noun
wanderer; vagabond; free spirit
Describes a person who drifts from place to place without a fixed home or steady job, often with a connotation of being carefree or capricious. Similar to 風来坊 (ふうらいぼう), but 風来人 can sound slightly more literary or old-fashioned.
See also: 風来坊
彼は若い頃、風来人として日本中を旅した。
When he was young, he traveled all over Japan as a wanderer.
あの風来人は、気ままで掴みどころがない。
That vagabond is capricious and hard to pin down.
A more neutral and formal term for a wanderer or vagrant, without the capricious nuance.
Compound of 風来 (ふうらい, 'coming with the wind; drifting') and 人 (じん, 'person'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word likely emerged as a literary coinage based on the existing 風来坊.