Mitsuhashi Takajo

Mitsuhashi Takajo or Takajo Mitsuhashi (三橋 鷹女; born Fumiko Matsuhashi (三橋 たか) near Narita, Chiba on 24 January 1899; died 7 April 1972^[1]) was a haiku poet of the Shōwa period.

Biography

Mitsuhashi Takajo was born near Narita. She was an admirer of Akiko Yosano and her father wrote tanka. In 1922 she married Kenzō (東 謙三), a dentist who wrote haiku and that influenced her to switch to haiku herself. By 1936 she became part of a group that founded the short-lived Kon (dark blue) publication and in 1940 had the collection Himawari or Sunflowers published. The war proved difficult for her family and in 1953 she became involved in a progressive magazine of avant-garde poets who allowed experimental haiku. Her last collection, in 1970, dealt somewhat with death as she had been ill for years.^[2]

Legacy and image

She has been referred to as a religious ascetic^[3] or one who led a life of asceticism and spiritual concentration. She is said to have written works of self-alienation and the Void.^[4] A statue of her is at Shinshoji Temple.^[5]

She is also placed as one of the "4 Ts" of Japanese female haiku poets. The other three being Tatsuko Hoshino, Nakamura Teijo, and Hashimoto Takako.^[6]

References

1. Haiku Society of America
2. Makoto Ueda (21 August 2012). Far Beyond the Field: Haiku by Japanese Women. Columbia University Press. pp. 109–110. ISBN 978-0-231-50279-5.
3. Kirstin Olsen (1 January 1994). Chronology of Women's History. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 327. ISBN 978-0-313-28803-6.
4. Ikuko Atsumi; Kenneth Rexroth (17 February 1982). Women Poets of Japan. New Directions. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8112-2387-4.
5. Japan Navigator: Haiku Stones: Narita City (Mitsuhashi Takajo)
6. Haiku Mind. Shambhala Publications. 2008. pp. 40, 42, 80, and 196. ISBN 978-0-8348-2235-1.