So happy — everything's alive.
汐干潟うれし物生きて居る
— Masaoka Shiki
Showing posts with label Masaoka Shiki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Masaoka Shiki. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Swallow Carving
Inside the Shiki-Dō, Matsuyama.（子規堂のなかに、松山）
The Shiki-Dō is a recreation of the poet Masaoka Shiki's family home. Crouching in the shadow of a giant Mitsukoshi department store with a ferris wheel on its roof, the house, tucked away on the side of a Zen temple, seems a little downtrodden and unloved; but the entrance fee is only 50 yen, which probably only buys the poor grounds a little raking every now and then. Anyway, the swallow remains undisturbed.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Shiki Drawings: Walnut, Banana, Pineapple (& Old Fava Beans)
My last two posts have been on the Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki. I thought I'd share a few of his drawings today.
According to the labels supplied by the editors on the side of each drawing (smudged in this reproduction, sorry) they are, from top to bottom:
walnuts (くるみ）
banana（バナナ）
pineapple （鳳梨）
Aside from the rather odd shape of the pineapple (at first I thought it might be some deep sea fish or cancerous internal organ) a couple of other anomalies stand out.
In the top picture, you can see two groupings of nuts. The top left cluster are actually old fava beans. It is only the bottom right grouping which are the walnuts. The faintness of the writing just under the beans (古そらまめ）must have been missed by whoever labeled them — but the shapes of the two groups are distinctly different (though one fava bean does seem to be hanging out with the walnuts).
The second anomaly is the kanji Shiki used for the pineapple, hōri (鳳梨). Nowadays we would just write pineapple in katakana — パイナップル.
Anyway, not earth-shattering finds, but fun sleuthing nonetheless.
walnuts (くるみ）
banana（バナナ）
pineapple （鳳梨）
Aside from the rather odd shape of the pineapple (at first I thought it might be some deep sea fish or cancerous internal organ) a couple of other anomalies stand out.
In the top picture, you can see two groupings of nuts. The top left cluster are actually old fava beans. It is only the bottom right grouping which are the walnuts. The faintness of the writing just under the beans (古そらまめ）must have been missed by whoever labeled them — but the shapes of the two groups are distinctly different (though one fava bean does seem to be hanging out with the walnuts).
The second anomaly is the kanji Shiki used for the pineapple, hōri (鳳梨). Nowadays we would just write pineapple in katakana — パイナップル.
Anyway, not earth-shattering finds, but fun sleuthing nonetheless.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Shiki's War Correspondent's Briefcase
In yesterday's post, I talked briefly about the Japanese Meiji era poet, Masaoka Shiki. Today, as I was flipping through his biography, my eyes came to rest on a briefcase he used as a war correspondent during the First Sino-Japanese War.
I was drawn to the kanji on its side. So elemental and simple. From one o'clock moving clockwise: mountain, rain, moon, and sea. (山、雨、月、海）
If the moon is a little wonky, no matter. Perfect for a traveling poet. Yet Shiki's travels were short-lived. He had tuberculosis and his stint on board ship only aggravated his illness.
In 1895, as the war was ending, he came back to Matsuyama to convalesce in Natsume Sōseki's house. By 1898 he was essentially an invalid. He died a few years later in Tokyo in September 1902.
The bag now rests in the Shiki Museum in Matsuyama which I had the good fortune to visit last December.
A whole museum — three floors — for one poet. If we only so honored ours.
If the moon is a little wonky, no matter. Perfect for a traveling poet. Yet Shiki's travels were short-lived. He had tuberculosis and his stint on board ship only aggravated his illness.
In 1895, as the war was ending, he came back to Matsuyama to convalesce in Natsume Sōseki's house. By 1898 he was essentially an invalid. He died a few years later in Tokyo in September 1902.
The bag now rests in the Shiki Museum in Matsuyama which I had the good fortune to visit last December.
A whole museum — three floors — for one poet. If we only so honored ours.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Sōseki, Shiki, and Someone
Sitting down tonight with a bottle of Sōseki, Shiki, and Someone Sake; a bag of Nuty Poems (sic) and a biography of Shiki.
The sake, or Nihonshu, in the cardboard box behind the book, was passably good, even if it's probably most often bought as a souvenir. On the box are Masaoka Shiki to the right, Natsume Sōseki center, and I'm not sure whom to the left.
Both Shiki and Sōseki (as well as the unidentified person, I'm sure) were from Matsuyama City, a little over an hour's train ride away. Shiki is considered to be the father of modern haiku in that he popularized breaking off hokku (the 5 - 7 - 5 syllable line) from renga (linked verse) and calling the resulting stand-alone poem haiku. Given that he was working in the Meiji period (European governing and schooling were being introduced) and that for most of his working career he was an invalid (tuberculosis), the creation of the haiku form seems to have been a natural outlet for his talents.
Sōseki, whom Shiki knew well and considered to be a mentor, is often considered to be the father of the I-novel in Japan. His best known works are Botchan, Kokoro, and I Am a Cat. Haruki Murakami, perhaps the foremost contemporary writer of novels in Japanese, considers Soseki to be a profound influence.
Ehime Prefecture, our Prefecture, the cradle of contemporary Japanese verse. How lucky we are to be here.
The Nuty Poems were delicious I might add. The bag's carcass is lying open and empty at my side. Now it's time to find out who the mystery man is on the sake box. Maybe tomorrow I'll share a few of Shiki's drawings from the book.
The sake, or Nihonshu, in the cardboard box behind the book, was passably good, even if it's probably most often bought as a souvenir. On the box are Masaoka Shiki to the right, Natsume Sōseki center, and I'm not sure whom to the left.
Both Shiki and Sōseki (as well as the unidentified person, I'm sure) were from Matsuyama City, a little over an hour's train ride away. Shiki is considered to be the father of modern haiku in that he popularized breaking off hokku (the 5 - 7 - 5 syllable line) from renga (linked verse) and calling the resulting stand-alone poem haiku. Given that he was working in the Meiji period (European governing and schooling were being introduced) and that for most of his working career he was an invalid (tuberculosis), the creation of the haiku form seems to have been a natural outlet for his talents.
Sōseki, whom Shiki knew well and considered to be a mentor, is often considered to be the father of the I-novel in Japan. His best known works are Botchan, Kokoro, and I Am a Cat. Haruki Murakami, perhaps the foremost contemporary writer of novels in Japanese, considers Soseki to be a profound influence.
Ehime Prefecture, our Prefecture, the cradle of contemporary Japanese verse. How lucky we are to be here.
The Nuty Poems were delicious I might add. The bag's carcass is lying open and empty at my side. Now it's time to find out who the mystery man is on the sake box. Maybe tomorrow I'll share a few of Shiki's drawings from the book.
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