One of the really interesting things about that first generation of haiku poets to break away from tradition: they were among the first Japanese intellectuals to encounter European literature and philosophy, as the country opened up to foreign influence. The speed and depth with which they came to understand and engage with these ideas is truly impressive.
So Santōka Taneda, for example, never travelled abroad, but before he turned to poetry full-time he completed translations of books by Turgenev, from Russian, and Maupassant, from French. Ogiwara translated and wrote commentary on Goethe.
The give-and-take in those years when Japan was opening up is fascinating to read about. Kuki Shūzō, for example, became a friend of Heidegger in Germany, and then when he settled for a few years in Paris his French tutor was Jean-Paul Sartre. It seems pretty clear that he was the first to say "We must imagine Sisyphus as happy," and Camus stole it. Kuki was close with Nishida, by far the most famous Japanese philosopher of the modern era.
Kafū Nagai also studied in the US and Europe, mastered several languages and had a deep knowledge of French literature. But when he returned Tokyo he settled into the decadent life of an unambitious poet, spending his time with actors and prostitutes. He didn't write haiku, especially, but the closely-observed short stories and journals that he published are very much in accord with that way of thinking.
It would be very interesting to work out what, if anything, Western ideas contributed to the changes these people made to haiku writing.
So Santōka Taneda, for example, never travelled abroad, but before he turned to poetry full-time he completed translations of books by Turgenev, from Russian, and Maupassant, from French. Ogiwara translated and wrote commentary on Goethe.
The give-and-take in those years when Japan was opening up is fascinating to read about. Kuki Shūzō, for example, became a friend of Heidegger in Germany, and then when he settled for a few years in Paris his French tutor was Jean-Paul Sartre. It seems pretty clear that he was the first to say "We must imagine Sisyphus as happy," and Camus stole it. Kuki was close with Nishida, by far the most famous Japanese philosopher of the modern era.
Kafū Nagai also studied in the US and Europe, mastered several languages and had a deep knowledge of French literature. But when he returned Tokyo he settled into the decadent life of an unambitious poet, spending his time with actors and prostitutes. He didn't write haiku, especially, but the closely-observed short stories and journals that he published are very much in accord with that way of thinking.
It would be very interesting to work out what, if anything, Western ideas contributed to the changes these people made to haiku writing.
