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Title 日本に於けるキーツ
Author(s) 尾形, 猛
Citation 北海道教育大学紀要. 第一部. A, 人文科学編, 20(2): 144-171
Issue Date 1970-01
URL http://s-ir.sap.hokkyodai.ac.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/3974
Rights
Hokkaido University of Education Vol. 20, No. 2 Journal of Hokkaido University of Education January 1970
Keats in Japan
BY Takeshi OUATA
Department of English, I-Iakodate Branch, I-Iokkaiclo University of Education
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Important books and papers have been published on the
history of Keats's repution in England and America.
But historical studies in Keats's reputation in Japan
have not been made yet. Therefore it may be of importance as well as of interest to sketch the growth
of Keats's reputation, indicating when and how he first
became known in Japan, who were his earliest critics and
translators, and who were influenced by him. This survey will be an attempt to trace, more or less chronologically,
the development of Keats s reputation and influence,
and of the studies on him, in Japan, down to 1939.
I . The Earliest Indirect Introduction of Keats to Japan and its Background
John Keats was born in 1795 and died in 1821. His fame as a poet was established
early in the mid-century alike in England and in America. In the European countries
also, he was widely talked about. In Japan, however, Keats was not mentioned until
1871. The major reason for this is to be sought in Japan's foreign policy. In 1639,
the Tokugawa Shogunate Government adopted the seclusion policy with the intention
of the prohibition of Christianity, and the door of Japan was closed to all foreigners
except Dutch merchants and Chinese. This exclusion lasted for a period of more than two centuries, until, shortly before the Meiji era, Japan reopened its doors to
the world at large. Therefore, before the Meiji era, there was little opportunity for the study of English, much less of English authors. But in 1808, the English ship Phaeton arrived at Nagasaki and flouted the isolation policy demanding for food and
water. The officials there, for want of knowledge of English, failed in their duty to
reject the demand, and were forced to meet the demand because of their military weakness. This event created a need for knowledge of English. In the following
year, the Tokugawa Government ordered the interpreters at Nagasaki to study English, lest trouble should arise from future misunderstanding. This was the original motive
for English study in Japan. In 1841, Rokuzo Shibukawa's translation of the Dutch
-144 - Takeshi Ogata version of English Grammar (1795) by the American grammarian Lindley Murray was published. In it, the names of Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Addison, and Sterne were first introduced into Japan. In 1853 the names of Shakespeare, Milton, Soenser, and Dryden appeared in the Japanese reprint of Ch'en Feng-heng's short Chinese history of England. In the same year, Commodore Perry's " Black Ships," as Perry's frigates equipped with modern armaments, arrived in an attempt to make Japan open her country to foreign intercourse, and in 1858, Japan sighned a treaty of commerce with the United States. The need for a knowledge of English became more pressing than ever. In 1859, an English conversation book entitled Eibei Taiwa Shokei (Short Course of English Conversation) was published by Manjiro Nakahama (1827-1898), known as John Man to Americans. A fisherman from Tosa in Shikoku, he went adrift in
1841, was rescued by an American whaler, and was brought to America. There he was taught in a school for about five years. So he accidentally became the first
Japanese student to study abroad in modern times. Later he was appointed teacher of English at the Kaiseijo (the Tokugawa Government's Institute for Foreign Studies and Translation OflRce), the forerunner of the present Tokyo University.
Among Manjiro's students was Keiu (Masanao) Nakamura (1832-1891). He was sent to England in 1866 by the Tokugawa Government in search of new knowledge. On leaving London, in the first year of Meiji (1868), he was given a copy of Samuel Smiles' Self-Help, which he thought worth translating for the benefit of his fellow countrymen. The translation was published in 1871 under the title Saikoku Risshi- Hen (Biographies of Self-Made Men of the Western Nations). It had a large circulation, and introduced to the Japanese public many names and some biographical sketches of English men of letters, such as Chaucer, Bunyan, Spenser, Shakespeare,
Bacon, Ben Jonson, Addison, Thomson, Goldsmith, Southey, Burns, Coleridge, Gibbon,
Tennyson, Ruskin, Disraeli, Mill, Franklin, and others. We cannot expect freedom from error in such translations, but the Japanese style of the learned Nakamura was both lucid and refined, and it set a commendable standard.
It was in this book that, so far as we know, the name of John Keats was first introduced to Japan. Keats is mentioned along with Edmund Burke, Scott, Wordsworth, Milton, Pope and Macaulay in the section called " the sons of attorneys and other illustrious men of humble origin." Smiles' original sentence, " Keats was a druggist,"!) is mistranslated into Japanese as "S^^^'^i^iS ^ =f-i' l> " "Keats is a son of a druggist."2) *-» Smiles' Self-Help had been published in 1859 and received considerable favor in England. It is said that it sold 20,000 copies in the first year of publication, and 13,000 copies during the thirty years from I860 to 1890. At that time this was quite a large sale. Nakamura's Saikokti Risshi-Hen was received with similar enthusiasm. Bankei Otsuki describes the booming success of the book as follows :
" More than one hundred printers and binders worked day and night, but every day
—145- Keats in Japan
the crowds of shouting people were pressing at the door from morning till night
demanding a new copy."3) The reason for the wide circulation of the book lies in the lessons of industry,
perseverance, and self culture which the book contains. At this time Japanese people could hope for success in life if they worked diligently. Therefore the book appealed to the growing ambition of Japanese youth. Also, at the time when the Japanese people were attempting to discover the reasons for the success of Western peoples,
as shown by their military and commercial achievements, this book showed them how
to get along in the European manner. From this brief survey, it is quite obvious that up to the beginning of the Meiji era the study of English in Japan was motivated by the practical need for enlightenment,
and that English men of letters were introduced quite indirectly. Great names such
as Shakespeare and Milton were introduced several times, but the name of John
Keats was mentioned, so far as we know, only once, and that by accident and not from an interest in his art but from an interest in him as a man successful in life.
U. Gradual Approach to Keats in the Period of the Meiji Era (1868-1910)
1. General Trends The twenty-year period after the Meiji Restoration (1868) was, generally speaking, one of Europeanization. Japanese people were earnestly seeking to learn how to get
along in the European manner. The new life, however, was not founded on a
complete awaking, rather the people sought to create it through imitation of the
West. In this sense the period can also be called one of imitation. Therefore during
this twenty-year period there was nothing produced worthy of being considered as
literature, and almost all the works were of an elementary and instructive nature.
The trend is quite obvious in Nakamura's Saikoku^Risshi-Hen, which I mentioned in
the previous section. It is said that the dawn of a new age in Meiji literature began with the revolution in the world of poetry caused by the appearance in 1882 of the ShintaishisJzo
(Selection of New Style Poetry). But this new style poetry was worked out on the European pattern. As the introductory remark by the editors shows, "it is in imitation of the example of European poems that all the poems in this book are written by separating lines and by dividing stanzas. 4) Therefore we will not be surprised to find that, except for five original poems which in fact are practically imitations of Western poems both in their ideas and their forms, the book consists of translations of Western poetry. The translated English poems in their original order are : Robert Bloomfield (1766-1823) : Soldier's Home Campbell (1777-1844) : Ye Mariners of England Tennyson (1809-1892) : Charge of the Light Brigade
146— Takeshi Ogata
Gray (1716-1777) : An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Longfellow (1807-1882) : A Psalm of Life Tennyson ; The Captain Charls Kingsley (1819-1875) : Three Fishers Shakespeare (1564-1616) : King Henry VIII, ffl, ii, 350-372 (Wolsey's speech) Longfellow : Children Shakespeare : King Henry IV, (2), ffl, i, 4-31 Shakespeare : Hamlet, ffl, i, 56-90 ("To be, or not to be") The historical significance of the SJuntaishisho's pioneer role in the adoption of extended poetic forms suited to conveying sustained thought was very great, but the English poems were translated uniformly and tediously into the traditional rhythms of the seven-five syllable pattern. The authors could not succeed very much in transplanting the original flexible expression into their translations. And is it not unfair that they chose such minor poets as Bloomfield, Campbell, and Kingsley, and did not choose any poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats? Minoru Toyoda suggests the influence on the Shiniaishisho of foreign teachers at Tokyo
Imperial University.5) We can discover that the poems they read with their classes are closely connected with the Shintaishisho.
