The Araragi School and Saitō Mokichi — The Deepening of Shasei and the Center of Shōwa Tanka

The Position of the Araragi School

Araragi was a tanka magazine founded in October Meiji 41 (1908), centering on Itō Sachio. As the direct successor to Masaoka Shiki’s Negishi Tanka Society, it took as its mission the deepening and systematization of Shiki’s theory of shasei.

As the mainstream of 20th-century Japanese tanka, it held the central position in the tanka world for some 90 years, from the end of the Meiji era into late Shōwa. Its influence on tanka history is the greatest of the 20th century.

The name “Araragi” comes from the Japanese yew (araragi) tree, sung of in the Man’yōshū — a naming directly linked to the revival of the Man’yō style.

The Founding of Araragi (1908)

The Founding Course

• 1902, Shiki’s death
• 1903-1907, the Negishi Tanka Society published under the names Ashibi and Araragi
• October 1908, these were unified and Araragi was founded
• The publisher was Itō Sachio’s dairy shop (Chiba Prefecture), later moving to Tokyo

Main Founding Members

• Itō Sachio (1864-1913) — head, editor
• Warabi Shin’ichirō — business
• Oka Fumoto — a disciple of Shiki
• Katori Hōzuma — metal caster
• Nakamura Kenkichi (1889-1934) — later a central poet

At the founding, these were the middle generation of poets in their 30s and 40s. The younger generation (Saitō Mokichi and others) had not yet joined.

The Death of Itō Sachio and the Change of System

In July 1913, Itō Sachio died suddenly at 50. Afterward, Shimaki Akahiko took over the editorship. From about this time the younger generation (Saitō Mokichi, Koizumi Chikashi, Tsuchiya Bunmei, etc.) came to play the central roles.

Saitō Mokichi — The Greatest of the Araragi Poets

Saitō Mokichi (1882-1953) was the central poet of the Araragi school. In an activity of 70 years, from the late Meiji to the middle Shōwa era, he left about 17,900 tanka and much medical writing and literary criticism.

Life

Origins and Youth (1882-1905)

• May 14, 1882, born the son of a farmer in Kanabō Village, Minami-Murayama District, Yamagata Prefecture (now Kaminoyama City)
• Real name Moriya Mokichi
• 1896 (age 14), adopted into the family of the Tokyo doctor Saitō Kiichi (the Saitō family were psychiatrists)
• Attended Tokyo’s Kaisei Middle School → First Higher School → Faculty of Medicine of Tokyo Imperial University

Career as Psychiatrist and Tanka (1905-1917)

• 1905, in the third year of medical college, was shocked reading the Man’yōshū
• 1906, visited Itō Sachio and became his disciple in tanka
• 1910, graduated medical college and worked as psychiatrist at the Tokyo Prefectural Sugamo Hospital
• 1913, his teacher Sachio died; Mokichi came to the center of Araragi

Mokichi worked all his life as a psychiatrist (at Sugamo Hospital in Tokyo, later as director of the Aoyama Brain Hospital) while continuing his tanka activity. A representative case of “wearing two hats.”

Publication of Shakkō (1913)

In October Meiji 46 (1913), at 31, Mokichi published his first tanka collection Shakkō (Red Light). It contains 834 poems. A monumental work in tanka history, extolled as “the summit of shasei tanka.”

The Death of His Mother and Aratama (1913, 1921)

In May 1913, Mokichi’s mother Iku died in his native Yamagata. Mokichi wrote a cycle of 59 poems, “Shini-tamou haha” (My Mother Who Died), about the days just before her death, the day itself, the funeral, and afterward. This is the center of Shakkō and is regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of modern tanka (see below).

His second collection Aratama (1921) gathers his Taishō-era work.

Study in Germany (1921-1924)

In 1921, Mokichi at 39 studied in Germany at Munich University and Vienna University, learning psychiatry. He lived in Europe for three years, encountering Western literature and music as well. His style after his return changed a little (En’yū 1928, etc.).

The Aoyama Brain Hospital and Shōwa-Era Activity (1924-1945)

After returning, he took over from his adoptive father as director of the Aoyama Brain Hospital (=the private hospital of the Saitō family). His life as a doctor became central. He published his tanka collections Shimo (1929), Takahara (1930), Sekisen (1932), and others in succession.

The Pacific War and “Man’yō-Style Nationalism” (1937-1945)

In the second decade of Shōwa, Mokichi also wrote nationalistic tanka in wartime. The “Man’yō style” had a side that connected with a state-nationalist context, and Mokichi himself left poems supporting the war. This is later criticized as the negative side of Mokichi, but we should not forget that many literary figures of the same era took similar positions.

