Akemi’s Poems and Other Writings

A poor poet finds pleasure in rice, grilled tofu, and the laughter of his children. A night festival fills Tokyo with red lanterns. A novice painter proudly shows a friend his sketch, only to receive a devastatingly comic verdict.

These writings by Masaoka Shiki join literary criticism to the close observation of ordinary life. The opening essay examines Tachibana no Akemi’s poems in depth, praising their sincerity and new subjects while questioning their cadence. A preface to Yosano Tekkan’s poetry sounds a more combative note.

The later pieces turn toward Shiki’s own experience: a frightening voyage home from the Sino-Japanese War, the pleasures of reading and painting, and the increasingly severe pain of his sickbed. He writes candidly about faith, death, family care, birds, flowers, and the individual paths of fellow poets.