As we have seen, the early period of the Meiji era produced only authors who imitated Western poetry and did not have true poetic taste, but we must not forget that the Shiniaishisho opened the new way to the general appreciation of English poetry as well as to new forms in which to contain new thought and new feelings, difficult to express through the traditional forms of the tanka (short verse of thirty- one syllables), haiktt (seventeen-syllabled verse), and kanshi (Chinese-style poems).
After the publication of the Shintaishisho, several English Romantic poets, as well as other Western poets, were gradually introduced to Japan. But the introduction of
Keats came late. One of the reasons for the late introduction of Keats perhaps was the subtlety of his original feeling for beauty and his exquisite artistic sensibility. We must remember that in England also Keats offended or puzzled or only half- satisfied most of his early readers and reviewers, because he often went counter to the accepted literary fashions and critical postulates of his day, Anyway the introduction of the other English poets gradually paved the way for the introduction of
Keats. Various biographies and translations of English Romantic poets as well as other Western authors were published. In 1894, Yaokichi (Koshoshi) Miyazaki (1864-1922) published the first Japanese biography of Wordsworth. In the next year, Uko Shioi published a translation of Scott's The Lady of the Lake. In 1900, two biographies of Byron and Shelley appeared. In 1899, translations of ten . songs [from Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (Canto XIII), and of Manfred (I, i, 1-49 and 192-261),
-147- Keats in Japan
appeared along with translated lyric poetry of German poets as well as of Japanese and Chinese classical poets. The translations were done by the members of the Shinseisha or S. S. S. (New Voice Society) formed by Ogai Mori (1862-1922). Ogai published the translated poems under the title of Omokage (Vestiges). The translated Western poems in their original order are : Byron : Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (Songs in the Thirteenth Canto). This is a translation from H. Heine's translation
entitled "Gute Nacht," Nikolaus Lenau (1820-1850) : " Das Mondlicht" Goethe : Mignon's song from Wilhelm Melster Karl Wormann (1844-?) : "Heimweh" Joseph Victor Scheffel (1826-1886) : " Lieder Jung Werners," " Lieder Margaretas," and " Fiinf Jahre Spater : Werners
Lieder aus Welschland" from Der Trompeter van Sackingen Heine : " Du Schones Fischermadchen " from Buck der Lieder Karl Gerok (1815-1890) : " Die Rose im Staub " Justinus Kerner (1786-1862) : " Abschied " Hoffmann (1776-1822) : A poem from Melster Martin der Kufer und seine Gesellen Lenau : " Schilflieder " E. Ferrand (1813-1842) : "Einst" Shakespeare : Ophelia's song from Hamlet
This is a translation from A. W. Schlegel's German
version. Byron : Manfred (I, i, 1-49) This is a translation from Heine's German version. Byron : M.anfred (I, i, 192-261) This was translated into a Chinese form of poetry from
Heine's Geeman version.
Ogai was very well read in German literature but, Yoshie Okazaki says, he was not
" restricted by a concern for linguistic accuracy," and " created a beautiful and elegant style which gave his work the highest literary value and which constitutes an art form higher than the original."6) And Konosuke Hinatsu says, " Here for the first time Meiji-Japan saw an example of an artistic new poetry."?) Ogai's translation, with no taint from being a translation, was received with great enthusiasm.
Ogai translated Manfred (I, i, 1-49) from the German translation by Heine.
Byron's original is ;
The lamp must lie replenish'd, but even then
—148— Takeshi Ogata
It will not burn so long as I must watch :
My slumbers—if I slumber—are not sleep, But a continuance of enduring thought,
Which then I can resist not : in my heart
There is a vigil, and these eyes but close
To look within ; ...
Heine's tranrlation goes like this :
Ich muss die Ampel wieder ffillen, dennoch
Brennt sie so lange nicht, als ich muss wachen.
Mein Schlaf-—wenn ich auch schlaf—-ist doch kein Schlaf,
Nur ein fortdauernd Briiten in Gedanken,
Die ich nicht bannen kann. Im Herzen pocht mir's Gleich wie ein Wecker, und mein Aug' erschliess'
Sich nur, einwarts zu schaun ... 8)
It becomes in Ogai :
Tomoshibi ni abura o ba ima hitotabi soeten
Saredo waga inuru made tamotan to mo omowazu
Ware nemuru to \va iedo makoto no nemuri narazu
Hukaki omoi no tame ni taezu kurushime rare te
Mune wa tokei no gotoku hima naku uchi sawagitsu
Waga husagishi manako wa uchi ni inukai te akeri ... 9)
Some scholars have found inaccuracies or mistakes in Ogai's translations. It may be true that Ogai's translation of Manfred is also inaccurate, when we compare it
with Byron's original ; but it is quite accurate when we compare it with Heine's version. For example Heine translated Byron's " in my heart/ There is a vigil " into
German as " Im Herzen pocht mir's/ Gleich wie ein Wecker." Ogai translated it into
Japanese as " Mune wa tokei no gotoku himanaku uchi sawagitsu " (My heart conti-
nuously beats alarm like a clock). In any case, Byron's lines, translated beautifully
by Ogai through Heine, were received with fresh wonder and were highly regarded
as the product of a very direct and skillfully expressed introspective inclination. And in the Omokage the lyrical and meditative phase of thought and feeling seen
in European poetry was transplanted successfully, and all the poems in the collection
were dyed with its basic tone of " Romantic " melancholy. It is really in this
collection that beautiful Japanization of Western poetry was performed for the first time. It exerted a profound influence on subsequent generations, not only on the
—149— Keats in Japan translation of poetry but on original poetry as well. It may be called " a magnificent specimen " of the poetry of Meiji era " rather a ' translation.' As T. S. Eliot says,
"each generation must translate for itself."10) Ogai translated definitely for his own generation, as North and Chapman did in England. Therefore it is natural that the translated poems were enthusiastically read by such Meiji Japanese poets as
Tokoku Kitamura, Toson Shimazaki, Tokuboku Hirata, Kyukin Susukida, Ariake
Kanbara, and others. And I think it is quite safe to say that the Omokage enabled the Japanese people to appreciate European poetry with deeper sympathy, and that it also opened the way to the gradual appreciation of the subtle feeling for beauty and the artistic sensibility of the poetry of Keats.
2. Commentaries on Keats ; Biographical and Critical Studies In 1890, Bimyo Yamada (1868-1910), in his Nippon Inbimron (An Essay on Japanese Verse), referred to Keats along with other English Romantic poets as follows : "In the early nineteenth century, English poetry flourished as in the
Elizabethan period ; and such poets as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron, and Scott were most distinguished."ID In 1891, Tamotsu Shibue published the first Japanese history of English literature. It has 264 pages, and tells the story of English literature down to Tennyson. Toyoda points out that " the book has no preface to indicate the sources drawn from, but it seems to owe at least something to Stopford Brooke."l2) In this book, Keats was, for the first time, discussed alone rather than with other poets, Shibue says ; John Keats was born in 1795 and died in 1820. He was
apprenticed to a surgeon in his early years. He always devoted himself to the composition of poems. In 1818, he published an
epic poem, Endymion ; but the Quarterly Magazine attacked
it so severely with the intention of deriding the author, that
Keats felt as if his heart was pierced through with a dagger, and his hereditary tuberculosis became incurable. Besides the
above poem, he published Hyperion, The Eve of St, Agnes,
Isabella, and others.13) In 1892, Keats was again discussed alone ; this time by Bimyo Yamada in his Bankoktt Jinmei Jisho (International Biographical Dictionary). Yamada says : Keats is an English poet. Born in 1795 or 1796. He published his first book of poems in 1817 when he was twenty-three years
old. Leigh Hunt recommended and helped to publish the book. He then published the famous Endymion and was severely
criticized. Being a man of nervous temperament, he became ill as a result of this criticism and he died in Rome in 1821. It is said that if he had lived longer, he would have written
150— Takeshi Ogata
considerably better poems. 14)
Incidentally, Yamada describes Byron as a fist-rate English poet. 15) In the same year, Nippon Eigaku Shinshi (The New Magazine of English Study in Japan) was published. In the 25th issue of the magazine, Chaucer, Spenser,
Shakespeare, Milton, and Byron were described as first-rate poets ; Keats, along with Browning, Dryden, Ben Jonson, Shelley, and Wordsworth, was regarded as a third-rate poet, 16) This ranking of the poets probably is the result influenced by foreign histories of English literature quite popular in Japan at that time. The English version of H. Taine's Histoire de la Litteralure Anglaise is one of them. The book devotes one whole chapter to Byron, discusses Byron's romantic life, the similarity between
Byron's Manfred and Goethe's Faust, and Goethe's view of Byron. But it has little to say about Keats. William Swinton's Studies in English Literature (1880) was also quite popular. It has no comment on Keats. Therefore it is not unnatural that students as well as some scholars in Japan at that time rated Keats as a sentimental, feminine, and insignificant poet. However, there were a few men, such as Doppo
Kunikida, who regarded Taine's theory of milieu as too naturalistic and materialistic, and denied it, Bin Ueda (1874-1916), for example, criticized the trend of the time, saying ; I am afraid that in our time Taine's Histoire de la Litterature Anglaise especially is a stumbling block to those who want to study English literature. Some scholars who have been widely
esteemed as masters of English literature have read only the
English version of Taine's book, and they have spread prejudiced
conclusions. So the beginners who cannot read critically Taine's
vigorous and sumptuous description have been influenced by
those who have propagated Taine's doctrine, condemned eighteenth
century literature, and over-praised Byron's destructive splendor.
