Chapter 106: There is no doubt that Haiku created a new literary genre, which I call "mono no a
Chapter 106 There is no doubt that Haiku created a new literary genre, which I call "mono no aware literature"
End of October, Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University, Faculty of Letters, Staff Office.
Twenty years later, Mutsuro Takahashi finally walked out of his small courtyard.
If there is any haiku poet worthy of being remembered by the Japanese literary world since the Edo period, it must be this old man in his sixties who has left countless records and legends in the haiku world.
Debut is the pinnacle.
He once wrote 50 haiku poems of different styles in one breath.
An astonishing sales achievement of 50 copies of a personal poetry collection.
Such a legendary figure in the haiku world was suddenly willing to step out of the courtyard he had not left for 20 years and come to Kyoto University.
This incident alone was enough to attract widespread coverage from newspapers and magazines in the Kyoto area.
Mutsuro Takahashi's move this time clearly aims to erect an immortal monument for the haiku master of the University of Tokyo, and his intention to target Kitagawa Hide is also very obvious.
But no one knew that he would leave his home a month in advance and quietly come to the Faculty of Literature of Kyoto University.
What attracted him from home were the three new haiku that were now lying quietly on Ichiko Sadaji's desk.
Ichiko Sadaji's expression was calm. He pointed to the rattan chair in front of the table and asked him to sit down, then called a female professor who was on standby to pour tea and water.
In Japan, the distinction between men and women in terms of hierarchy is present in almost every industry and every corner.
Even in universities, which are educational sanctuaries filled with advanced people, gender discrimination can be found everywhere.
The Faculty of Letters at Kyoto University has a total of 69 professors and 275 faculty members, of which only 12 are female professors and 31 are female faculty members.
In the eyes of Ichiko Sadaji, the head of the literature department, the usually high-handed female professor was nothing more than someone who was only fit to serve him tea and water.
Mutsuro Takahashi was not surprised by this. He reached out and took the manuscript paper, hoping that the new work of this haiku master from the University of Tokyo would not be of poor quality, otherwise it would be difficult for him to even praise it.
His eyes slid down and landed on the first poem, "Reed Flowers".
Reed flowers are very common in the mountains and by rivers. They look like white reeds, in pieces and clusters. When blown by the wind, they dance and sway gracefully like slender dancers.
The most famous poem about reed flowers comes from "Pipa Xing" by the famous poet next door, Bai Juyi.
The line “I see off my guests at the Xunyang River at night, with maple leaves and reeds rustling in the autumn wind” fully expresses the bleakness and sadness of autumn and has been sung through the ages.
This sentence by the Haiku Master of the University of Tokyo also has a similar poetic rhythm, especially the second half, "one liter of dew, one liter of flowers", which can be said to be extremely precise in its portrayal, and the rhythm fits the artistic conception of the reed flowers themselves very well.
Just this one song calmed Takahashi Mutsuro's wavering heart.
He couldn't help but sigh: "I really want to know the true identity of this haiku master. It is hard to imagine that he could write such poetic haiku in modern life. He is a student of Tokyo University."
"The haiku was sent by Takeuchi Osamu. I asked around and found out that the real source was the girls' dormitory, where four children from the Faculty of Literature of the University of Tokyo were boarding. Two of them were Takeuchi Osamu's public registered disciples."
Ichiko Sadaji took a sip of tea with a calm expression.
It is common for university professors to select a few outstanding students to be their registered disciples.
After all, the literary world is different from other industries. They attach great importance to the inheritance between teachers and students, and there are many literary factions. If you don’t have someone above you, it’s impossible to make it in the literary world.
A sales monster like Kitagawa Hide may not appear once in a hundred years.
"You mean, the author of the haiku is Takeuchi Osamu?" Takahashi Mutsuro looked at him. At first glance, this possibility was quite high.
Takeuchi Osamu, who can write such poetic works and does not want to be disturbed, and was banned because of something that happened forty years ago, fits the profile of the Tokyo University Haiku Master.
Takeuchi Osamu's literary accomplishment was already extremely high. He and Ichiko Sadatsugu were once hailed as "the two great writers of the literary world". They were the pure literature writers closest to "the best in the world" at that time. It is not impossible for him to write such shocking haiku.
Ichiko Sadaji shook his head and said, "It's not him. From what I know about him, if he really wrote it, he would never send it out under the name of a disciple. And the message from Takeuchi Osamu also breaks this possibility."
