Akahiko Shimagi

Japanese: 島木赤彦 - しまぎ・あかひこ

Year of death: March 27, 1926
Year of birth: December 17, 1876 (9th year of the Meiji era)
A poet of the Meiji and Taisho periods. His real name was Kubota Toshihiko, and his maiden name was Tsukahara. His other pen names included Yamayuri, Kaki no Murabito, and Kakikageyamaboshu. He was born as the fourth son of Tsukahara Asaji and Sai in Kami-Suwa Village, Suwa District, Nagano Prefecture (Suwa City). He graduated from Nagano Normal School. He was interested in literature from an early age, and while teaching at an elementary school, he began submitting new style poems and tanka. In 1903 (Meiji 36), he founded the magazine Himuro with Iwamoto Kigai and others, and in 1904 he joined the school of Ito Sachio. His new style poems are included in the poetry collection Sanjo Kojo, published in 1905 as a joint author with Ota Mizuho. When Araragi was launched in 1906, Himuro was merged with it, and Akahiko became an influential poet under Sachio's school. In 1913, he published his first collection of tanka poems, Potato Flowers, co-authored with Nakamura Kenkichi, and thereafter used the pen name Shimagi Akahiko. The following year he moved to Tokyo, and while working as a lecturer at Shukutoku Girls' Private High School, he was in charge of editing Araragi, and devoted himself to tanka. By the time of his second collection, Kiribi (1915), many of his works were emotional. After that, he devoted all his energy to publishing Araragi, and became its de facto leader. During this time, Araragi's realistic style of poetry was established. As an educator, Akahiko's words had the persuasive force of a religious leader, which strengthened and expanded the influence of Araragi, while at the same time fostering anti-Akahiko sentiment. He advocated the "way of sketching" and the "way of training" in poetry writing, and wrote poems about simple sketches and a sense of loneliness in "Hyo" (1920), "Taikyoshu" (1924), and "Kakikageshu" (1926).

(Noriko Hiraishi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：昭和1.3.27(1926)
生年：明治9.12.17(1876)
明治大正時代の歌人。本名久保田俊彦,旧姓塚原。別号に山百合,柿の村人,柿蔭山房主人など。長野県諏訪郡上諏訪村(諏訪市)に塚原浅茅・さいの4男として生まれる。長野尋常師範学校卒業。早くから文学に親しみ,小学校で教鞭をとるかたわら,新体詩や短歌を投稿するようになる。明治36(1903)年には岩本木外らと『比牟呂』を創刊,37年には伊藤左千夫門に入った。38年に太田水穂と合著で刊行した詩歌集『山上湖上』には彼の新体詩が収められている。41年『アララギ』が創刊されると『比牟呂』をこれに合併,以来赤彦は左千夫門下の有力歌人として活躍することとなる。大正2(1913)年,中村憲吉と共著の処女歌集『馬鈴薯の花』を出版,その後島木赤彦という筆名を使う。翌年上京,私立淑徳高女の講師をしながら『アララギ』の編集を担当,短歌に専念した。第2歌集『切火』(1915)のころには主情的な作品が多い。その後は『アララギ』の発行に全力を注ぎ,同人の実質的な指導者となっていく。そのなかで『アララギ』の写実的歌風は確立された。教育者であった赤彦の言説には教祖的な説得力があり,そのことが『アララギ』勢力を強化拡大すると同時に,反赤彦的な気分を育てることにもなったのだろう。「写生道」を唱え,歌作における「鍛錬道」を説いた彼は,『氷魚』(1920),『太虚集』(1924),『柿蔭集』(1926)で質実な写生と寂寥感を詠じている。<著作>『赤彦全集』全10巻

(平石典子)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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