The beginners have learned the haughty way of those scliolars.
Should one who really wants to taste the subtle flavor of poetry be satisfied with following other's opinion and their conventional
criticism? As for early nineteenth century poetry, we should
not neglect Shelley's airy purity, Keats's subtle beautifulness,
and Landors refinement, even though Taines followers have
underestimated them. These poets came after Coleridge, a genius, and shine brightly in the history of English literature.17) In his " Waga Bundan ni okeru Ei-doku-bungaku " (An Essay on English and German Literature in our Lterary Circle), which appeared in the literary journal Teikoku Bungaku (Imperial Literature, 1, 2) in 1885, Ueda lamented the situation again, saying, " most of those who study English literature look only at its surface, and
151— Keats in Japan
very few of them reach its soul."18) He regretted also that " the territory of English
study was greatly encroached upon in recent time by the study of German ...;
and the bad tendency of wanting to know a mere outline of a poem, neglecting
its tone and rhythm."19) He again criticized the trend, in his " Eishi no Kenkyu " (An Essay on the Study of English Poetry), which appeared in the journal Hansei Zasshi (The Magazine of Introspection, XII, 9 ; Oct. 1897), saying : Most men today who study English poetry make Shakespeare the
oldest poet, then suddenly they jump over to Dryden, read Goldsmith, and go on to read the poets who imitated the fashion of Byron and Scott. As for the literature in the present Victorian age, they only discuss the works of the former poet laureate.
Even if we can find by accident such great names as Spenser,
Shelley, and Keats in the works of essayists, we cannot think,
to judge from their description, that most of the essayists intended a really significant criticism. This is to say nothing also of their sympathetic appreciation. If the situation continues, the real worth of English poetry, which outmatched all other European poetry in its wealth of masterpieces, will remain unappreciated by the Japanese people. It is only natural that
men today frequently speak highly of German literature and
value Russian novels.20)
In his lecture on the literary history of the nineteenth century, Ueda said, "In the Ode on a Grecian Urn, Keats felt and described the true feeling of Greek life, and in such short lines in the Ode to a Nightingale as magic easements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn, Keats expressed the main feeling of the 'Romantic School.'21) Again in his lecture
on Modern English literature, he said ;
As for my personal opinion, I think Byron is also a great poet,
and Shelley also is an interesting poet. But as for my taste, I
would value Keats the highest. Keatss Endymion is popular
among men today, but I would say that his odes and his short
poems such as Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to Melancholy,, and
La Belle Dame sans Merci are really masterpieces in English
literature, and have much higher quality than Endymion.W
Here, for the first time, Keats was highly estimated in Japan. And these words
show Ueda's pure critical sensibility. We can see in these words that some Japanese
people gradually learned to read and appreciate English poetry first hand, even if the number of such people was very small. In 1901, EikoJsu Btingakit-shi (History of English Literature) by a famous translator
—152— Takesln Ogata of all Shakespeare's works, Yuzo (Shoyo) Tsubouchi (1859-1935) appeared. In this book Tsubouchi says of Keats : The life of John Keats was the shortest among the poets of his time. Yet we must add that Keats has been admired as the most
excellent poet in his poetic quality even among first-rate poets.
Because of his short life, although he had a great genius,
Keats was not able to write many works nor to reach maturity
in his poetic form. But most of his works are not inferior to
those of Coleridge, Shelley, and Southey. In our day, the rise
of his reputation is very considerable.23)
Then Tsubochi quotes Saintsbury as an example of Keats' high reputation and as a very good statement of Keats's achievement :
But he, as no one of his own contemporaries did, felt, expressed, and handed on the exact change wrought in English poetry by the great Romantic movement. Coleridge, Wordsworth, Scott,
and even Southey to some extent, were the author of this ; but,
being the authors, they were necessarily not the results of it. Byron was fundamentally out of sympathy with it, though by accidents of time and chance he had to enlist ; Shelley, an
angel, and an effectual angel, of poetry, was hardly a man, and still less an Eglishman. But Keats felt it all, expressed what of
it he had time and strength to express, and left the rest to his
successors, helped, guided, furthered by his own example. Keats,
in short, is the father, directly or at short stages of descent, of
every English poet born within the present century who has not
been a mere " sport " or exception. He begat Tennyson, and
Tennyson liegat all the rest.24) In 1890, a great benefactor of the study of English in Japan, Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) came to Japan. In Matsue he married Setsuko Koizumi and called himself Yakumo Koizumi. He took the name Yakuino after the euphemistic name of
Izumo province in which Matsue city lies. Although he came to Japan as a journalist for Harper's Magazine, he became a Japanese citizen. He loved Japan, and introduced her to the Western world. Undoubtedly Japan was not such a dreamlike romantic country concealed by the deep mist of mystery as Hearn saw it. Foreigners who knew Japan through Hearn's works could not have known the real Japan. Hearn, however, found the source of his works in Japan, and the world, for the first time, could know at least the depth of the "heart" of Japan through them. He was a
naturalized Japanese of whom the Japanese people can be really pround. It is no
wonder that people in Japan respected and loved him very much. Hearn taught English first at the Junior High School in Matsue and then at the
—153— Keats in Japan
Fifth Higher School in Kumamoto ; but in 1896 he accepted the chair of English literature at Tokyo Imperial University and held the position until 1903, and then taught at Waseda University until his death in 1904. It is said that he was overly- sensitive and irascible, and eventually quarreled with nearly all his friends and
associates.25) But it seems that the quarrels occurred only when his kind heart was
betrayed and hurt. He was perhaps too pure iu his heart to compromise with the
coarse and cold heart in man. He strongly hated inhuman acts, but greatly praised
considerate acts and feelings. He was very kind to common people and especially to his students. His teaching was not to peddle his knowledge ; instead it was to
stimulate and encourage his students to the higher realm of imagination and truth.
Strong bonds of heart were always established between Hearn and his students. In
lecturing, Hearn used no notes, but for the convenience of his class, who were
listening to a foreign language, he dictated slowly, and certain of his abler students
managed to take down long passages, whole lectures, even a series of lectures, word for word."26) After Hearn's death, the students, with a devotion to his momory in
which all his pupils shared, wanted their notes to be published. John Erskine, an American, edited and published the notes as Interpretations of Literature (1915), Appreciation of Poetry (1916), and Life and Literature (1917). And in 1927, Hokuseido press in Tokyo published Hearn's other lectures as A History of English Literature. The lectures, as Hearn says,27) were " adapted, by long experience, to
the Japanese student's way of thinking and feeling," and were " put in the simplest
possible language." Hearn's lectures run from the Anglo-Saxon period to the latter part of the nineteenth
century, but his predilection is for Romantic literature. He said in a lecture on
" Romantic and Classic Literature in Relation to Style: " And it is proper here that I should state how my sympathies lie in regard to European literature—they are altogether romantic.