"What message?" Mutsuro Takahashi had just finished reading the other two poems.
"Heart Grass" is a poem comparable to "Thoraga" and it is not confined to love affairs, but has a more grand and broad artistic conception.
The poem "Hometown" is as its name suggests, and the homesickness it contains is vividly expressed on the paper, especially the last sentence "all are flowers of thorns", which is enough to make it a masterpiece.
Seeing this, Takahashi Mutsuro felt relieved, and the Master of Haiku from the University of Tokyo maintained his consistent style, which was highly consistent with the new literary genre he mentioned!
"He said that the Haiku Master from the University of Tokyo would come forward to participate in the literary exchange meeting." Ichiko Sadatsugu said succinctly, "No matter which of the four girls the Haiku Master is, since she has such an intention, it means that she has a desire for fame and fortune, and such a person..."
Mutsuro Takahashi understood.
Pity.
After all, she is still young, and one song "Thor's Song" may not be enough to give her the confidence to step forward and embrace such great fame and benefits.
But now he has published three more excellent works. I think he has discovered their intention to promote the haiku master. Now he has stood out at the literary exchange meeting and been praised by Takeuchi Osamu and them, which is equivalent to being deified in one battle.
No one can resist such temptation.
Originally, Mutsuro Takahashi only helped Shintaro Ishihara out of consideration for Mishima's friendship. The poems of the haiku master were good enough, so there was nothing wrong in praising them a little.
But with the rise of Kitagawa Hide and the popularity of "I Am a Cat", the Akutagawa Prize was about to become a laughing stock, so he had no choice but to gamble everything he had and increase the stakes to continue praising the haiku master.
Such an extreme approach could ruin the young man who was unwilling to show up.
Now seeing her new works, Mutsuro Takahashi can almost conclude that, as long as she is given enough time, she will be able to change the history of haiku, replace those shining names, and stand alone on the top of the mountain!
It's such a pity that such a genius was carried away by fame and fortune and fell into the trap of Ichiko Sadaki and others.
"I think Takeuchi Osamu also wants to help his beloved disciple." Ichiko Sadatsugu saw Takahashi Mutsuro's complicated expression and smiled, "Don't think too much about it. Just think of it as helping him this time. It's our way of repaying his kindness."
They were among those who followed Takeuchi Osamu to criticize the Ministry of Education. That group of young and naive people thought that freedom of speech really had no taboos. Fortunately, Takeuchi Osamu took all the responsibility in the end.
"You don't have to worry about how to run this. Ishihara will be responsible." Ichiko Sadatsugu added.
Say Cao Cao and Cao Cao will arrive.
Shintaro Ishihara, who was sweating profusely and hurriedly came in, pushed the door open, bowed and greeted the two people, then immediately sat down and asked, "Mr. Ichiko, Mr. Takahashi, the new work of the haiku master?" "Yes." Mutsuro Takahashi handed him the manuscript paper.
five minutes later.
Ishihara Shintaro clapped his hands in admiration and laughed, saying, "Great, it's really well written! You are worthy of being the haiku master who wrote the Thunder God Tanka."
"Ishihara, the haiku master will attend this literary exchange meeting." Ichiko Sadatsugu briefly repeated to him the content of the previous conversation.
After hearing this, Ishihara Shintaro immediately became excited and slapped his thigh, "Great! Noma Airi is looking for him all over the world, and even offered a whopping price of 100 million per haiku! I'll call her and ask her to come to the literary exchange meeting."
Although Noma Airi asked for a sky-high price of 100 million yen per poem and threatened that as long as the haiku master was willing to sign the contract, Kodansha could provide him with a top writer contract, the legendary haiku master from the University of Tokyo seemed to have evaporated from the face of the earth and could not be found at all.
All the clues are broken on Kobayashi Tomoyo's side.
Faced with threats and inducements, Captain Kobayashi held his bottom line and did not betray Yumeko, and the harasser hired by Kodansha was later driven away by Professor Takeuchi Osamu.
I thought this haiku master would disappear completely.
It turns out that he is waiting for a good price.
Shintaro Ishihara is not afraid of spending money, as the Noma family has plenty of money and Noma Airi is particularly willing to spend it.
He was afraid that the other party really didn't want to appear, so that Kodansha would cut off the possibility of competing with Kawaide Shobo in the haiku market.
In this way, Kitagawa Hide was promoted step by step, and his position as a permanent judge of the Akutagawa Prize would become a joke.
"Has 'Gunzo' reached that point?" Ichiko Sadajiro frowned.
He was also one of the people who took the initiative to criticize Kitagawa Hide at the Akutagawa Prize selection meeting, and he has always been pessimistic about Kitagawa Hide.
The more successful Kitagawa Hide became, the more uncomfortable he felt.
"This month's sales are at most 50 copies, and that's due to the bonus from the completion of the previous issue of 'A Wild Sheep Chase'." Shintaro Ishihara nodded.
Although they don't want to admit it, Kitagawa Hideyoshi has already slapped many people in the face with his "Youth Trilogy".
There is also "No Longer Human", which is still a best-seller in major bookstores. Shintaro Ishihara has not yet mustered up the courage to read it. He is afraid that he will feel even more desperate after reading it.
Kazushi Hosaka, who they promoted and defeated Kitagawa Hide to win this year's Akutagawa Prize, also failed.
The sales of Literary World, which published the award-winning works, increased by less than 10 copies compared to the previous month, thanks to the haiku column.
It can be seen that even if they spent a lot of money, readers still have sharp eyes.
If something doesn't look good or you don't like it, you will never spend a penny to buy it.
No matter how much you brag about it and how many awards it has, if it can’t be sold, it just won’t be sold.
What's even more embarrassing is that Kodansha had to publish his book "The Threshold of This Man".
Wouldn't it be a joke if a work that won the Akutagawa Prize was not published as a physical book?
At this time, Kodansha can only wait until the popularity of "Hear the Wind Sing" has completely passed, and then secretly publish "The Threshold of This Man" to avoid being sold on the same bookshelf and being blown away by others.
"At the end of the year, it will be time for the Noma family to re-select the first heir. Noma Hiroharu will not last for many years, and we must find someone to inherit the mantle from among his children."
Ishihara added,
"At least for now, Noma Airi, who controls Kodansha, has the greatest possibility. If we want to make convincing achievements now, we have to rely on haiku and the film adaptation of "Hear the Wind Sing"."
"I understand." Ichiko Sadaji drank his tea again.
The Ichigo family is just an ordinary academic family. Its size, wealth and power are far from comparable to those big chaebols.
Therefore, these "upper-class" writers all hope that their families can marry and cooperate with the chaebols in order to achieve a more stable position.
These things are exactly the same as what is written in "I am a Cat".
The image they present to the outside world is just like that of Kushami who looked down on the Kaneda family: aloof intellectuals who disdain to associate with capitalists.
But in fact, there is no literati who does not envy Hanyue.
Being able to marry the daughter of a capitalist means rising to fame overnight.
Your father-in-law's family's financial resources are enough to support you in becoming famous in the literary world without you having to climb up step by step.
So in the end, Kushami began to envy Hanyue, began to dislike his first wife, started to say one thing and mean another, and started to try to please Lady Jintian's daughter.
That damn Kitagawa Hide was right!
How ironic!
This stinging feeling made Ichiko Sadaji more unwilling to acknowledge Kitagawa Hide's genius, and he just wanted to hold his head down tightly.
"Takahashi, what is the new literary genre you are talking about?" Ichiko Sadatsugu suddenly asked.
They need to communicate with each other first to see if Mutsuro Takahashi's research is appropriate. If everyone works together to revise and improve it, and with the use of various personal connections, it will not be like Takeuchi Osamu's initial proposal of "Kitagawa Hidekaze" and "Rogue School", which eventually fell into oblivion and were not recognized by the industry.
"There is no doubt that the sage of haiku created a new literary genre, which I call 'mono no aware literature'," said Mutsuro Takahashi solemnly.
Although he flatters others, he will not speak nonsense without any basis.
In fact, when he read "Tora no Ka" for the first time, he thought of this word, "mono no aware".
This is the goal and artistic conception he has been pursuing in writing haiku for many years.
Unfortunately, it was not achieved in the end.
He felt that he might never be able to reach that state of mind in his entire life; it was too difficult.
I only had a gloomy and vague feeling about Mutsuro Takahashi before, but today, after reading these three haiku, it finally became completely clear.
(End of this chapter)