On the Bridge and Other Poems and Essays

A fish moves beneath a bridge, and two philosophers argue about happiness. A lonely poet quarrels with his closest friend. In these six complete works, Hagiwara Sakutarō follows thought and feeling from playful debate to the most intimate questions of art and human understanding.

The volume includes a winter diary, an affectionate and painful portrait of Muroo Saisei, and an evocative essay on Ikaho’s stone stairs and hot springs. Its central poetry collection, Miniatures of Pure Feeling, moves from early love and delicate melancholy to the fierce landscapes of a homeland the poet must leave. All twenty-eight poems appear with their original prefatory essays, landscape commentaries, and afterword.

The concluding remembrance of Akutagawa Ryūnosuke traces a friendship through admiration, misunderstanding, literary argument, and grief. Hagiwara’s candid voice reveals a restless modern Japanese writer confronting both the world and himself. This complete English translation preserves physical verse lines, stanza divisions, dialogue, and historical phrasing. Brief notes explain names, textual uncertainties, and publication context. AI-assisted translation, prepared and edited by Valentin Sarić.