The classical tendencies I think of as painfully necessary ; but
I have never been able to feel any sympathy whatever with
modern classical literature in the strict sense of the word.28)
Hearn lectured on Keats four times. He usually told his students about Keats's
life first, and then went on to the characteristics of Keats's poetry. In the general
comment on Keats, Hearn says :
Keats had a passionate love of truth and beauty, and an exquisite
ear for the music of words. And, therefore, even without higher
education, he was able to influence English literature more than
any other poet of his time.29)
As for " the violent, ignorant, and mean attack upon Keats's Endymion," Hearn says : All this, remember, to a delicate sensitive boy, who had never
—154— Takeshi Ogata
done any harm to any one, and who could scarcely, in the
generosity of his nature, understand the meaning of unkindness. But it is not true that the criticism caused his death—that
is a literary fable. It hurt him very much, no doubt, but he was
brave and sensible, and went to work again. Nothing could show the beauty of his character better than the fact that he blamed himself instead of blaming his malicious and cowardly reviewers. He said that his work was bad, but that he would try to do better.SO)
As for Fanny Brawne whom Keats fell in love with, Hearn comments :
She seems to have at one time thought of marrying him. But
she was a sensible woman ; she saw that the boy was dying, and very probably she did not like the prospect of being left a
widow within a year or two after her marriage. Perhaps we
had better say that she was not a woman capable of very great
love, the sort of love that delights in sacrifice. For that she
can not be blamed. But she might have been kinder to her poor
worshipper ; she excited his jealousy in many needless ways, and kept him in a state of perpetual torture, Between his
constant literary work and this devouring and overmastering
passion, his life began to melt away like wax before a fire.31)
On the greatness of the place Keats occupies, Hearn says : He is not a poet easily appreciated ; he is too exquisite for that.
This was his misfortune. If he could have been immediately
understood, his life might have been happier, if not longer. But
even today, he [does not appeal to [the young. This is not
because he is obscure, but because of the extraordinary finish
and fulness of his lines, which demand constant effort of
imagination and fancy to read correctly ... Keats appeals only
to mature judgment.S2)
Keats did not give us anything new in the way of form. The
secret of his power ... is in his quality . .. sonorousness of
phrase, splendour of colour, and a sort of divine intention in
choice of words.33)
His feeling was that beauty itself was a kind of religion ; and he was one of the first to proclaim boldly the doctrine that beauty is truth.34)
—155— Keats In Japan
He taught English poets how to return to classical stbjects by successfully treating those subjects in the purely romantic
manner. He introduced what has been very prettily called Romantic Classicism.35)
He taught men to think about all these subjects CGreek subjects,
old fairy tales, incidents of history, mediaeval love stories, a
host of subjects] in a new way with pure sympathy—it is even true that he taught them to think and to feel like pagans, not like Christians. But he did this only in a beautiful and
legitimate way ; and his paganism was nothing more than pure
Greek feeling ... He was the teacher of what is called the
New-Romantic movement.36)
Hearn's final judgment on the place of Keats in the history of English literature is :
Keats is immensely important—as an influence—more than
Wordsworth or Shelley or Byron or any other poet of the first
period. I do not mean that he is greater as a poet ; but he is
greater as a poetical teacher.37)
Hearn was not blind to some defects in Keats's earlier works—over-elaboration,
too much ornament, too many images ; but he praised Keats's straightforward
boldness in the use of common words and of colloquialisms mixed up with classical phrases, and the breaking of classical rules even in solemn and serious verse. As for Keats's specific poems, Hearn recommended that his students read " Lamia,"
" Isabella," " The Eve of St. Agnes," " Ode to a Nightingale," " Ode on a Grecian
Urn," " Ode to Psyche," " Grasshopper and Cricket," " To one who has been long in city pent," " When I have fears that I may cease to be," " The Human Seasons,"
" Asleep '. 0 sleep a little while, white pearl !," " Bards of Passion and of Mirth," the
sonnet on Chapman's PIomer, the first two sonnets entitled " Fame," the odes to
"Autumn," to "Fancy," and to "Melancholy," the verses on "Robin Hood" and on
" The Mermaid Tavern." and " La Belle Dame sans Merci."
Hearn says of " Lamia," " It was a great stroke of art on Keats's part to make the reader sympathise with Larnia, rather than with the philosopher."38)
Of " Isabella : or, The Pot of Basil," Hearn says, " Keats's treatment of it is very delicate,—making appeal altogether to the pathetic sentiment, and judiciously hiding the horror as far as possible."39)
Hearn evaluates "The Eve of St. Agnes" as the very daintiest of the longer poems," on the ground that " the treatment and the scenery are mediaeval . . . but we have none of the Gothic harshness or gloominess—all is love and tenderness and beauty.40)
He thinks that everybody ought to know " La Belle Dame sans Merci," and says
—156— Takeshi Ogata
of it, "Very probably this charming ballad was inspired by the unhappy love of its
author ... it represents the pleasure-pain of unhappy passion as no other modern
ballad has ever done. The theme, the phantom woman whose love is death, is
almost as old as the world ; ,.. But in simple weird beauty I do not know of anything in all English literature exactly like this.41)
Hearn makes comments also on a few of the shorter pieces, and says that these remain matchless in their originality and exquisiteness. 42) He especially mentions
the "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and "Ode to Psyche," and
says, " Those three odes alone would represent sufficiently the greatness of Keats,
without mentioning any others."43) Among the three, Hearn thinks the " Ode to a
Nightingale " to be " the very greatest—-greater than Shelley's wonderful poem on the skylark."44) On the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" he comments :
This is the most perfectly Greek poem in English literature. It
is the most perfect because it is the most human. Greek life
was more human——more natural, more emotionally sincere than any other life of any other Western civilization ; and Keats felt that.45)
And on the "Ode to Psyche" :
beautiful as this is in itself, the beauty is greatly enhanced by the philosophy of the old Greek myth, which the poet feels. The Greeks held that the story of Psyche and her love was a
story of the relation between the divine and the human,—the
seeking of the human for the divine, and the ultimate union of
both in a spiritual world. And we must fancy the poet here to be addressing not merely the Greek girl with the butterfly wings at her shoulders, but his own soul.46)
It is quite obvious from his lectures that Hearn really appreciates literature, and makes us feel the pleasure of enjoying literature. As John Erskine says, Hearn " is remakable among critics for throwing a clear light on genuine literary experience -on the emotions which the books under discussion actually give us,"4'i') Erskine placed Hearn's lectures on, and above, the level of Coleridge's critical writings. Of course this is an excessive praise. But the reason we find Hearn's lectures interesting and instructive is that the lectures appeal to our imagination and emotion. Mere analysis of literature by intellect freezes the rich life of literature and gives us only a cold skeleton. In .Hearn's opinion, literature must be taught on the basis of imagination. He not only gave his students knowledge about literature but also emphasized the living power of literature as literature, and imparted this power to them. Therefore Hearn's lectures have had a great influence on the academic traditions of English study in Japan. Hujin Yano, professor of English at Kansai
-157- Keats in Japan
University, points out that Hearn's method of literary study is a much more important academic tradition of English study in Japan than the bibliographical or philological English study introduced into Japan from Germany.48) Rintaro Fukuhara, professor
of English at Tokyo Education University, also says, "Hearn is the father of English study in Japan."49) In 1907, Eikoku Enngaku-shi (The History of English Literature), the joint work of Motoe Kurihara and Shuji Fujisawa, was published. The authors acknowledge
their indebtedness to Saintsbury, Gosse, Garnett, Dowden, Brooke, Chambers, Tsubouchi, and to the Encyclopaedia Britanmca. They refer also to the lectures of Lafcadio
Hearn, which they attended as students at Tokyo Imperial University. Hearn's
influence is clearly visible throughout the book. Of the three hundred and fourteen pages, four pages are given to Keats, and the section is divided into two parts—— the life of Keats and the characteristics of Keats's poetry.
