--- In translatinghaiku@yahoogroups.com, "sakuo" <sakuo.3.sun@...>
wrote:
>
> Gabi san thank you greatly for your information on Kura and Kuramae.
>
> Those show me wide guide to rice broker whose name Natsume Seibi.
>
> As you know he was a great sponsor as well as a teacher of Issa
staying in
> Edo.
>
> I think Seibi is key man to understand Issa”Ēs character.
>
>
>
> sakuo.


There are a surprising number of Seibi's (1748-1816) haiku translated
into English. Independent of his relationship to Issa, which was based
not only on a shared interest in haiku but also financial patronage, he
was considered one of the three leading haiku poets of Edo during his
day, along with Takebe Soochoo (1761-1814) and Suzuki Michihiko (1757-
1819), according to Fumiko Y. Yamamoto, in an essay in the exhibition
catalog, "Haiga: Takebe Soochoo and the Haiku-Painting Tradition".

Blyth says that Seibi's "verses have something innocent about them."
Yet Makoto Ueda, in "Dew on the Grass: The Life and Poetry of Kobayashi
Issa," describes an incident involving Seibi and Issa in which Ueda
describes Seibi, in spite of "being a gifted poet, [as also being] by
profession a businessman who had amassed great wealth by dealing in
rice and loaning money."

The incident occurred when Issa was staying at Seibi's house. "On the
evening of November 28, [1810] [Seibi] went out to admire autumn leaves
along the Sumida River, leaving [Issa] in the house along with the
servants. The following morning Seibi discovered a considerable amount
of cash was missing from his coffer. Issa, together with the servants,
was forced to remain indoors for the next five days while an
investigation was conducted. He was finally excused on Dedember 4, even
though the money was not found. ..."

Ueda goes on to write, "The incident did not break up the friendship
between the two, but it did give Issa another painful reminder of his
need for steady income and a permanent home."


Ah, the power of patronage...

Larry