Yosano Akiko (1878–1942)

Japanese writer and feminist who was one of the bestknown poets in Japan. Pronunciation: Yoe-sah-no Ahkey-koe. Born Ho Sho in Sakai, Japan, in 1878; died in Tokyo in 1942; daughter of Otori (owner of a confectionery shop); married Yosano Hiroshi (a poet); children: ten.

Born in Sakai, Japan, in 1878, Yosano Akiko read the Japanese and Chinese classics in her father's library with a voracious appetite when she was a child. Later, she became greatly interested in Western literature. "I was surrounded by the conservatism, hypocrisy, corruption, ignorance, vulgarity, and depressing atmosphere of my family and birthplace, and I hated them," she wrote. "Then, suddenly, like a miracle, there opened before me the bright world of poetry and love and I danced out into it." At age 23, she caused a sensation with the publication of her first book of poems, Midaregami (Tangled Hair, 1901), which became one of the most important works of Japanese romanticism. Yosano's poems were immediately hailed for their fresh language, bold imagery, and passion. In a particularly famous poem in the collection, a sensuous woman taunts a Buddhist priest for his rejection of love:

Never touching
the hot tide of blood
beneath soft skin,
are you not lonely,
you who preach the Way?

After she married Yosano Hiroshi, the founder of Shinshi Shi (New Poetry Society), their home became the site of poetry competitions, in which each participant was challenged to write 100 poems during a single evening. Yosano maintained a prolific writing schedule that eventually resulted in over 20 volumes of poetry and social commentary, all the while raising her ten children. Her essays ranged from feminist tracts to criticism of Japan's foreign aggression, and her poetry reflects some of these concerns as well. During the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Yosano wrote anti-militarist poetry to counter war hysteria, defending attacks on her patriotism by insisting that poetry had to express human emotion with honesty. Her most famous poem of this period, "Beloved, Do Not Die," was addressed to her brother.

How could our great emperor…
Not go out to battle
Himself
But still want others to spill their blood …
And think those deaths a glory?

In middle age, Yosano turned to writing about women's experiences, particularly childbirth. In poems and essays, she described birthing as a journey to death and back, praising the courage of women giving birth and comparing them with warriors. She broke social taboos with poems about experiencing labor pains and the birth of her stillborn baby.

Even as she gained a reputation in the women's movement, Yosano was ambivalent about feminism. Between 1912 and 1919, she was one of three participants in a debate on women's issues published in the radical journal Seitō (Bluestockings). A central question in the debate was the part the Japanese state should play in determining women's roles and the extent to which government should support women who had children. Other issues included emancipating love and marriage from traditional morality, securing women's political rights, combining work and home life, raising women's consciousness, guaranteeing equal access to work and equal earnings, educating children, providing vocational training for women, and improving the lives of middle-aged and elderly women. A moderate voice in these debates, Yosano advocated a feminism grounded in equal legal, educational, and social rights and responsibilities for women. Following this debate, she lectured widely on various social issues, including education and women's suffrage.

Yosano continued her literary work all the while, publishing commentaries on Japanese literature. Her translations into modern Japanese of Murasaki Shikibu 's great Japanese classic Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji) were published in 1912 and 1939. Yosano's last major literary project was a monumental compilation of 26,783 poems written by 6,675 poets in modern times.

sources:

Beichman, Janine. "Yosano Akiko: The Early Years," in Japan Quarterly. Vol. XXVII, no. 1. January–March, 1990, pp. 37–54.

——. "Yosano Akiko: Return to the Female," in Japan Quarterly. Vol. XXXVII, no. 2. April–June 1990, pp. 204–229.

Rodd, Laurel Rasplica. "Yosano Akiko and the Taisho Debate Over the 'New Woman,'" in Recreating Japanese Women, 1600–1945. Gail Lee Bernstein, ed. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991, pp. 175–198.

Linda L. Johnson , Professor of History, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota