Yosano Hiroshi (与謝野寛; 26 February 1873 – 26 March 1935), known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume 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 name may be used to make the author's na ...

was a Japanese author and poet active in late Meiji, Taishō, and early

Shōwa era The was a historical period of History of Japan, Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the T ...

. His wife was fellow author

Yosano Akiko , known by her pen name Yosano Akiko (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , ), was a Japanese author, poet, feminist, pacifist, and social reformer, active in the late Meiji era as well as the Taishō era, Taishō and early Shōwa eras of Japan. She is one ...

. His grandson was politician

Kaoru Yosano (August 22, 1938 – May 23, 2017) was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Sunrise Party of Japan and former member of the House of Representatives, serving his ninth term in the Lower House represe ...

Early life

Yosano was born in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

as the son of

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

priest, and was a graduate of

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

. After graduation, he taught Japanese language for four years at Tokuyama Girls' School, in what is now Shunan city,

Yamaguchi prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). ...

. He was forced to quit over alleged improprieties with one of his students. At the age of 20, he moved to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. He supported himself as a staff writer for Tokyo newspapers. On 11 May 1894, he published a strongly worded article encouraging the reform of traditional Japanese poetry, or '' waka'', to give it more originality and thus make it more popular.

Literary career

Yosano was a disciple of Ochiai Naobumi, and a prominent founding member of the latter's Asaka Society. In 1900, Yosano founded the literary magazine '' Myōjō'' (Bright Star), and soon collected a circle of famous poets, including Kitahara Hakushū,

Yoshii Isamu Count was a Japanese ''tanka'' poet and playwright active in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. Attracted to European romanticism in his youth, his later works were more subdued. Early life Yoshii Isamu was born in the elite Takanawa district Tok ...

and

Ishikawa Takuboku was a Japanese poet. Well known as both a tanka and or poet, he began as a member of the Myōjō group of naturalist poets but later joined the "socialistic" group of Japanese poets and renounced naturalism. He died of tuberculosis. Major ...

. The magazine was immediately popular with young poets who shared Yosano's enthusiasm for revitalizing ''waka'' through the medium of ''tanka'' poetry. One of the earliest contributors to his magazine was a young woman named Hō Shō, better known by her

pen-name A pen name or nom-de-plume 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 name may be used to make the author's na ...

(after her marriage to Yosano)

. Yosano's own works include ''Bokoku no on'' (Sounds of a Decaying Country, 1894), which despite its title was a collection of

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

, and ''Tōzai namboku'' (East-west, north–south, 1896), an anthology of his poetry, mostly ''tanka'', but also several '' shintaishi'' and ''

renga ''Renga'' (, ''linked poem'') is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ''ku (''句), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 morae (sound units, not to be confused with syllables) per line are linked in succession by multiple poets ...

''.He published a poetry collection "Kasi no ha" including the first Gogyōshi collection "Syōkyoku" in 1910.檞之葉
/ref> Yosano is also one of the five authors of the essays '' 5 Pairs of Shoes''.

References

*Itsumi Kumi, ed.''Yosano Hiroshi Akiko shokan shusei'', Yagi Shoten, Shohan edition, 2001,

External links

e-texts of Tekkan's works
at

Aozora bunko Aozora Bunko (, , also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousand works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that t ...

DIJ-Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien

YOSANO Tekkan Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures｜National Diet Library,Japan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yosano, Tekkan 1873 births 1935 deaths 20th-century Japanese poets Writers from Kyoto People of the Meiji era 19th-century Japanese poets Japanese male poets 20th-century Japanese male writers Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist priests Keio University alumni

Early life

Literary career

See also

References

External links