Yūgure Maeda (前田夕暮 ''Maeda Yūgure''; 1883–1951) was 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 influential poetry anthology (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to disti ...

'' poet.

Biography

Yūgure Maeda was born on 27 July 1883. He was born in Minamiyana Village, Ōsumi District (modern-day Hadano City),

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

. His real name was Yōzō Maeda (前田洋造 ''Maeda Yōzō''). He dropped out of middle school without graduating. In 1904 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 ...

and became a student of the ''

'' poet Saishū Onoe. He was noted as a representative poet of naturalism along with Bokusui Wakayama. He painted an era called the "Yugure / Bokusui era" in the history of literature. He founded Hakujitsu and published the tanka magazine "Poetry" every month. Rofu Miki, Bochō Yamamura, Mokichi Saito, Saisei Murou, Sakutaro Hagiwara, Kotaro Takamura and other poets and poets were given a place to play an active role and raised many poets. He contributed to the publication of the magazine "Nikko" and published many colloquial tanka and prose. He has never lived in Hadano again since he moved to Tokyo, but he loved Hadano deeply and wrote a lot about the scenery of his hometown and Tanzawa. He died on 20 April 1951.

Writings

Most of Maeda's early ''tanka'' compositions were submitted to a variety of literary magazines and were rejected without a second word. He was encouraged by Saishū Onoe, writer of a poetry column for the periodical '' Shinsei'' (新声), to keep up his efforts, however. Maeda and

Bokusui Wakayama was the pen-name of , a Japanese author noted for his poetry in pre-World War II Japan. Life Wakayama was born in Togo, Miyazaki, (now part of the city of Hyūga, Miyazaki, Hyūga) as the eldest son of a doctor. He became interested in poetry f ...

were among the first poets to join Onoe's Shazensō-sha (車前草社) when it was founded in 1905. The poets of the Shazensō-sha were insistent of simplicity and clarity of expression, in opposition to the poets associated with important magazine ''

Myōjō was a monthly literary magazine published in Japan between April 1900 and November 1908. The name ''Myōjō'' can be translated as either Bright Star or Morning Star. History and profile The magazine was established in 1900. It was the organ ...

''. Maeda was one of the most critical of what he saw as the excessive romanticism of the ''Myōjō'' poets. In 1906, Maeda founded his own poetic society, the Hakujitsu-sha (白日社). In 1924, he was joined by

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 ...

Toshiharu Kinoshita was the pen-name of Japanese author Viscount Kinoshita Toshiharu, noted for his ''tanka'' poetry, active in Meiji period and Taishō period Japan. Early life Kinoshita was born in what is now part of Okayama city, Okayama Prefecture, and was ...

, Chikashi Koizumi,

Zenmaro Toki Zenmaro Toki (土岐善麿 ''Toki Zenmaro''; June 8, 1885 – April 15, 1980) was a Japanese Naturalist ''tanka'' poet. After initially taking up ''tanka'' in his teens, he studied under Kun'en Kaneko, and when in attendance at Waseda University h ...

and others in forming a group to publish a new literary magazine, ''

Nikkō is a Cities of Japan, city in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city's population was 80,239, in 36,531 households. The population density was 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Nikkō is a popular destination for Japanese and ...

'', which was to be purely devoted to

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. He took his first aeroplane ride in 1929, inspiring him to write in a more colloquial fashion — he felt the experience could not be described in traditional language. He continued to write unconventional ''tanka'' for fifteen years after this. Maeda was an exceptionally prolific poet, and more than 40,000 of his ''tanka'' survive, but he published very little of this during his lifetime. Typical poetry 「木に花さき　君わが妻と　ならむ日の四月なかなか　とほくもあるかな (Kinihanaskai kimiwagatumato naranhino shigatunakanaka to-kumoarukana)」「はらしろき　巨口の魚を　背におひてしほかはくちを　いゆくわかもの (Harashiroki kyokounouowo senioite shiokawakuchiwo iyukuwakamono)」「出水川　あから濁りて　ながれたりつちより虹は　わきたちにけり (Demizugawa akaranigorite nagaretari tuchiyorinijiha wakitachinikeri)」「すくすくと　ゆふ空をさす　ねぎのはな傘さしてみる　そのふとねぎを (Sukusukuto yu-zorawosasu neginohana kasasashitemiru sonohutonegiwo)」

Monument

Maeda Yugure Birth Monument-It is quietly built in 2134 Minamiyana, Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture. In addition, there are 11 Maeda poems and monuments built in the city, such as "Sakuradote Kofun Park". The city holds the "Yugure Memorial Children's Tanka Tournament" every year.

Reception

Literary historian and critic

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japane ...

compared Kubota's poetry to that of

Akiko Yosano , 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 and early Shōwa eras of Japan. She is one of the most ...

, ironically one of the targets of Maeda's criticism.

References

Works cited

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maeda, Yuugure 20th-century Japanese poets 1883 births 1951 deaths People from Hadano, Kanagawa