Kyokutei Bakin

Kyokutei Bakin (曲亭 馬琴^?, 4 July 1767 – 1 December 1848) was a late Japanese Edo period gesaku author best known for works such as Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (The Chronicles of the Eight Dog Heroes of the Satomi Clan of Nansô) and Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki (Strange Tales of the Crescent Moon). Both are outstanding examples of nineteenth-century yomihon, or "books for reading" (as opposed to picture books and books for recitation).

Born as Takizawa Okikuni (滝沢興邦^?), he wrote under the pen name Kyokutei Bakin (曲亭馬琴^?), which is a pun, as the kanji may also be read as kuruwa de makoto, meaning a man who is truly devoted to the courtesans of the pleasure districts. Later in life he took the pen name Toku (解^?). Modern scholarship generally refers to him as Kyokutei Bakin, or just as Bakin.

Born in Edo (present-day Tokyo) on 4 July 1767, Bakin was the fifth son of Omon and Okiyoshi. His father, Okiyoshi, was a samurai in the service of one of the Shogun's retainers, Matsudaira Nobunari. Two of his older brothers died in infancy, while the other two, Rabun (1759–1798) and Keichū (1765–1786), played pivotal roles in Bakin's life. He had two younger sisters, Ohisa, born in 1771, and Okiku, born in 1774.

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