was the
pen-name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
of Mitsu Ōta, a Japanese ''
tanka
is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.
Etymology
Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...
'' poet active in
Taishō and
Shōwa periods
Japan.
Shiga Mitsuko
." '' City of Kamakura''. Accessed October 12, 2008.
Early life
Mitsuko was born in Nagano city, Nagano prefecture
is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the n ...
. After graduating from Nagano Normal School, she worked for two years as a teacher, during which time she met the poet Mizuho Ōta
was the pen-name of , a Japanese poet and scholar of Japanese literature, active in Shōwa period Japan. He also occasionally used another pen name, ''Mizuhonoya''.
Early life
Ōta was born in Chikuma District, Nagano prefecture in what is now p ...
, and began to compose ''tanka'' verses herself. She entered the Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School (present-day Ochanomizu University
is a women's university in the Ōtsuka neighborhood of Bunkyō-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Ochanomizu University is one of the top national universities in Japan.
Ochanomizu is the name of a Tokyo neighborhood where the university was founded.
Hi ...
) in 1906 and married Mizuho Ōta when she graduated.
Literary career
While teaching at a girls school in Tokyo, she assisted her husband in his literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evalu ...
, ''Chōon'', by contributing ''tanka'' verses and helping in its overall administration. On Ota's death in 1955, she took over responsibility for the magazine with her son, Ota Seikyu.
She published numerous anthologies of her poetry during her lifetime, including ''Fuji no Mi'' ("Wisteria Beans"), ''Asa Tsuki'' ("Morning Moon"), ''Asa Ginu'' ("Linen Silk"), and ''Kamakura Zakki'' ("Kamakura Miscellany"). She also published some instructional guides to the writing of poetry, including ''Waka dokuhon'' ("A Guide to Waka Verse"), ''Dentō to Gendai Waka'' ("Tradition and Modern Waka").
Mitsuko and her husband Mizuho Ota began to live in Kamakura
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939.
Kama ...
, Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...
from 1934, calling their retreat "Yo-yo Sanso." What began as a quiet getaway became their permanent home from 1939. Shiga continued to live there after her husband's death, and died in 1976. Her grave is at the temple of Tōkei-ji
, also known as or , is a Buddhist temple and a former nunnery, the only survivor of a network of five nunneries called , in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the Rinzai school of Zen's Engaku-ji branch, and was op ...
in Kamakura, which also has a large stone monument inscribed with one of her verses.
See also
*Japanese literature
Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japan ...
*List of Japanese authors
This is an alphabetical list of writers who are Japanese, or are famous for having written in the Japanese language.
Writers are listed by the native order of Japanese names, family name followed by given name to ensure consistency although some ...
References
*Morrell, Sachiko Kaneko. ''Zen Sanctuary of Purple Robes: Japan's Tōkeiji Convent Since 1285''. SUNY Press (2006).
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiga, Mitsuko
1885 births
Ochanomizu University alumni
People from Nagano Prefecture
Japanese women poets
1976 deaths
20th-century Japanese poets
20th-century Japanese women writers
20th-century pseudonymous writers
Pseudonymous women writers