August 1945, defeat. Mokichi was in evacuation to his native Yamagata and remained there for some time even after the defeat.

Late Years — Hakutō and the Last 10 Years (1945-1953)

After the war, Mokichi returned to Tokyo and continued to publish his tanka collections Shiroki Yama (1949), Tsukikage (1954, posthumous). He kept composing tanka until just before his death.

February 25, 1953, died at 71. The Saitō Mokichi Memorial Museum in his native Kaminoyama City, Yamagata, preserves the materials of his lifetime.

Shakkō — A Monument in Tanka History

Shakkō (1913) is Mokichi’s first tanka collection at 31. It contains 834 poems. The title comes from the Buddhist term “shakkō shikishiki” (red light, red color) in the Amidakyō.

“Shini-tamou Haha” (a Cycle of 59 Poems)

The center and summit of Shakkō is the cycle of 59 poems, “Shini-tamou haha” (My Mother Who Died), on the death of his mother. On hearing of the critical condition of his mother Iku in May 1913, Mokichi went home to Yamagata, and the five-day journey, death watch, and funeral are sung as a narrative poem cycle.

Representative Poems (from “Shini-tamou Haha”)

“Haha ga me wo / shimashi hanarete / kaiko-beya no sumi no / akari ni / oritari keru kana”

He left the deathbed of his mother a moment and was under the light in the corner of the silkworm room. The nearness of the mother’s death and the child’s distance who cannot look at it directly are engraved with the concrete scene of “the corner of the silkworm room.”

“Nodo akaki / tsubakurame futatsu / hari ni ite / tarachine no haha wa / shini-tamou nari”

• nodo akaki tsubakurame futatsu — two red-throated swallows
• hari ni ite — on the beam of the house
• tarachine no haha — mother (a Man’yō pillow-word)
• shini-tamou nari — is dying (honorific)

A natural object — the swallows — and the decisive event of the mother’s death are placed side by side. The present tense of “shini-tamou nari” carves the moment of death. A famous poem regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of modern tanka.

“Tomoshibi wo / tōki hayashi no / soko fukaku / miidete soko ni / ayumamu to suru mo”

After the funeral, he sees a lamp in the deep of the distant forest and tries to walk toward it. It carves the sense of loss and a walk with no meaning.

“Michinoku no / haha no inochi wo / hito-me mimu / hito-me mimu to zo / tada ni isogeru”

• michinoku no haha no inochi — the life of the mother in the Northeast (Yamagata)
• hito-me mimu — let me see her once
• hito-me mimu to zo — thinking, let me see her once
• tada ni isogeru — hurrying without pause

The feeling of hurrying only from Tokyo to Yamagata to see his dying mother. The repetition of “hito-me mimu / hito-me mimu” directly delivers his impatience and desperation.

Significance of “Shini-tamou Haha”

• Constructs the individual experience of a mother’s death as a narrative of 59 poems
• A fusion of concrete scene and lyricism
• Realizes the technique of shasei in an extremely refined form
• Establishes the possibility of the “cycle” in modern tanka

“Shini-tamou haha” is even today included without fail in textbooks and anthologies as a masterpiece of tanka.

Other Representative Poems of Mokichi

“Hakutō” (Hakutō, 1942)

“Hakutō no / usura akaruku / narabi ori / shizuka ni fuyu no / hi wo kaeshi tsutsu”

The white peaches are lined up, faintly bright. Quietly reflecting the winter sun. Portraying in fine detail the material feel (faintly bright) and reflection of light, this is the summit of Mokichi’s late shasei.

“Mogami-gawa” (Shakkō)

“Mogami-gawa / sakashira-nami no / tatsu made ni / fubuku yūbe to / narinikeru kamo”

The Mogami River rose to sakashira-nami (=waves driven upstream by the wind), an evening of snowstorm. A powerful natural description in the Man’yō style, a homeland scene only a Yamagata-born Mokichi could give.

“Yowa” (Aratama)

“Aka-aka to / ippon no michi / tōritari / tama-kiwaru / waga inochi nari keri”

• aka-aka to ippon no michi — a single road, red and red (in a sunset?)
• tōritari — was passing through
• tama-kiwaru waga inochi — my life (=the Man’yō pillow-word “tama-kiwaru” → “inochi”)

The direct self-reference of “waga inochi” (my life), the use of the Man’yō word “tama-kiwaru,” the visual image of the single road — a completed form of Mokichi’s style.

