Pathography of Taneda Santoka

Taneda Santoka was the son of a rich landowner. His mother committed suicide when he was a child.The impact o her suicide lasted throughout his life and prevented him from maintaining a reponsible occupation. Dring the latter half of his life, he went on a pilgrimage as a Zen buddhist priest, and finally secluded himself in a hermitage. The present paper explains the art of his haiku, which is open , slear, sensitive and free from conservative rules, in relation to his way of life, from which his poems were derived. He was a hard drinking dropout and, at the same time, a master of life. I believe that this contradiction may be source of his creativity.

Santoka

free-style haiku

depression

drinking dropout