#shinpei kusano

[cerealandchoccymilk]

idk if anyone here gives a shit but reading about the lives of japanese modern era writers is so fun...

(this blue mackarel/peach blossom incident is the most famous fight between dazai osamu and nakahara chuya)

[kristopherbiernat]

lost poets #1: Kusano Shinpei

[illusioncanthurtme--art]

Shinpei for @peachy-jeans! 🐸✨ I wanted to post this comm because I really enjoyed drawing it... it's been a while since I've drawn an anime character in my style, and I had a lot of fun.

[velvetbyrne]

Final book haul of the year, I am broke.

List (left to right):

Woodpecker Detective's Office by Ii Kei

Politicians of the Bakumatsu Era by Fukuchi Ōchi

Criticism of Theatre by Miki Takeji (Mori Ōgai's little brother)

Book of the Dead by Orikuchi Shinobu

Vita Sexualis by Mori Ōgai

Tsuboi Sakae's book of Fairy Tales by Tsuboi Sakae

Akai Tori Collection by Various Authors

A Day with Cats by Osaragi Jirō

Lemon by Kajii Motojirō

The Bird's Nest by Suzuki Miekichi

Higuchi Ichiyō Novel Collection by Higuchi Ichiyō

The Black Lizard by Hirotsu Ryūrō

Otōto by Kōda Aya

A Room of Sweet Honey by Mori Mari

The Golden Demon by Ozaki Kōyō

Saitō Mokichi's Poetry Collection by Saitō Mokichi

Takuboku's Poetry Collection by Ishikawa Takuboku

Wakayama Bokusui's Poetry Collection by Wakayama Bokusui

Kusano Shinpei's Poetry Collection by Kusano Shinpei

Miya Shūji's Poetry Collection by Miya Shūji

Hagiwara Sakutarō's Poetry Collection by Hagiwara Sakutarō

Tachihara Michizō's Poetry Collection by Tachihara Michizō

[vlkphoto]

A Prayer for Peace

At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima, Chugoku.

The figures of a mother and a child, 1.4 meters high, are placed on top of a 1.8-meter-high pedestal. The figures were made and offered by Katsuzo Entsuba and the pedestal was built with money sent by students from all over Japan and by the Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce. A child held by his mother is playing the trumpet, with a crescent moon in the foreground. The unveiling ceremony took place on August 2, 1977. At the ceremony, the sculptor Katsuzo Entsuba described the meaning of his creation. "From parent to child, not yesterday but tomorrow, the crescent moon will become a full moon. I want to sound the trumpet for peace in the search for a new future." Beside this statue, there stands a monument where the poem "Dedicated to the Statue of a Prayer for Peace (August, 1978)" by the poet, Shinpei Kusano is engraved.

[maximax-x]

Art © me

[amzarashi]

- Kusano Shinpei, Kuukan (空間)

[tr. 

Nakahara, my friend.

Tonight the earth is wintry, cold, and dark.

Well then,

Goodbye. ]

[danielvalwade]

Kusanoo ~

[fictionkinfessions]

book recs: if you're into shorter, more fairy tale like stories i recommend kenji miyazawa's works, especially night on the galactic railroad and nighthawk's star. for darker or heavier content, osamu dazai and ryuunosuke akutagawa are easy finds (i especially like no longer human and kappa.) for poetry, chuuya nakahara, sakutarou hagiwara, and shinpei kusano are good reads.

[heavenlyyshecomes]

dude not to geek out over japanese poetry but ono no komachi is just, gahhhhhh,,, the man'yōshū has some wonderful poems scattered about it and i would love to translate some of them once i get better at japanese;; one of dreams is to be good enough at japanese that i can read nakahara's poetry without much difficulty; (speaking of have you read the very simple tribute/ that kusano shinpei wrote post-nakahara's death,,, it's so delicate and casual but packs so much emotion in four measley lines)

I love ono no komachi!! I've been learning japanese on and off for like 3 now and I'm still so bad at it 😭 but translating poetry is so difficult I'm so in awe of u I hope u get to translate stuff soon! u already might've read it but if u haven't I highly recommend the ink dark moon not just because of the poems but also because it has a wonderful appendix with detailed notes on how the poems were translated and every poem in its original (romaji) form (it's also where I learnt abt kakekotoba or pivot words). Also I haven't heard of the poem you mentioned but I'm gonna look it up <3 not to recommend another poem and keep going around in circles rn but since we are speaking of poems written as a tribute izumi shikibu's poems written after her daughter's death are very beautiful (and so is her last poem!)

[kurauchiryuko-works]

poet Shinpei Kusano 草野心平 この人の詩を見た。文字通り見る詩であると思う。 それよりも居酒屋をやっていて、赤字だったそうだ。そのせいか知らないが写真を探すとお猪口を口に運んでいる写真がやたら出てくる。自分のための店だったのかもしれない。 #草野心平 #詩 #蛙 #カエル #かえる #居酒屋 #火の車 #詩人 #赤字 #いわき市

[danielvalwade]

Kusano-kun.............

