Composing Poems of “Routes” and of “Roots” ：Yokomitsu Riichi and the Haiku Party on a Ship

NAKAI, Yuki

doi:2020.10.1.127

The Journal of Japanese Language Literature Studies > Volume 10(1); 2020 > Article

Special Issue

Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies 2020;10(1): 127-141.
doi: https://doi.org/10.22628/bcjjl.2020.10.1.127

Composing Poems of “Routes” and of “Roots” ：Yokomitsu Riichi and the Haiku Party on a Ship

Yuki NAKAI

PhD student, Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Letters

航路を詠む·起源を詠む

中井祐希

立命館大学大学院文学研究科博士後期課程

Correspondence Yuki NAKAI ,Email: yukinakai.85@gmail.com

Published online: 30 June 2020.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on Yokomitsu Riichi’s experience on his maritime European journey in 1936. Studying the texts which emerged from five of the “Kukai” (haiku parties) held on his ship, I consider how Yokomitsu views the foreign scenery he encounters. I argue that, in the haiku of the first and second Kukai, Yokomitsu doesn’t actively consider the scenery, while in haiku from the third and fourth Kukai, even though the scenery of the foreign country through which he is traveling is similar to the Japanese landscape, his focus on the position of the moon confirms that he perceives the difference between them. In Nettai Kidairon, Takahama Kyoshi defends the possibility of overcoming the cultural specificity of haiku through the creation of new “Kigo” (seasonal words) that refer to tropical landscapes. Yokomitsu was aware of Kyosh’s work, and he argues that the historical and traditional implications of the Kigo make it incompatible with the depiction of any foreign landscape. Finally, in the haiku from the fifth Kukai, Yokomitsu deals with the nostalgia for foreign history. This historical interest also influenced his perspective on diverse languages. After his return to Japan, Yokomitsu’s views on haiku and language developed into the “Nihon Kaiki” (Return to Japan) dilemma.

Keywords: Oshu Kiko, Ryoshu, European Routes, Haiku, Haiku Poetry in Tropical and Seasonal Nature Theme

キ―ワ―ド: 欧州紀行, 旅愁, 欧州航路, 俳句, 熱帯季題