As for the harsh criticism of Endymion, the authors say, "It hurt the delicate and sensitive young poet, . . . but he did not lose confidence in himself. He bravely tried to compose better poems."50)
On the characteristics of Keatss poetry they say :
Keats is not a poet easily appreciated. In order to appreciate
his poetry, most subtle imagination and fancy are necessary. Rossetti, for example, did not understand Keats when he was
very young ; later in life he was astonished with Keats's
greatness. It was the same in the case of Tennyson and
Browning. The reason Keats immensely influenced later poets
is not in the form of his poems, but is in his quality. He
studied and absorbed the best of everything done by other poets,
fused them, and gave full scope to his natural genius. All of
his works have their sources in Greek and mediaeval times.
They are fresh and sweet, or weirdly voluptuous. They are
peerless.51)
These descriptions are very similar to Hearn's. But when they said of Keats as follows, He was never influenced by the spirit of the time, had no sympathy
for mankind, kept aloof from the world, and rambled about in a
limitless realm of pure beauty.52)
They deviated from Hearn's criticism. I think they followed Brooke's criticism.53)
To Hearn, Keats is not a poet who merely roames about in the realm of beauty, having no sympathy for mankind or keeping aloof from the world. According to
Hearn, as his comment on the "Ode to a Nightingale" shows,54) Keats's desire to go away from this world into the realm of beauty is the result of his awareness of the contrast between the beauty and the cruelty of the world's struggle.
—158 — Takeshi Ogata
This book by Hearn's able pupils was meant for the general public. Another work
on the same subject, published in the same year, was less popular in appeal. The
author is Wasaburo Asano. His book has more scholarly look than any other of its
kind previously published in Japan. A list of reference books follows every chapter,
except in the section of prosody. Ten pages are alloted to Keats, and the study-list on him is as follows :
Poetical Works of Keats (Mac., Paul, &c.).
Complete Works of Keats, including his Letters, 5 vols. (Gowan
and Gray), Eve of St, Agnes (Low). Isabella, profusely illustrated (Paul), Selections from Keats (Ginn). Letters to his Family and Friends, edited by Colvin (Mac.).
Odes of Keats, with notes, analysis and memoir, by Downer (Clarendon). Hyperion, Book I., with notes, by T. Arnold (Clarendon).
Keats, by S. Colvin, E. M. L. Series (Mac.). Life of Keats, by Rossetti (Scott). Asano says. " The characteristic seen in all of Keats's poems is the worship of beauty, and Keats sought after beauty in all things of heaven and earth, and expressed it in extremely beautiful verses.55) He quotes, as characteristic examples of Keats's thought, the following words of Keats—" Beauty is truth, truth beauty," and " with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration."
On the " Ode on a Grecian Urn " Asano comments, " Keats described Greek life of three thousand years ago, and felt the mutability of life, and at the same time mused deep on the eternity of art."56)
On the whole, Asano owes a great deal to Hearn, His comments on Keats's life,
Fanny Brawne, the quality of Keats's poetry, and on the specific poems such as Endymion, Lamia, Isabella, and La Belle Dame sans Merci are almost the same as those of Hearn. Kinnosuke (Soseki) Natsume (1867-1916), a graduate from Tokyo Imperial Univer- sity, studied at Oxford from 1900 to 1903. Returning to Japan, he was appointed a lecturer in English literature at Tokyo Imperial University. In 1907 lie published
Bungak'ttron (Theory of Literature). In it he made some attempts at a purely theoretical study of literature. And in 1909 he published Bimgaku Hyoron (Literary Criticism). In it he mainly deals with the eighteenth century English literature. These were originally the lectures he delivered at the university. Analytical as well as appreciative, powerful in logic, interesting and perceptive, and full of original observations arising from a Japanese point of view, these studies reached the Western
—159 — Keats in Japan
academic level at that time. If Soseki had written also about the nineteenth century
English literature, we could have his interesting discussions of Keats. Unfortunately he did not. He gave up the honorable position of the Tokyo Imperial University lecturer with no regret, and became a distinguished novelist. However, we find four
books of Keats's poems in his library. These books are : The Poetical Works of John Keats, with a Memoir by Lord Houghton, London : G. Bell & Sons, 1899 (Aldine Edition). The Poetical Works of John Keats, with an Introductory Sketch
by J. Hogber, London ; W. Scott (Canterbury Poet).
Endymion, and Other Poems, London : Cassell & Co., 1887 (Cassell's National Library). The Seven Golden Odes of John Keats, Portland: T. B. Mosher, 1907 (Bibelot). No doubt, Soseki read Keats's poems. And he left his comments or notes on Keats's poems, though very brief, in the margin of the Aldine edition.57)
There are several signs employed by Soseld, such as Q, (g), and X. The sign Q seems to mean fine ; " (g> may mean not fine, or in some part good but I do not like it on the whole ; " X seems to mean " not good," or " I do not like it."
The following are his notes : X Hyperion (Book 1 is interesting ; the rest I do not like.) 0 Ode to a Nightingale ® Ode to a Grecian Urn (I do not like it.) X Sonnet K X Woman! zuhen I behold ihee flippant, vain X Imitation on Spenser 0 To Hope 0 Calidore X Specimen of an Induction to a Poem 0 I stood lip-loe upon a little hill ® Sleep and Poetry (The stanza beginning with "Stop and consider!" is very fine.) (g) Endymion (Book I) 0 Eve of St. Agnes 0 To Autumn X Isabella, the Pot of Basil 0 Lamia 0 In a drear-nighted December
0 La Belle Dame sans, Merci
Notes on Endymion (do.) :
—160— Takeshi Ogata
"! It is unnecessary to describe up until this line. (p.86. Book I. line 33) '" In Chinese and Japanese poetry, all the lines up till this line
are considered to be a preface to a poem, and may not be
included in a poem. These are unnecessary in a poem. (p. 87. line 62) ••: beautiful (p. 104. lines 663-5)
••:< to be seen in a Japanese legend (p. 111. line 896) ••••'Cf. "St. Agnes' Eve" (p. 126. Book II, line 443 : "Ariadne"
« Cf. Pope " Rape of the Lock " (p. 128. lines 507-10)
».'Cf. Shelley "Prometheus Unbound " (p. 131. lines 611-29) » Rather ludicrous ! (p. 133. lines 712-3) *• This is a good example of the Western prolix style, (p. 135. line 753-) * These are also prolix. Too repetitions, (p. 140. line 936-)
••••• Apostrophe to the Moon (p. 144. Book III, line 52)
•:' Address to the Moon, Cf. p. 144. (p. 146. line 142-)
••" quoted by 'Gayly in his Classic Myths in Eng. Lit. p, 218 (p. 153. lines 380-92) ••:' Circe and her own. An example of ugliness, (p. 157. line 495-) » The elephant's prayer is very ridiculous, (p. 158. line 551)
Notes on Hyperion (do.) : »• Cf. Milton (p. 286. Book I, line 1-)
'•' Fine. (p. 287. lines 35-6) »Good simile (p. 287. lines 36-41)
"••Sub (p. 288. lines 83-6 ; p, 292. lines 222-6) »'Cf. Milton (p. 299. Book II, line 107. "Enceladus")
These notes show Soseki's critical sensibility. I think his judgment is fairly sound.
But these comments show also that he, on the whole, was critical of Keats, and did not like him very much. The English authors he liked are Swift, Austen, and
Stevenson,
3. Translations of Keats s Poems
The translation of renowned Western poems which appeared in the various literary magazines in the early Meiji era were usually poor. They were much inferior to the poems composed extempore by nameless poets. Readers of those translations were disappointed, seeing that the translated poems were tasteless and could not be
161— Keats in Japan
called poems at all. The disappointment was more great because the authors of the
original poems were very famous. Most of the translators translated Western poems
at random, only to show off and be proud of their linguistic talent. Some of them
did not have any sense of feeling for poetry or creative capability. Some did not
have much linguistic talent, despite their boast. They changed gems into muddy
stones.
