Poet*

Poet

August 12, 2018

She was born where a famous poet had been born. She didn't like the poet, Takuboku Ishikawa, so much.

Takuboku Ishikawa was born in the 19th year of Meiji. The Meiji era lasted for 45 years. Takuboku Ishikawa died in the 45th year of Meiji. It means he died at the age of 26. 45 - 19 = 26.

Takuboku is his pen name. His real name is Hajime. The kanji, or Chinese characters, of it means 'one'. He was born as the first son after his two sisters, and was raised leniently. In those days, the first son was the most important family member because the first son was the only one who inherited the family's property.

His father was the chief priest of an old-established temple in that area. At that time, the chief priest of a temple was one of the most prestigious titles in local areas. He was able to get a good education, and was raised soundly.

The Meiji era, after the samurai Edo era, was an upheaval era. Many things drastically changed. Democracy started. People could go anywhere. In the Edo period, people needed approval to move to/

from each feudal lord's domain. People started to choose their occupation freely. Before, people were categorized into farmers, merchants, craftsmen, carpenters, and as well as samurai, and it was very difficult to change. Many modern things started: steam trains started, the postal system, letterpress printing, and then later, electricity started. People in kimono started to wear Western clothes. People started to read newspapers. The government's priority was to develop industry, and human rights was secondary.

The national education system started. He asked his father to let him enter elementary school one year earlier than his normal year. Maybe he was too smart to play with his same aged kids. At school, he nurtured his literary knowledge and sense.

When he was 16, he went to Tokyo dreaming to be a writer. He had confidence. In fact, he called himself a genius.
'Lying on the grass in the old castle site, my 15 year old soul soared in the sky'

He wrote stories, regular poems, and tanka. Tanka is a poem that has the form of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllables. It is an old type of poem. He pursued new ideas and ideal things like human rights; but, at the same time, he emphasized the importance of traditional things. Tanka used to be a form of poetry used mainly among those in noble people's status. He wanted tanka to reflect usual people's lives.

He got married young, he was 19. He changed his job many times. He worked as a temporary teacher in the elementary schools two times. He was a newspaper writer four times. When he was alive, he published a poetry anthology as well as a tanka anthology. But, his income from them was very limited. Living by literature was very difficult.

And then his bad habit started.
Many people criticized Takuboku because of this, she was one of them.
He started to borrow money from his friends and acquaintances and he never returned it to them. Much worse than that part was that he told people that a genius should naturally receive normal people's help. He went to brothels with the money.

She liked Kenji Miyazawa, who was also born in the same era of Takuboku and in her prefecture. Kenji helped poor farmers. When he was a teacher, he caught a student stealing something. He told him, "Since it's some fate that you are my student, let's be brothers. If you want something, I'll give it, as your brother." Shedding tears, the student never stole again. Takuboku called himself a genius, Kenji called himself dumb.

"But, ...," she thought. Takuboku's tanka were full of humanitarianism. In his tanka, he was humble and modest. Why?

'Just playing around, I lifted my mother on my back. She was so light that I couldn't walk 3 steps without tears'

'On the day all my friends looked greater than me, I brought flowers home, and enjoyed them with my wife'

She started to search about Takuboku and got some new information:
When he was 18, his father, a priest, was fired from the temple and after that his father never worked. Takuboku had to work for the whole family ~his father, mother, sisters, wife, and a new baby... When he was dying, his family members were at his bedside. He said to his father in a weak voice, "Please work."

She had thought that Takuboku was a very sloppy person. However, Takuboku left a memo that he filled out about his debt, it was precise ~the dates, the person who lent him the money and the amount. Some researchers thought that he had a will to return the borrowed money.

'I'm looking at my palm. I worked and worked, but my life hasn't become easy'

Takuboku and his family had to leave his hometown because of his father's situation. He wrote a lot of tanka that revealed his homesickness. She now yearned to understand his feelings.

'The sight of the river with young willows in my hometown brings a tear to my eye'

'In the crowd in the station, I came here to hear the accent of my hometown'

'Facing the mountain in my hometown, I have no words. I'm just thankful for it'

*upheaval :激動の
*feudal :封建制の
*domain :領土
*syllable :音節
*anthology :作品集
*sloppy :だらしない
*yearn :切望する
*dumb :馬鹿な
*humanitarianism :ヒューマニズム