Paulownia Leaves Falling : The Kanshi Poetry of Inaga Nanpo (1865–1901)

Abstract

The heart of this piece is a series of annotated translations of kanshi (poems in Chinese) by Inaga Keishirō (Nanpo, 1865–1901), an educator and amateur poet from Tottori prefecture. Eighty-six of Nanpo’s poems were rediscovered in 2000. The translators have deciphered the holograph poem texts and placed the poetry in context. Their introductory essay offers a biography of the poet and an outline of Meiji kanshi practice, and comments on developments in the world of kangaku. Kanshi during this period experienced its final flowering, remaining popular despite the trend toward modernity and Westernization and Japan’s gradual retreat from its Sinitic traditions. The kanshi renaissance of the Meiji era produced a large volume of appealing and lively poetry and reflected kanshi’s broadened demographic appeal. Several factors were at work, including educational reform and growth in the literacy rate, the reopening of contacts with China, expansion of the media, and a conservative reaction against modernization that set in during the 1880s. Much of Nanpo’s verse, like late Edo kanshi generally, displays a distinctively Japanese flavor; Chinese allusions are infrequent, as are conspicuous efforts to imitate past poets. His kanshi tend to be more conventional than novel or political in theme; in tone, the poems range from grave or melancholy to contented, even jocular. The introduction concludes with an analysis of Nanpo’s poetic style, topoi, diction, and his poetic persona. Despite the profusion of socio-political changes occurring around them, many kanshi poets in Meiji Japan remained content with traditional themes, even while giving the occasional nod to modernity. Nanpo was among these poets, who outnumbered the better known modernists of the kanshi world.

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