Other Main Poets of the Araragi School

Shimaki Akahiko (1876-1926)

• From Suwa, Nagano Prefecture
• Chief editor of Araragi, 1913-1926
• Advanced the theorization of “shasei”
• Representative poem: “Mizuumi no / kōri wa tokete / nao samushi / mikazuki no kage / nami ni utsurou” (Lake Suwa)

Tsuchiya Bunmei (1890-1990)

• From Gunma Prefecture
• Another pillar of the Araragi school, along with Mokichi
• Lived to 100 — a poet who saw the entire span of 20th-century tanka
• Representative poem (late years): “Akatsuki no / fusuma no naka no / utsukushisa / waga hitotsu dake no / inochi otoroenu”

Koizumi Chikashi (1886-1927)

• From Chiba Prefecture
• Died at 40, an early theoretical pillar of Araragi
• Advocated a “fusion of description and lyricism”

Nakamura Kenkichi (1889-1934)

• From Hiroshima Prefecture
• Proposed the theory of “jissō kannyū” (see below)

“Jissō Kannyū” — The Theoretical Core of Araragi

The theoretical core of the Araragi school is the thought of “jissō kannyū” proposed by Nakamura Kenkichi and developed by Mokichi and Akahiko.

Meaning

• jissō — the true form of the object
• kannyū — to look into, to observe deeply
• jissō kannyū — deep observation of the true form of the object

This is a development of Shiki’s simple “shasei” (write what you see). Rather than merely copying outward form, it looks into the inside and essence of the object before composing.

A Concrete Example

Mokichi’s poem “Nodo akaki tsubakurame futatsu” is not simply looking at swallows; it also includes the inner reality of “I saw swallows at the moment of my mother’s death.” This is the practice of “jissō kannyū.”

Araragi’s Disciple Line (2nd and 3rd Generations)

Araragi lasted over 90 years and produced many disciple lines:

Second Generation (Early Shōwa)

• Satō Satarō (1909-1987) — direct disciple of Mokichi, refined shasei
• Shibōta Minoru (1904-1991)
• Gomi Yasuyoshi (1901-1982)
• Yamaguchi Mokichi (1900-1958) — a name confusable with Mokichi’s, but a different person

Third Generation (Postwar)

• Takayasu Kuniyo (1913-1984) — independent from Araragi
• Shimada Shūji (1928-2004)
• Ueda Miyoji (1923-1989)

The End of Araragi (1997)

In 1997, the 90-year-long Araragi ended publication. This is a symbolic event meaning the completion of the generational turnover of tanka magazines. Today’s main tanka magazines — Tanka Kenkyū, Tanka, Kadan — are centered on non-Araragi ones.

The Significance of the Araragi School

1. Formation of the 20th-Century Tanka Mainstream

From the end of Meiji to late Shōwa, the Araragi school was the mainstream of Japanese tanka. Through its central poets (Mokichi, Akahiko, Bunmei), the “image of tanka” held by modern Japanese is centered on the Araragi kind (Man’yō style, shasei, simple and strong).

2. Theoretical Deepening of Shasei

It deepened Shiki’s “shasei” theoretically as “jissō kannyū.” This resonates with the shasei theory of haiku as well, and formed the common thought basis of modern Japanese poetic forms.

3. Completion of the Reevaluation of the Man’yōshū

Kamo no Mabuchi in the Edo era, Shiki in Meiji, and the Araragi school in Shōwa — a reevaluation of the Man’yōshū across three generations was completed with Araragi. That modern Japanese feel the Man’yōshū to be close at hand owes a great deal to the educational influence of the Araragi school.

4. The Dark Side in Wartime

Mokichi and other Araragi poets wrote nationalistic tanka in wartime. There was the dangerous linkage of “Man’yō style = the heart of Japan = nationalism.” This is both the light and the shadow of the Araragi school.

5. Inheritance Through the Disciple Network

For 90 years the Araragi school passed on the manner of tanka through its disciple network. This is an inheritance apparatus common to Japanese poetic forms, alongside the “master-journal” system of haiku.

From This Article to the Next

After the war, in the second and third decades of Shōwa, as a reaction against the conservative shasei tanka of the Araragi school, the avant-garde tanka movement arose. Centered on Tsukamoto Kunio (1920-2005), Terayama Shūji (1935-1983), Okai Takashi (1928-2020). With difficult, experimental, urban tanka, they built the turning point toward modern tanka. The next article traces the avant-garde tanka.