Horaikyoku - Horaikyoku

Japanese: 蓬萊曲 - ほうらいきょく

Kitamura Tokoku's second collection of poems. Published by Yoshindo in 1891. This long dramatic poem depicts the protagonist Yanagita Motoo's journey from the foot of Mount Horai, an imaginary mountain that resembles Mount Fuji, "escaping from the world as a prison," to the Horai Plain, and then to the mountain's summit, until he finally goes mad and dies. In this work, Tokoku confronts Motoo's inner self with worldly logic and ethics, symbolized by the Great Satan, and reflects his own struggle to establish a modern consciousness in the dramatic conflict of his self-consciousness. The concept is mainly borrowed from Byron's Manfred, but as an attempt at a dramatic poem with a worldview, it is an unprecedented, groundbreaking work not only in the early days of modern poetry, but also in the years since.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

北村透谷の第2詩集。1891年養真堂刊。主人公柳田素雄が，〈牢獄（ひとや）ながらの世は逃げ延びて〉，富士山の面影を借りた空想上の山である蓬萊山麓から，蓬萊原へ，さらに山頂へと漂泊の旅を続け，最後に狂死するまでの過程を描く長編劇詩。透谷は，この作品において，大魔王に象徴される世俗的な論理や倫理に，素雄の内面を対決させ，その自意識の劇的な葛藤のうちに，自己の近代意識確立の苦闘を反映させたと言える。おもに，バイロンの《マンフレッド》の構想が借りられているが，世界観的な劇詩の試みとして，近代詩の創成期においてばかりでなく，その後においても，他に例を見ない画期的な作品である。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

<<: Mount Horai (English spelling)

>>: Vine of the Garden - Vine of the Garden