(updated Nov.20.2003)

Hello, everyone!

How are you? I'm fine.

This month I joined a choir to sing Japanese songs and one of the songs was Tokinashigusa (Literally means "no time grass"). This song is what ISOBE Toshi made music to the same titled poem of MUROO Saisei . It si very nice music. Please click here to hear it in midi.

MUROO Saisei was a famous poet and novelist in Japan. His lyrical works are still loved by many Japanese poeple. I also like them.

So today I will read the articles about MURO Saisei from "Japan - an illustrated Encyclopedia"(Kodansha).

MUROO Saisei (1889-1962)

Poet, novelist, and essayist. Born Obata Terumichi in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, he was an illegitimate child adopted into the Muroo family. In his youth he worked as a page at a district court. His superior, who taught HAIKU on the side, introduced him to literature. In 1910 he left Kanazawa for Tokyo and, through his contributions to the journal Zamboa (Shaddock), came to know KITAHARA Hakushu (1885-1942) and HAGIWARA Sakutaro (1886-1942). Quickly becoming recognized as a born lyricist, he wrote short poems in a free style and slightly unorthodox classical language. His collections include "Ai no shishu" (1918, Poems of Love) and "Jojo shokyokushu" (1918, Short Lyrical Songs).
After he married in 1918, Muroo associated with novelist AKUTAGAWA Ryunosuke and began writing lyrical autobiographical novels. His first work in prose was "Yonen jidai"(My Childhood), which was followed by "Sei ni mezameru koro"(As I Was Awakened to Sex) and "Aru shojo no shi made"(The Death of a Certain Girl), all in 1919. However, as Japanese writers cultivated new ideas and techniques in their literature and expanded their vision and sought to deepen their introspection, he was somewhat isolated from the main current.
His longest novel, "Anzukko"(1956-57), was awarded the Yomiuri Literary Prize in 1958. He won the Noma Literary Prize for "Kagero no nikki ibun (1958-59, A Supplement to The Gossamer Years), a long novel based on the famous Heian-period (794-1185) diary "KAGERO NIKKI". Muroo also composed haiku and published several collections. In 1960 he established the Muroo Saisei Poetry Prize.

Tokinashigusa is in "Jojo shokyokushu". It begins "Aki no hikari ni midorigumu ... ". If you want to hear the original poem, Please click here. As you hear, it is a very short poem which means

Don't pick up tokinashigusa,
Which green in the autumnal sun.
The green that will gently get longer in the sun,
Its dream is empty,
The sunlight sank by the water.
Oh my dear friend, tokinashigusa,
Which green in secret, have pensive beauty,
Don't touch it even with your graceful fingers.

It is a nice poem, isn't it? And the music that Isobe made is also very nice. Isobe Toshi was the director of Waseda University Glee Club. I didn't know this till quite recently, though.

Then see you next time!

[back number]