iwao (1842), Sada Abe (1905), and Emperor Go-Sanjō (1032).

Others born in Japan

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among WRITERS In Japan

Among writers born in Japan, Ihara Saikaku ranks 30. Before him are Kenji Miyazawa (1896), Eiji Yoshikawa (1892), Yosa Buson (1716), Ichiyō Higuchi (1872), Chūya Nakahara (1907), and Ryū Murakami (1952). After him are Ono no Komachi (825), Junji Ito (1963), Akiyuki Nosaka (1930), Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653), Minamoto no Sanetomo (1192), and Masaoka Shiki (1867).

Japanese born Writers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous