Today is the birthday of Ashikaga Yoshikazu, the 5th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate. He was born in 1407 and reigned from 1423 until his death in 1425. He was, from all reports, a drunk, and this is what led to his death at such a young age. His uncle took over after his death and was such a divisive figure that he helped lead to the Ōnin War, a war which would rob the Ashikaga of their power and lead to a century and a half of bloody civil war in Japan.
Today is the birthday of Kenji Miyazawa, born 1896. He was a poet and children's book author, and also a devout Buddhist and vegetarian. He worked as a teacher in order to support himself. He insisted that true learning came from direct experience and so he often took his students outside and would hold class while taking walks in the hills and countryside.
In 1924 he was able to gather enough money from his work to publish his first collection of children's stories. This collection included "The Restaurant of Many Orders", a delightful tale in which two hunters find themselves in an unknown restaurant in the middle of nowhere. They don't find any people in the restaurant, but a number of signs ordering them to do various things before being allowed through a door where they would find another order and door. These orders began innocently enough with "Brush your hair", but became increasingly bizarre as they went. Finally the hunters realize the restaurant is run by the very animals they hunt and the orders are designed to prepare them to be eaten.
Moral messages like this were common in Miyazawa's writings.
He suffered his entire life from pleurisy, an inflammation of the surrounding lining of the lungs, a condition which can cause pain when breathing and can lead to viral infections of the lungs. Because of this condition he was often incapacitated for months at a time. He died in 1933 of pneumonia. Since his death, he has gone on to become one of the most famous writers of modern Japan.
Here is a poem for today from Kenji Miyazawa, his most famous poem, called Strong in the Rain.
Strong in the rain
Strong in the wind
Strong against the summer heat and snow
He is healthy and robust
Free of all desire
He never loses his generous spirit
Nor the quiet smile on his lips
He eats four cups of brown rice
Miso and a few vegetables a day
He does not consider himself
In whatever occurs…his understanding
Comes from observation and experience
And he never loses sight of things
He lives in a little thatched-roof hut
In a field in the shadows of a pine tree grove
If there is a sick child in the east
He goes there to nurse the child
If there’s a tired mother in the west
He goes to her and carries her sheaves
If someone is near death in the south
He goes and says, ‘Don’t be afraid’
If there’s strife and lawsuits in the north
He demands that the people put an end to their pettiness
He weeps at the time of drought
He plods about at a loss during the cold summer
Everybody calls him ‘Blockhead’
No one sings his praises
Or takes him to heart…
That is the sort of person
I want to be.
Miyazawa was a very strict Buddhist. He was a vegetarian even when doctors urged him to eat meat for his health. This poem was a reflection of his ideal for himself—almost a vow. It is one of the most famous poems in Japan.
❦
 | David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More? |
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