Who was this person?
A tanka poet and poet of the Meiji to early Shōwa eras. Born in Kyoto, he called for the reform of tanka with the collection Tōzai Nanboku. In 1900 he founded the magazine Myōjō, becoming the center of the Romantic poetry movement and launching poets such as Kitahara Hakushū and Ishikawa Takuboku. His wife was the poet Yosano Akiko.
| Name | Yosano Tekkan (与謝野鉄幹) |
|---|---|
| Born–died | 1873 – 1935 |
| Period | Meiji–Shōwa |
| Birthplace | Okazaki, Otagi District, Kyoto (now Sakyō, Kyoto) |
| Also known as | Yosano Hiroshi (real name) |
| Main achievements |
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He was born in Okazaki, Kyoto, the fourth son of Yosano Reigon, a priest of a branch temple of Nishi Hongan-ji. His real name was Hiroshi. His father composed poetry, and the family had a waka tradition. The household struggled financially, and from childhood each of the brothers had to make his own way.
He was adopted by the head priest of a temple in Sumiyoshi District, Osaka. As a boy he lived at the temple, studying hard and growing familiar with waka and Chinese poetry. He later left his adoptive family and returned to the Yosano name, but experiences in this period are thought to have nurtured his interest in literature.
After his ordination at Nishi Hongan-ji, he moved to his elder brother's temple in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi, and taught Japanese at a girls' school his brother ran. He also edited the temple's magazine and the next year began using the pen name Tekkan. While still young he gained experience in writing and teaching.
Leaving teaching, he went to Tokyo and became a pupil of Ochiai Naobumi, a scholar of Japanese literature and poet who sought to renew the old world of waka. Tekkan was strongly influenced by his ideas. He also became close to Naobumi's brother Ayukai Kaien, a comrade in reforming waka.
He published the essay Bōkoku no On in a newspaper, fiercely criticizing contemporary waka as feeble and unsuited to the new age. The essay drew a great response and became one of the pioneers of the movement to renew tanka. Around the same time Masaoka Shiki was also pushing reforms of haiku and tanka.
While serving as chief editor at the publisher Meiji Shoin, he published the poetry collection Tōzai Nanboku, followed the next year by Tenchi Genkō. His vigorous, manly style, called masuraoburi, captured young readers. Many poems reflected the exalted mood after the First Sino-Japanese War.
Having founded the Tokyo Shinshisha poetry society the year before, he launched the magazine Myōjō this year. It became the center of Romanticism, freely singing of love and the self, and discovered many young talents such as Kitahara Hakushū, Yoshii Isamu and Ishikawa Takuboku. He was also quick to notice the talent of Hō Akiko, whom he met at a poetry gathering.
He produced Hō Akiko's first poetry collection, Midaregami, and married her that year. Midaregami became a sensation with its passionate love poems and sparked the height of Myōjō. The couple later had many children and walked the path of poetry together.
He traveled through Kyushu with the young Myōjō poets Kitahara Hakushū, Yoshii Isamu, Kinoshita Mokutarō and Hirano Banri, publishing the travelogue Gosoku no Kutsu. Visiting places such as Amakusa, rich in Christian history, the trip sparked a vogue for exotic Nanban taste.
As young poets left one after another, Myōjō ceased publication with its hundredth issue. Afterward Tekkan struggled to write the works he wanted, enduring a difficult period. Even so, he published collections such as Sōmon and kept experimenting with new poetic forms.
Through Akiko's arrangements he went to Paris. Akiko later joined him, and the couple visited London, Vienna, Berlin and other European cities. It was a precious chance to experience Western art directly, but even after returning home Tekkan's slump was slow to lift.
He became a professor in the literature faculty of Keiō University, teaching literature for over a decade. Satō Haruo and Horiguchi Daigaku are said to have studied under him. He found joy in nurturing young writers as an educator, overcoming his slump as a poet.
With the architect Nishimura Isaku, the painter Ishii Hakutei, his wife Akiko and others, he founded Bunka Gakuin in Ochanomizu, Tokyo, a school aiming at liberal education. Around the same time he revived Myōjō, but the death the next year of his supporter Mori Ōgai was a heavy blow.
In later years he kept writing poems and published the magazine Tōhaku, but he died of illness at a Tokyo hospital. Akiko dedicated memorial poems full of deep grief. His achievement in opening a new era of tanka and launching many poets was great; his grave is at Tama Cemetery.
A. A tanka poet and poet of the Meiji to early Shōwa eras. Born in Kyoto, he called for the reform of tanka with the collection Tōzai Nanboku. In 1900 he founded the magazine Myōjō, becoming the center of the Romantic poetry movement and launching poets such as Kitahara Hakushū and Ishikawa Takuboku. His wife was the poet Yosano Akiko.
A. Period: Meiji–Shōwa. Born in 1873, died in 1935.
A. Yosano Tekkan was born in Okazaki, Otagi District, Kyoto (now Sakyō, Kyoto).
A. Akiko met Tekkan after sending tanka to Myōjō; in 1901 she moved to Tokyo, published the collection Tangled Hair and married Tekkan the same year. The two followed the path of poetry together all their lives and raised many children.
See also: Wikipedia (ja) / Wikipedia (en) / Wikipedia (fr) / Wikipedia (zh) / Wikidata
Follow this life (autoplay)Masaoka ShikiIshikawa TakubokuKitahara HakushūHagiwara SakutarōYosano Akiko
Higuchi IchiyōShimazaki TōsonTayama KataiHata SahachirōHishida ShunsōNoguchi HideyoYosano AkikoTaki Rentarō
People of the Meiji period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.