Kawahigashi Hekigotō (河東碧梧桐; February 26, 1873 – ), birth name Kawahigashi Heigorō (河東秉五郎), was a Japanese poet and modern pioneer of the ''

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or s ...

'' form.

Biography

Kawahigashi Hekigotō was born in

Matsuyama 270px, Matsuyama City Hall 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan and also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243541 househo ...

. He was the son of a

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

scholar and his childhood was steeped in the

Chinese classics Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confuci ...

. He was a childhood friend of the poet and novelist

Kyoshi Takahama was a Japanese poet active during the Shōwa period of Japan. His real name was ; Kyoshi was a pen name given to him by his mentor, Masaoka Shiki. Early life Kyoshi was born in what is now the city of Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture; his father, Ike ...

. Kawahigashi and Kyoshi left school together in 1894 and moved to Tokyo. Hekigotō and Kyoshi became the chief disciples of the modern ''haiku'' master

Shiki Masaoka , pen-name of Masaoka Noboru (正岡升), was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry, credited with writing nearly 20,000 stanzas during ...

. Kawahigashi succeeded Shiki as ''haiku'' editor of the magazine '' Hototogisu'' ("Cuckoo") in 1897 and the newspaper ''

Nippon Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

'' ("Japan") in 1902. After Shiki's death, Kawahigashi and Kyoshi became leaders of two factions of Shiki's followers, the latter more conservative and eventually the journal ''Hototogisu'' became centered on this aesthetic, while the former was more zealous and experimental. Kawahigashi extended the innovations of Shiki and abandoned the 5-7-5 syllable pattern of 17 '' on'' in favor of

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French '' vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Defi ...

and calling his verse ''tanshi'' instead of ''haiku.'' He continued to use the seasonal word (''

kigo is a word or phrase associated with a particular season, used in traditional forms of Japanese poetry. Kigo are used in the collaborative linked-verse forms renga and renku, as well as in haiku, to indicate the season referred to in the sta ...

''), but some of his followers even abandoned that. In 1917, Kawahigashi wrote:

Any arbitrary attempt to mould a poem into the 5-7-5 syllable pattern would damage the freshness of impression and kill the vitality of language. We sought to be direct in expression, since we valued our fresh impressions and wanted our language to be vital. This soon led us to destroy the fixed verse form and to gain the utmost freedom of expression.

Among Kawahigashi's works are two books of commentary, ''Haiku hyōshaku'' (1899) and ''Shoku haiku hyōshaku'' (1899), and the ''haiku'' collection ''Hekigotō kushū'' (1916). Kawahigashi was also a travel writer, publishing ''Sanzenri'' ("Three Thousand '' ri''") in 1906. He visited Europe and America in 1921 and China and Mongolia in 1924. Kawahigashi was also a journalist,

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

, art critic,

noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

dancer, and

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

. Hekigotō Kawahigashi died on 1 February 1937 in Tokyo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hekigoto, Kawahigashi Created via preloaddraft 1873 births 1937 deaths People from Matsuyama, Ehime Japanese haiku poets 19th-century Japanese poets 20th-century Japanese poets