Our next stop in this great sightseeing tour was the Kitahara Hakushu Memorial Park, his house, and Museum. Yanagawa is the home town of the legendary Japanese poet Kitahara Hakushu, and the Kitahara Hakushu Memorial Park pays tribute to one of Yanagawa's favorite sons. We had a tour of his home and the museum near by. We also saw the source of his inspiration having a strollon his mother's back, a Yanagawa infant. If you want to hear one of his children's song, click here: http://www.kodomo.go.jp/gallery/digi/KODOMO_WEB/songs/s_e008.html.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitahara_Hakushu: Kitahara Hakushu (北原 白秋, January 25, 1885 - November 2, 1942) is a Japanese author and tanka poet. He was born in Yanagawa, Fukuoka.
His major works include:
Omoide
Shimbashi
Kiri no hana (Paulownia Flowers) 1913
Kurohi (The Black Cypress)
He also wrote anthems for high schools around the country.
From: http://www.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp/english/bunjin/hakushuu_e.htm: Kitahara Hakushu, tanka and modern verse poet, was born in 1885 in Kyushu. His real name was Ryukichi. His talent was recognized from an early age and he began contributing both tanka verse and longer poems to magazines while he was still in his teens. His long poem, "Zento Kakusei no Fu," received a prize in a competition sponsored by the Waseda Gakuho magazine, and this led to many other of his poems being published. Although he entered Waseda University, he never completed his studies there.In 1906, he was invited by Yosano Hiroshi (Tekkan) to join his poetry group, Shinshisha (New Poetry), but left after a while to form the coterie, Pan no Kai (Pan Society), where he became acquainted with many other poets and artists. In 1909, he became one of the founding members the literary magazine, Subaru (The Pleiades), where he published his first collection of verses, Jashumon (Heretics). In 1913, he displayed original romanticism in his first collection of tanka verse, Kiri no Hana (Pawlonia Blossoms). Hakushu helped the children's writer Suzuki Miekichi set up the children's magazine, Akai Tori (Red Bird) and himself contributed many nursery songs. With the publication of the anthology, Tombo no Medama (The Eyes of a Dragonfly), he was recognized as a truly talented writer of children's verse. He also took a great interest in writing the verse for new folk songs. In 1935, Hakushu founded Tama, a tanka verse magazine, and became known as the spearhead of the fourth stage of the symbolist movement. Among his proteges were Kimata Osamu and Miya Shuji. Hakushu was a prolific writer and his other publications include the verse anthologies, Tokyo Keibutsushi sonota, and Suibokushu (Collection of Ink Drawings); tanka collections, Kuro Hinoki, and Botan no Ki (Peony Tree), and prose poem, Suzume no Seikatsu (A Sparrow's Life). In 1941, Hakushu brought his family to the Kamakura Kaihin Hotel by the beach and a collection of tanka poems bearing the same name was inspired by this visit. He died the following year at the age of 57.
What is Tanka Poetry?
From: http://www.americantanka.com/about.html
Tanka is the name of an ancient form of Japanese poetry. Tanka are 31-syllable poems that have been the most popular form of poetry in Japan for at least 1300 years. As a form of poetry, tanka is older than haiku, and tanka poems evoke a moment or mark an occasion with concision and musicality.
During Japan's Heian period (794-1185 A.D.) it was considered essential for a woman or man of culture to be able to both compose beautiful poetry and to choose the most aesthetically pleasing and appropriate paper, ink, and symbolic attachment---such as a branch, a flower---to go with it.
Tanka were often composed as a kind of finale to every sort of occasion; no experience was quite complete until a tanka had been written about it.
Tanka have changed and evolved over the centuries, but the form of five syllabic units containing 31 syllables has remained the same.Topics have expanded from the traditional expressions of passion and heartache, and styles have changed to include modern language and even colloquialisms.
In Japanese, tanka is often written in one straight line, but in English and other languages, we usually divide the lines into the five syllabic units: 5-7-5-7-7.
Usually, each line consists of one image or idea; unlike English poetry, one does not seek to "wrap" lines in tanka, though in the best tanka the five lines often flow seamlessly into one thought.
English is very different from Japanese, and the first-time writer of English-language tanka may find that his or her tanka are more cumbersome and contain more images than we find in translated Japanese tanka. With practice, though, you will find the form strangely suitable to our relatively nonsyllabic language.
Many writers of English-language tanka use less than 31 syllables to achieve the form in English. American Tanka publishes tanka of five lines that are concise and evocative, are true to the purpose and spirit of tanka, and echo the original Japanese rhythm and structure.
Haiku and tanka are forms of Japanese poetry. Haiku being the more familiar of the two. Tanka is fast gaining popularity. A Haiku is formed of 3 lines, traditonally 5 syllables in the first line, 7 the second and ending with 5 on the third, and the subject normally about the seasons or observations. It is not used normally to reflect emotion. Haiku is derived from tanka.
Tanka is the older of these two forms, tanka being traditionally written in 31 syllables of and made of five lines, each line having syllables as follows: 5,7,5,7,7. Tanka is written about deep human emotion, and was often used to communicate between lovers. Neither form normally have titles as we know traditional poetry to have.
Then we visited the HAKUSHU museum about Hakushu Kitahara. At the museum I bought $5.00 calendars for the lower school teachers who were so enthusiastic about my trip to Japan. I received from them Flat Stanley and my quest for global environmental awareness. We were allowed to take pictures of the house, but not of the museum
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