Therefore, as we have seen before, Ogai's translations in the Omokage (Vestiges) was outstanding among the tasteless translations at that time. Indeed Ogai's translations gradually paved the way to translations of real worth. Hayao (Ariake) Kanbara (1875-1952) loved to read the Western poems in the Shintaishisho when he was eleven years old, read Ogai's Omokage with pleasure in his junior high school days, and was awakened to the beauty of Western poetry. Later he entered Kokumin Eigakkai (National English Language Institute) and learned English from Hidesaburo Saito, the author of English Conversation Grammar and Idiomo logical English-Japanese Dictionary, and from Soseki Natsume. His reading of Byron, Shelley, Keats, D. G. Rossetti, and Tennyson led him to the life of composing poems. Later he became one of the outstanding poets in Japan. Keats and Rossetti were especially his favorite poets. Although he did not have higher
education, his command of English was considerable. He read through Keats's
Endymion, liked Keats's sonnets, and was deeply moved by La Belle Dame sans
Merci.W In 1902, Kanbara translated Keats's ballad, La Belle Dame sans Merci. It appeared in the October issue of the magazine entitled Myojo (The Vesper). In the following year, his translation of Keats's sonnet, Bright Star, appeared in the January issue of the same magazine. The two translations were included in one of collections of his poems, entitled Dokugen Aika (A Single-Stringed Elegy), which also includes his translations of some poems by Blake, Landor, Christina Rossetti, and D. G. Rossetti. The translation of Keats's Bright Star goes as follows ;
Myujo
Myojo, kimiga misao ni ware aenan— Yaten ni takaku sabishu kakari terashi
Kakiwa no mabuta mihiraki, kano shizen no
Tayumazu inenu inja no sono sama mate, Hito sumu yo no iso meguri kiyome okono Hijiri no waza torisusumeru umi mamorai,
Hata mata mine-mine sawano yuki hurishiku
Kano niiyawara katsugi miru sore naranedo,
Ina, samoare, toko misao tokohisa ni zo,
—162 — Takeshi Ogata
Rotaki kimi ga naritaru mune komakura
Tokoshie yawara namidatsu sore o huren,
Tokoshie umashi nayami ni kokoro same te, Toki yori told ni kikabaya soga yasa koiki, Nasake mo utsutsu, sateshimo yume ni shinan.59)
Konosuke Hinatsu says, " The translations in this book are still poor, and are not worth consideration."60) But Ariake's translation of the sonnet Bright btar is fairly accurate except for the last line, and it has some poetic flavor.
In 1905, Katai Tayama's translations of Keats's poems appeared. Entitled as Kitsu no Ski (Poems of Keats), it was published by Ryubunkan press in Tokyo. It has one hundred and seven pages, and contains the following twenty-three poems in translation.
1. Daisy's Song 2. "I had a dove and the sweet dove died "
3. Sonnet to Ailsa Rock
4, " Oh ! how I love, on a fair summer's eve " 5. " The stranger lighted from his steed "
6. La Belle Dame sans Merci
7. Meg Merrilies 8. " Where be ye going, you Devon maid ? "
9. Ode on a Grecian Urn 10. A Prophecy 11. "This pleasant tale is like a little copse"
12. " Who loves to peer up at the morning sun "
13. Sonnet on the Grasshopper and Cricket 14. " Blue! 'Tis the life of heaven " 15. "Why did I laugh to-night? No voice will tell"
16. "The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone! "
17. Ode on Indolence 18. Hymn to Apollo 19. Ode to Apollo 20. " Here all the summer could I stay "
21. " Think not of it, sweet one, so;—"
22. " Spirit here that reignest! " 23. Isabella or the Pot of Basil In the preface, Katai says :
The exquisteness of Keats's poetry is to be seen in his long
poems such as Endymion, Lamia and The Eve of St. Agnes. However, the lack of space in this little book did not allow me
—163— Keats in Japan
to include these long poems. In addition, the extreme difficulty
of translating the exuberance of Keats's poetry made me exclude
them. Therefore I translated only one of his long poems, Isabella,
which I found comparatively easy to translate.
It is impossible to translate Keats's wild, subtle, and luxuriant
poems into the conventional Japanese poetic rhythm of five-
seven, seven-five, or eight-six syllables. Therefore I chose, though reluctantly, a prose-like style. It is my fault that I have
fallen into the awkwardness of verbal translation.61)
Katai's translation is not only literal, as he himself acknowledged with shame, but is also sometimes inacurate. For example, in the table of contents, Katai translated " La Belle Dame sans Merci" into Japanese as " ra beru damu san." It suggests that Katai understood " La Belle Dame sans " as a person's name. In the text also, he translated it as " Ra Bere Damu san ga megumi " (La-Belle-Dame-Sans's mercy).
And his selection and arrangement of Keats's poems show his inability to appreciate
Keats's poetry. Many important odes and sonnets were not chosen. He selected only the poems which he thought easy to translate.
Katai was fascinated in his early years by the Romanticism of pure love poetry and wrote lyrical poems, but from his mid-twenties he was stimulated by the naturalistic trend of the time, and was influenced by Turgenief, Flaubert, Maupassant, and Zola. He advocated " rokotsu naru byosha" (straightforward description) as the idea of new literature. As his life shows, he was a novelist by nature rather than a romantic poet. Therefore it would have been really hard for him to " translate
Keats's wild, subtle, and luxuriant poems." He was not the right man for that.
However, we may appreciate his effort in translating and introducing so many of
Keats's poems.
4. Keats's Influence on Japanese Poets
The Meiji years saw a tremendous inflow of Western literature, which overflowed its banks and flooded Japanese literary circles. The so-called New Style poetry was, as we have already seen, greatly influenced by Western poetry. Ogai's Omokage' accelerated this trend. And the magazine Bungakkai (The Literary World), first published in 1893, was a great introducer of the English Romantic poets and was one of the guiding lights of the Romantic period which followed. It sent Montaro (Tokoku) Kitamura (1868-1894), Kiichi (Tokuboku) Hirata (1873-1943), and Haruki (Toson) Shimazaki (1872-1943) into the world. Tokoku Kitamura was a passionate poet. In his Waga Rbgokn (My Prison), he says that " poet should be poetry." and " passion is opposition to vain thought."
—164 — Takeshi Ogata
And as George Tadao Kunimoto says, Tokoku was " truly a son of revolt, never satisfied with conventional ethics and religion, nor contented with conventional life.
He was always yearning for the newer, better and higher life, the life of pure love and art. His short life was one of constant struggles with such noble aspirations. "62) Sharing the zeal of the proponents of the civil rights and liberty movement but dissatisfied with the materialistic and utilitarian thought which was the dominant trend resulting from " bunmei kaika " (superficial introduction of Western civilization) in the early Meiji generation, Tokoku set up as a literary objective the building of a spiritual freedom so that he would not be enslaved by that worldly trend. He expressed this spiritual freedom, emphasizing naibu seimei (inner life), which is the opposite of non-life and seeks for the vital life of man. As Okazaki says, " he killed himself at the age of twenty-seven, defeated in his spiritual struggles. But
Tokoku's words show his triumph over death. He says in his Waga Rogoku '.
Death comes. But death now is sweeter than life ... It is said that death is a kind of sleep. Now I will sleep the sleep which
has no dream.
Tokoku was influenced by Byron's Manfred when he wrote Horaikyokn (The Song of Fairyland) (1891). Horaikyoku is a dramatic poem, which " relates the inner contradiction and agony in the person of a young man who wanders through both
the real and the transcendental worlds. "69) In it, the hero, Yanagida, dies in much the same way as Byron's Manfred does, saying " 'Tis over ... 'tis not so difficult to die."
Of course Tokoku' s idea is different from Byron's. In Tokoku's Horaikyoku, emphasized are the hero's deliverance from the worldly existence, his defiance of the limited ego like a prison, and his recognition of the ideal world of eternal non-existence.
When the hero's inner ego becomes one with the absolute non-existence, his limited ego becomes limitless in the sufficient and limitless expansion of the whole ego. For
Byron, on the other hand, ego is the ultimate reality, and the assertion of the ego is conspicuous. Manfred's defiance of Spirit comes from his assertion of the sanctity of ego. Manfred denies his repentance for his crimes in the face of the Spirit. He dies carrying his own crimes with him. In him, " The mind which is immortal makes itself/ Requital for its good or evil thoughts/ .. . derives/ No colour from the fleeting things without,/ But is absorb'd in sufferance and joy."64) He can die with triumph and with no remorse, for he is " his own destroyer."65) From the above observation, it is clear that the idea of Tokoku's Ho-raikyoku is differenct from the idea of Byron's Manfred. But we still have to admit the fact that Horaikyoku was composed under the influence of Manfred. I think the difference comes from Tokoku's Japanization of Manfred. But we may say that the hero's attitude is the same as Manfred's in terms of the ego's struggle to build a newer or higher idea against the conventional or worldly view of life and man.