[velvetbyrne]

「The Flowers of Karma」 - Miyazawa Kenji & Nakahara Chūya

Introduction

Clipart from Irasutoya

When talking about writers, it is also important to talk about their idols and inspirations as it is reflective of the types of works that they want to write. Sometimes the inspiration and their works are quite obvious such as the case with Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Dazai Osamu, both were known for their short stories and novels, giants of Japanese literature in their own right. But, there are relationships which are rarely discussed due to how far detached they are in terms of the works which they have written.

Today, I will be discussing one of those relationships that may seem farfetched at first glance. Mainly anecdotes where Nakahara had quoted Miyazawa.

There is a world in human nature that is almost totally beyond the scope of this concept, and it can be said that Miyazawa Kenji's life was an unceasing love affair with that world. - Nakahara Chūya, The World of Miyazawa Kenji (1939) [Published posthumously]

The lives of both Nakahara and Miyazawa could not be more different. Kenji lived a life of simplicity, rejecting his family's fortune while studying agriculture. Nakahara on the other hand lived like his Symbolist inspirations, drowning himself with booze and living a decadent lifestyle. The poems of Miyazawa Kenji often exemplifies his exorbitant positivity in the face of arduous challenges such as in "Undefeated by the Rain" while Nakahara's poems once more, follows suit with this symbolist peers discussing the darker themes in life such as his poem "Lament of the Lamb".

But, such contradictions puts beauty into their literary connection. They also had their similarities as well with both being poets and living in the same era.

Works regarding Miyazawa Kenji

Nakahara has written two short pieces of texts regarding Miyazawa. One regarding the release of the Complete Works of Miyazawa Kenji and another on the "World of Miyazawa Kenji". However, for the sake of brevity I will mainly be discussing the first work as it shows Nakahara's love for Miyazawa's works the most.

In the first one, Nakahara writes about his love for the works of Miyazawa, stating that he bought the book "Spring and Shura" (春と修羅, Haru to shura) back in 1924 and quickly fell in love with the works. He then wonders why Miyazawa wasn't recognized before his death despite his skills in poetry.

Was it because of insufficient advertising that he was recognized so late? Was it because he did not live in Tokyo? Was it because he had a profession other than being a poet, namely teaching? Was it because he did not have the so-called "literary wanderings"? Or was it a combination of other circumstances? Perhaps it was one of them, perhaps it was a combination of them. - Nakahara Chūya, The Complete Works of Miyazawa Kenji (1934)

Nakahara then continues on talking about the possibilities of why he wasn't recognized much faster despite his works being easy to understand and that Miyazawa's works should be recognized by the wider public. He also comments that Miyazawa imbued his poems with the spirit of old folk songs that "can be felt by anyone who has picked up a poetry book." 

His rantings continued on calling the public naive as to not understand Miyazawa's 'clarity of character' and that people did not understand the value of Miyazawa's works. To him, maybe that was the reason why Miyazawa's works were not recognized faster. Nakahara then mentions that he has recommended Spring and Chaos to many people but then laments that since he was a nobody, nobody was willing to pick up the book; wondering if he wasn't persuasive enough in recommending the book.

An Anecdote from Dan Kazuo

In the book "Dazai Osamu: The Novel" (小説：太宰治) written by Dan Kazuo, there were stories included which described Dazai's meeting with Nakahara Chūya for the Blue Flower Magazine. 

This particular meeting was the second time they met and the meeting included three people which are Dazai Osamu, Dan Kazuo and Nakahara Chūya (Kusano Shinpei was not here for the meeting). Dan described the meeting and per usual for the two, Dazai and Nakahara fought verbally. Nakahara became deeply agitated and left the room, perhaps because his friend Kusano was not with them and exclaimed that he'd like to go to meet Dazai despite Dan telling him to stop.

Nakahara got tired of fighting and lied in the snow, as he lied there he starts quoting Miyazawa Kenji's poem The Flowers of Karma (業の花びら) from Spring and Shura. He then continued to toil around quoting the poem until he decided to go annoy Dazai again. Nakahara went to his room and pounded on his door which woke up the house owner telling him that, "Mr. Tsushima is asleep". This did not stop him however, he quietly snuck into the room and continued to threaten Dazai in his sleep.

After seeing this Dan caught his arm as Nakahara started to spiral down into a frenzy. Nakahara tried to shake him off but Dan took him out of the room and into the yard where Nakahara tried to swing at him. Dan however, realized what was going on and quickly threw him to the snow, after this Nakahara decided to leave for Ginza.

Conclusion

We can see that through his writings and his actions, Nakahara found a profound love in Miyazawa's poetry. That the simplicity of Miyazawa's poems hides the deep meaning behind his works and he wishes that Miyazawa's works could be recognized before his death. His constant recommendation of Miyazawa's works was also a testament to how much he loved the man's works, while not as big as an influence to his works such as Arthur Rimbaud or Charles Baudelaire, it can be seen that that Miyazawa Kenji has played part in influencing the great poet himself.

Sources used

宮沢賢治全集. Aozora Bunko 宮沢賢治の世界. Aozora Bunko 中原���也と、太宰治と、宮沢賢治と。. 風薫る道