By Tokoyoda Chōsui
Late Edo period, 19th century
Homma Museum of Art Collection
Tokoyoda Chōsui (1750-1813) was a haiku poet of the late Edo period. His pen names included Kosui, Tokai and Chinkai. He went to Edo (present-day Tokyo) to study under the poet Kaya Shirao, and after the death of his teacher, succeeded Shirao as the second-generation head of the Shunju school. In 1802, he moved to Sakata under the patronage of Homma Kōdō, the fourth generation head of the Homma family. His pupils in Sakata were said to number at least 100. Besides Sakata, he also had students in the Akita and Mogami regions, greatly influencing the development of haikai in these areas.
A ‘gazan’ refers to a text or poem written in the margin of a painting, usually in the form of praise or endorsement. Normally, a person other than the artist of the painting would write the endorsement, but when both painting and endorsement are written by the same person, it is referred to as ‘jigazan’ or ‘self-endorsement.’