165— Keats in Japan
Toson Shimazaki was strongly influenced by Tokoku's passionate romantic idealism. With his first collected poems, entitled Wakana-hhu (The Young Herbs Anthology)
(1897), Japanese poetry was definitely launched upon a new career. Toson said,
At last, new age of poetry has come .. . Some, like the prophets of old, are lifting up their voice, others are singing
like the bards of the West ... Young imagination has awaked
from her long sleep. 66)
Toson, in his adolescent days, was influenced by the lyric poets of the English Romantic school. As is well known, his brilliant poem Akikaze no Uta (The Song of the Autumn Wind) was born under the influence of Shelley's Ode to the West
Wind. It begins :
Shizukani kitaru akikaze no
Nishi no umi yori fukiokori . ..
(Softly the autmn wind comes,
Rising from the western sea ...)
and the sixth stanza goes :
Michi o tsutauru Baramon no Nishi ni higashi ni chiru gotoku Fuki tadayowasu akikaze ni
Hirugaeriyuku konoha kana,
(Scattering East and scattering West, Like priests of Brahma who taught the way,
Tossed about by autumn winds,
The leaves go fluttering down.)
(tr. D. Keene)
It ends with the following stanza :
A urassabishi ametsuchi no Tsubo no uchi naru aki no hi ya Ochiba to tomo ni hirugaeru Kaze no yukue o tare ka shiru.
(0 sad and dreary autumn day
—166— Takeshi Ogata
In the urn of heaven and earth !
Who can tell where the wind goes That tumbles with the fallen leaves?) (tr. V. H. Viglielmo)
The sixth stanza especially shows the influence of Shelley's " Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead/ Are driven, like ghost from an enchanter fleeting." On the whole, in Shelley's ode, we feel we really hear a tempestuous wind bugling and moving everywhere. Although Shelley thinks over the pain we all must bear, the strongest feeling expressed is his wish that he could be free as wind and have the mighty power of the " trumpet of a prophecy " in order to awaken the world to an eternal hope. Toson has such lines in the poem as
Itakumo hukeru akikaze no
Hane ni koe ari chikara ari.
(Fierce is the autumn wind,
In its wing, it has voice and strength.)
But the strength of the voice is not felt in his lines. The poem has not the subjective strength, the big scale, and the rich imagination shown in Shelley's ode. Instead the dreary loneliness of all the universe in the autumn is deeply felt. With his descriptidn of a clear but still lonely autumn day as well as his subdued and quiet tone, Toson succeeded in expressing exquisitely and symbolically the sadness and loneliness of modern man. The thought and its tone are characteristic of the
East or of Japan. Indeed, Toson's diction and thought descended from traditional
Japanese poetry, but at the same time, we cannot deny that they were, in some way, influenced by the Romantic poetry of England and other Western countries. For instance, in traditional Japanese poetry, autumn is always sung with the traditional
"dew," "moon," and "a bush of Japanese panipas grass." Toson's poetry is different, as a result of the influence of Western poets. Thus, as Okazaki well observes, we can say that Toson " created a poetry that was a synthesis of the East and West,"67) although his poetry is essentially Japanese in its thought.
I am afraid that I have talked too much on the influence of Byson on Tokoku, on that of Shelley on Toson, and on some characteristic phases (Westernization and Japanization) of the influence. But I think this discussion has served as a general background of the influence of Keats on Japanese poets. Now I should like to turn back to Keats. Hisao Honma, the author of Meiji Bungaku-shi (A History of Meiji Literature), finds something of Keats's aestheticism in Toson's verse drama, Hikyoku : Biwa
—167— Keats in Japan
Hoshi (An Elegy : The Minstrel Lutist) (1893). Okazaki summarizes the drama as follows- -—" Ikku, an eccentric, believes in his talent in playing the biiua, the
Japanese lute. A pure-hearted man who despises selling art for money's sake, he is not accepted in the world, and, as a result, separating himself from his wife and children, he becomes a mendicant priest. However, he always loves his children, and finally his artistic ability comes to be acknowledged."68) Honma quotes the hero's following words as the expression of a strong reverence for art ;
The sound of my kite will suffer no change
Even if this world should go to pieces. And in them Honma finds a similarity with Keats's aestheticism.69) But I think the similarity is too vague to be called an influence.
The first clear influence of Keats is seen in Tokuboku Hirata. Among the
Bungakkai members, Tokuboku was most conspicuous in his sympathetic appreciation of Keats.
Bin Ueda, in his " Essay on Late Pater's Literary Legacy" which appeared in
Teikoku Bungalni, (Vol. I, no. 5, May 1895), said of the Bungakkai and of Tokuboku :
The magazine Bungakkai was the most prominent representative
of the Romantic new movement in Japanese literature, and it was zealous in its effort at creating a new passionate literature. It often sought for the ideas and feelings of distinguished European authors and introduced their artistic spirit hitherto
unknown to our literary circles. Tokuboku lamented Keats's short life in his Hakwnei-ki (Record of a Sad Fate) ; and with it, certainly for the first time, Keats was introduced to our
literary circles.TO) Tlie Hakumei-ki by Tokuboku appeared in the Bungakkai on March 30, 1894. In it Tokuboku recorded Keats's sad fate feeling as if he himself were Keats, and succeeded in expressing his deep lamentation for Keats's miserable fate. As he said, he was neither one of those who disdainfully and haughtily laughed at Keats's bitter fate, nor one of those who sentimentally wept at it. Instead he really felt Keats's miserableness, and in a subdued tone he expressed his true lamentation for it, thinking deeply of the sadness diffused in this world and of the fate of the man forced to struggle with the porofound sadness, (To be continued.)
Footnotes 1) Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (New York), p. 11. 2) Masanao Keiu Nakamura (i+i^j'Sfc'^JEiS), Saikoku Risslu-heH (g§B&;£§nl) (Biograplues of Set f- Made Men of the Western Nations) in Gendal Nihon Bimgaku Zensliu (%ft; El 3|>;X^^:ifi) ^Anthology of Modern Japanese Literatifi-e) (Kaizusha, Tokyo, 1931), I, p. 562. 3) Rintaro Fukuhara (}:§)g%^6[S), Nippon m Bigo ( H 3Ji;®i$:.gg) (^English in Japan~) (Kenkyusha, Tokyo, 1958), p. 27.
