Karai Hachiemon

Karai Hachiemon (1718–1790) was one of the foremost judge of maekuzuke ('zappai haikai') , in Edo [Tokyo], and he wrote his poems under the pen name of 'Senryū' (: ''river willow'') . He was so respected as a judge and popular as a poet and editor that his pseudonym was adopted after his death to identify a new type of comic verse of 5-7-5 syllables, that was the facetious opening stanza of the maekuzuke.