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Supernatural Longing in Yamakawa Tomiko’s Tanka

2019; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 39; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10371397.2019.1588690

1469-9338

Nicholas Albertson,

Socioeconomic Development in Asia

Yamakawa Tomiko (1879–1909) was one of the ‘leading ladies’ of the Myōjō (Venus) circle of poets. In her decade of poetic productivity before her premature death from tuberculosis at age 29, Tomiko was known as the melancholy friend and rival of the more famous Yosano Akiko (1878–1942). Not only did the two vie for the romantic affections of the Myōjō leader, Yosano Tekkan (1873–1935), but they also collaborated on one of the great tanka collections of the era, Koigoromo (Robe of Love, 1905), and frequently employed supernatural symbolism in ways that were both traditional and strikingly modern. In this study, I draw Tomiko’s poetry out from under Akiko’s shadow. By examining the era’s gender politics and poetic practices alongside Tomiko’s Christian education and personal anguish, I show how she exquisitely compressed complex worlds of longing, guilt, and defiance into the 31-syllable tanka form.