168— Takeshi Ogata
4) Shoichi Chuzan Toyama (^.tU '- |1|IE—), Ryokichi Shokon Yatabe (^Bg|5fIi]4-Xl^)i and Tetsujiro Senken Inoue (^Jii.giff-g'W), The Shintaishisho Ctf?lN:^) (.Sdectioit of New Style Poetry), in Nippon Gendaishi Taikei ( B ^s;%ft:g^^.;^;) ^Collection of Modern Japanese Poetry'), ed. Makoto Sangii (lll'g'^) (Kawade Shobo, Tokyo, 1951), I, p. 26. 5) See Minoru Toyocla (j£H ^), " ' Shintaishisho ' no Haikei to Hankyo " (IT^f^tWJ O^jS^X i) (The Background and Influence of the Sh'mtaishisho') in Nippon Eigakushi no Kmkyu (5$^. '^^®i?F9E) (A Storfy o'« -ff/s/or.y o/ the Meiji- Taisho Poetry") (Shinchosha, Tokyo, 1929), I. 8) Heinrich Heines Sdmtliche Werke (Leipzig), I, p. 178, 9) Mori Ogai Zensfiu (^Bl^.^;^) ^Complete Collection of Ogai Mori's Works') (Chikuma Shobo, Tokyo, 1963), VIII, p. 19. 10) T. S. Eliot, ed., Ezra Pound : Selected Poems (London, 1948), p. 15. 11) Minoru Toyoda, Nippon Eigaku-shi. 110 Kmky'H (A Study on the History of Englisli Study hi Japan) (Senjo Shoten, Tokyo, 1963), p. 306. 12) Minoru Toyoda, Shakespeare in Japan (Tokyo, 1940), p. 97. 13) Tamotsu Shibui (j^# ^jO, Eikoku Btmgakit-shi (^B^A) (A fi'/s/or.y of English Literatwe) (Hakubunkan, Tokyo, 1891), pp. 203-204. 14) Taketaro Bimyo Yamada (|l|B^fe);^^?), Bankoku Jmmei-Jislw (T^ISA^'f) (.Iitternational Biographical Dictionary') (Hakubunkan, Tokyo, 1892), pp. 360-361. 15) See Yamada, p, 163. 16) See Rintaro Fukuhara, Nippon no Eigo ^E'nglish m Japan), (Kenkyiisha, Tokyo, 1958), p. 57. 17) Bin Ueda CbH t&), " Kinei no San Shihaku," C;S5Ei:O^Jt?) in Ueda Bw Zenshu (^Complete Collection of Bin's Works) (Kaizo-sha, Tokyo, 1928), HI, p. 472. 18) Bin Ueda, " Waga Bundan ni okeru Eidoku Bungaku " (^^aXAW'S^&A'^) (An Essay on English and German Literature in our Literary Circles), in Teikoktt Bimgalllt ('^pliX'^0 (.T/ie Imperial Literature), I, 2 (1895), 87. 19) Ibid. 20) Bin Ueda, " Eishi no Kenkyii" (^•Jt®W%) (An Essay on the Study of English Poetry) in Ueda Bin Zemhu. (Tokyo, 1928), III, pp. 480-481, 21) Ibid., V, pp. 12-13. 22) Bin Ueda, " Kinsei no Eibungaku " (S|i!;<05r-A'^:) (On Modern English Literature) in UedaBin Zenslw, IV, p. 71. 23) Yuzu Shoyo Tsubouchi (.WjS&WS), Eikoku Bimgakn-s!n. OSH^:^^) (A ff/s/o^ of English Literature) CNC^W'^ttWSB, Tokyo, 1901), pp. 382-383, 24) George Saintsbury, A History of Ninetewth Century Literature (London, 1896), pp. 88-89. 25) See Robert S. Schwantes, Japanese and Americans (New York, 1955), p. 159, 26) Lafcadio Hearn, Interpretations of Literature ed. John Erskine (New York, 1915) I, p. v. 27) Ibid., pp. vii-viii, (Hearn's letter to Mr. Mitchell McDonald, Feb. 1899). 28) Ibid., p. 17. 29) Ibid., p. 171. 30) Ibid., p. 172, 31) Ibid., p, 173. 32) Ibid. p, 174. 33) Ibid., p. 174. 34) Ibid., pp. 175-176, 35) Hearn, A History of E'nglisli LHeratwe (Hokuseido, Tokyo, 1927), II, p. 541, 36) Ibid., p. 544. 37) Ibid.. p. 544,
—169— Keats in Japan
38) Hearn, Interpretations of Literature, I, p. 177. 39) Ibid., pp. 177-178. 40) Ibid., p. 178. 41) Ibid., p. 179. 42) Ibid., p. 178. 43) Ibid., p. 178, 44) Ibid., p. 178, 45) Hearn, A History of English Literature, II, p. 541. 46) Hearn, " Lyrical Beauties of Keats," in Interpretations of Literature, I, p. 183. 47) John Ersldne ed,. Interpretations of Literature (New York, 1915), I, p. ix. 48) See Hojin Yano C^i?|l$A). Nippon Eibimgaku m Gakuto ( H ^;% 7fc'^: cs '^:@c), Kenkyusha, Tokyo. 1961. 49) Rintaro Fukuhara, Nippon 110 Eigo (H^^^JS), P. 36. 50) Motoe Kurihara (5g@; S) and Shuji Fujisawa (?RJ^), £'/AoA« Bungaku-sht C^H^;'^:^) (.A History of English Literature) (Hakubunkan, Tokyo, 1907), p. 245. 51) Ibid., pp. 246-247. 52) Ibid., p. 244, 53) See Stopford A, Brooke, " Keats " in Studies in Poetry, London, 1907 ; also see Brooke, English Literature, London, 1876. 54) See Hearn, " Lyrical Beauties of Keats," in Interpretations of Literature, I, pp. 193-194, 55) Wasaburo Asano (j^Sffl^Sfi), £'(/iofo( Bimgaku-shi^'^^f-.^.') (A History of English Literature') (:A:B:W%^& Tokyo, 1907), p. 497. 56) Ibid., p. 502. 57) Soseki Natsume (Bg%S)i Sose/;/' Zenslifi (.Complete Collection of Sosek'i's Works') (Tokyo, 1929), XX, pp. 65-68. 58) Hojin Yano, " Explanatory Remarks," in Ariake Zen-Shi-Sho C^fD^NW (Sdectwn from Complete Works of Ariake's Poetry'), ed. Kanbara Ariake (?SIg;NW (gttfi"&, Tokyo, 1950), p. 226. Konosuke Hinatsu, " Explanatory Remarks," in Kanbara Ariake Zen-Shishu (MS^^'^S^^) ^Complete Collection of Ariake's Poetry'), ed. Ariake Kanbara (Sogensha, Tokyo, 1952), p. 172. Sei Ito W? ^)> Nippon Bnndan-slu (H^:^:ia$l) Wie History of Japanese Literary Circles') (Kodansha, Tokyo, 1952), V, pp. 62-63. Midori Matsumura (t&.N' it), Kanbara Ariake Ronko (•^K^'%H|S)^) (^'ssa.ys OH Kanbara Ariake) (Meiji Shoin, Tokyo, 1965), pp. 34-35, 59) Ariake Kanbaia, Kanbara Ariake Zen-Shishu (Sogensha, Tokyo, 1952), pp. 36-37. I showed Kanbara's translation in romanized Japanese. The translation in the original Japanese is as follows : ^ ^ 5 U -f 5 f^f)^^F) ^ ^ ^ fjT S, S-^g^t^^^^x.&tj— ^^^^<&^^K1)mbi. A^^ot^fcitr-^, ^oa^c fc^t -ri(S^»Rt^<^^®?, 4> -C, A?1&-®I8»<' i) i'^Lfr^ gBft®fo^'^ t> -t-t^s^t 'fc i^y-. 13?^fc3WWS^i)!&< Axorr^m bws.\^ yc^ b^ ^, ^ ^^s^h, %^$^%'^^^' mt^^ff^l)t^w^k ^;: u^b^r^^h-^Wzis b ^ L^ 5 t Ui^fc^ ^.6?fe-r Bjf i i) ^'•-^•h^-t-'^W^ $ II'PI'. & W 1, 5 -3-3 ;& T: L ^^K^&tr
—170— Takeshi Ogata
60) Konosuke Hinatsu, Meiji-TaisM Shi-sh'i (A History of the Meiji-Taisho Poetry') (Shinchosha, Tokyo, 1929), I, p. 405. 61) Katai Tayama (ISlU.fE^), Kitu no Sfii. (sM y ®^) (Keats's Poems) (Ryubunkan, Tokyo, 1905), pp. i-ii. 62) George Tadao Kunimoto, Japanese Literattire Since 1868 (Hokuseido, Tokyo, 1938), pp. 72-73. 63) Yoshie Okazaki, Japanese Literature in the Meiji. Era, tr. V. H. Viglielmo (Tokyo, 1955), p. 325. 64) Geoige Noel Gordon, Lord Byron, Manfred in English Rmnantic Poetry and Prose ed. Russell Noyes (New York, 1956), p. 847, lines 129-135. 65) Ibid., line 139. 66) Zen Sliishu Taisei. Gendai Nippon Shijin Zenshu ^^-^-k^S.^ H ^A-^) (.Complete CoUection of the Works of Modern Japanese Poets) (Sogensha, Tokyo, 1953-1955), Introductory Volume, p. 88. 67) Okazaki, p. 330, 68) Okazaki, p. 515, 59) See Hisao Honma W^^HSQ, Meiji Bungdku-sfii Wf^'^^S.') (A History of the Melji Literature) Tokyudo, Tokyo, 1937), II, pp. 384-385. 70) Bin Ueda, " Ko Petu no Iko " Qfe^- y -C>;ig?%) (Late Pater's Literary Remains), The Teikokit Bimgaktt, I, 5 (1895), 108.
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