(23 June 1889 – 29 December 1964), better known by his pen name , was a Japanese poet, children's book author and essayist. He is considered a significant representative of Japanese symbolism.

Life

alt=Rofū Miki's childhood home in Rofū Miki's childhood home in Tatsuno Aka-tombow Tatsuno Hyogo pref01n4272

Miki was born in Tatsuno in

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

in 1889, the oldest son of Setsujirō Miki and Kata Midorikawa (1869–1962). Midorikawa married at 15, and was a nurse and a significant figure in the

women's movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and women. Such issues are women's ...

of the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

. He had one brother, Tsutomu. After the divorce of his parents in 1895 when he was 5 years old, Miki grew up with his grandfather, who was the first mayor of Tatsuno. He attended elementary and middle school in Tatsuno and wrote poems,

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

and

tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the influential poetry anthology (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to disti ...

s as a student. At the age of 17, he published his first collection of poems, and at 20 his poetry collection ''Haien'', which received attention at the time for its free verse. Miki was regarded as an early talent and he gained attention along with

Hakushū Kitahara is the pen-name of , a Japanese ''tanka'' poet active during the Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. He is regarded as one of the most popular and important poets in modern Japanese literature. Early life Kitahara was born in Yanagawa, Fuku ...

, to whom he has been compared in style and stature. He studied literature at

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

and

Keiō University , abbreviated as or , is a private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becoming one of the first private ...

. Around 1918, he joined

Miekichi Suzuki was a Japanese novelist and author of children's stories from Hiroshima. Biography Suzuki was born in Hiroshima. He studied English literature at Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo), and later launched a children's literatur ...

's recently founded children's literature magazine ''

Akai tori was a Japanese children's literary magazine published between 1918 and 1936 in Tokyo, Japan. The magazine has a significant role in establishing dowa and '' doyo'', which refer to new versions of children's fiction, poetry, and songs. In additi ...

'' (, "Red Bird"), to which he contributed work, participating in the magazine's new movement to create high-quality, beautiful and emotional children's verses and songs, called '' dōyō''. Three years later he published a collection of verses for children named ''Shinjushima'' (, "Pearl Island"), which included the poem , which Kosaku Yamada set to music in 1927. In 1989, "Akatombo" was voted Japan's favorite song in a survey by the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

show "Japanese Songs, Hometown Songs". A large wall-sized monument to the song, with memorial plaques, stands in Miki's home town, Tatsuno. From 1916 to 1924 Miki worked in

Kamiiso, Hokkaido was a town located in Kamiiso District, Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of 2004, the town had an estimated population of 36,887 and a density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to ...

(modern day Hokuto) in a

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

as a teacher of literature. During this time, he was baptized in 1922 and joined the Catholic faith. His faith is reflected in the essays ''Shūdōin seikatsu'' () and ''Nihon katorikkukyōshi'' (, ''History of Catholicism in Japan''). In 1927, he was awarded the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem by the Vatican. In 1963 he was awarded the Japanese

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

with a purple ribbon. On 21 December 1964, Miki was hit by a taxi and taken to hospital with head injuries. He died of a brain haemorrhage eight days later at the age of 75. Kosaku Yamada, who wrote the music to Akatombo, died on the same day one year later. He was awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

in 1965. Since 1985, his hometown has been hosting a competition for children's songs, giving a prize named after him (, Miki Rofū-shō).

Works (selected)

Poetry

* 1908 ''Yameru Bara'' (''The Sick Rose'') * 1909 ''Haien'' (, translated as ''The Ruined Garden'' or ''Abandoned Garden'') * 1910 ''Sabishiki akebono'' () * 1913 ''Rofūshū'' () * 1915 ''Ryōshin'' () * 1920 ''Sei to ai'' () * 1921 ''Shinjushima'' (, ''Pearl Island'') * 1922 ''Shinkō no akebono'' (''Dawn of Faith'') () * 1926 ''Kami to hito'' (''Gods and Men'') () * 1926 '' Torapisuto kashū'' () – anthology

Essays

* 1925 ''Shūdōin sappitsu'' () * 1926 ''Shūdōin seikatsu'' () * 1928 ''Waga ayumeru michi'' () * 1929 ''Nihon katorikkukyōshi'' (, ''History of Catholicism in Japan'')

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miki, Rofu 20th-century Japanese poets 1889 births 1964 deaths Writers from Hyōgo Prefecture Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 4th class Japanese male poets Waseda University alumni Keio University alumni Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre Recipients of the Medal of Honor (Japan) 20th-century Japanese essayists