Nishiyama Sōin, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Nishiyama Sōin

Japanese writer

Date of Birth: 28-Mar-1605

Place of Birth: Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

Date of Death: 05-May-1682

Profession: writer, poet

Nationality: Japan

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Nishiyama Soin (?? ??, born Nishiyama Toyoichi (?? ??) March 28, 1605 in Higo Province, Japan – May 5, 1682 in Kyoto) was a haikai-no-renga poet of the early Tokugawa period.
He founded the Danrin school of haikai poetry, which aimed to move away from the serious 'bookishness' popular in Japanese poetry at the time and become more in touch with the common people, infusing a spirit of greater freedom into their poetry. Soin's haikai (comical renga) became the transition between the light and clever haikai of Matsunaga Teitoku and the more serious and aesthetic renku of Matsuo Basho.