Ihara Saikaku

Ihara Saikaku was a Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose. His born name may have been Hirayama Tōgo, the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, and he first studied haikai poetry under a follower of Matsunaga Teitoku and later studied under Nishiyama Sōin of the Danrin school of poetry, which emphasized comic linked verse.