GIRL IN A BOX: A Novel
Detailed Notes for the Truly Curious
Note: The novel will be published in April 2026. I am making available these detailed notes in September 2025—far ahead of publication— so that recipients of the Advanced Reader Copy may refer to them. If you have questions or comments, please message me at nihonjean@mac.com.
Ch. I: Firebird
- ‘Will it all disappear?’ (「消えむものか」) from Tangled Hair; translation inspired by Merry Diary and Tawara Machi (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/21985811/).
- Sho’s visit to the New Year party, Dr. Janine Beichman, Embracing the Firebird, University of Hawaii, 2002 (hereafter ‘Beichman’), p.74-5.
- The Meiji-era Hamadera Station building would be recognizable to Akiko, but it was still in the planning stages when she passed it on the way to Hamadera Park in January 1900. Today it houses a coffee shop and is supported by steel girders; the current station building is next door. Information about the building’s history can be found here: https://www.city.sakai.lg.jp/kanko/rekishi/bunkazai/bunkazai/torokuseido/hamaderaekisha.html
- This January 1900 party did not take place at the Jumyōkan (Inn of Long Life) where the poetry workshop took place later that year, but I have merged them for simplicity. Both events took place at inns at Hamadera Park.
- Locked in her room at night, Mori Fujiko (Akiko’s youngest daughter), Midaregami (『みだれ髪』), Rukku-sha 1967 (hereafter ‘Mori’), p.53.
- The story of the brewery fire in which the girl died is from Akiko’s childhood memory as written in Yosano Akiko,Watakushi no Oitachi (「私の生い立ち」).
- Akiko’s parents dressed her as a boy – various sources including Watanabe Jun’ichi, (『君も雛罌粟われも雛罌粟』), Bunshun Bunko 1999 (hereafter ‘Watanabe’), vol 1 p.26. Akiko wrote a tanka about it: I looked like a boy until the age of twelve/I wish you didn’t know (「十二まで男姿をしてありしわれとは君に知らせずもがな」).
- Taku Gangetsu (宅雁月).
- Akiko’s name: People thought it was foreign, Mori, p.8. Akiko didn’t like her name and was teased for it, Watakushi no Oitachi.
- Kōno Tetsunan (1874-1940) was a childhood friend of Yosano Tekkan’s. Tekkan said later that he chose that pen name (Tetsunan), which employs the same first kanji character tetsu (鉄), meaning iron, and nan (南), meaning south, because Kōno lived to the south of him. For the sake of simplicity, since so many male characters in this book have names beginning with T, I call him Kōno. Kakujōji Temple is still operating in Sakai. I visited it recently and the surname Kōno is still above the door, suggesting that Kōno’s direct descendants are still managing the temple.
- Akiko’s crush on Kōno: Seiko Tanabe, A Thousand Strands of Black Hair (hereafter TSBH), Meredith McKinney translation, p.52-61. Akiko also wrote letters to Taku Gangetsu and others.
- “I count it an immense delight”, letter from Akiko translated by Meredith McKinney and used with her permission; from TSBH, p.54.
- Akiko’s first poem (“To dew-wet grass”); inspiration for translation includes Beichman, p.66 and Watanabe, Vol. 1, p.29.
- “Though I have never met you”, inspiration from Mori, p.74 and Beichman, p.83.
Ch. II: Girl in a Box
- “Are you so wise, so holy?” (「いさめますか」), from Tangled Hair; inspiration from MerryDiary. Note: MerryDiary is a Japanese-language website with interpretations of scores of Akiko’s poems (also, some of Tomiko’s and Tekkan’s). There is no information on the website about its author, and it has not been updated since 2020. I would be delighted to identify the author and acknowledge him/her appropriately.
- On Hana and her untimely death, see Mori, pp.18, 28-30, and TSBH, pp.19-22.
- Sadashichi the apprentice was a real person, but there is no record of plans for him to marry Akiko. “You drew the short straw,” scene derived from Mori, p.42.
Ch. III – The Butterfly
- “Sliding down the long silk sleeve,” (「うすものの二尺」), interpretation and translation help from Yoko Kato.
- Akiko’s memories of summer festivals of her childhood, from Yosano Akiko, Watakushi no Oitachi.
- “Oh, touch me” (「君よ手をあてても」) , (Yamakawa Tomiko), inspiration: Mori, p.81. Akiko and Tomiko’s first meeting is based on Mori, pp.81-82.
- First meeting with Tekkan at Hirai Inn based on Beichman, pp.85-86 and Watanabe, Vol.1, pp.54-55. Story of Tekkan writing on Shō’s fan, Mori, p.91, Watanabe, Vol. 1, p.61.
- “Ten years since I saw you,” (「髪さげしむましの君よ」), Tekkan’s poem, noted in Mori and Watanabe, as well as in Beichman, p.86.
Ch. IV – The Inn of Long Life
- “Temple at night” (「わが恋をみちびく」) from Doi Toshio no Sekai (website): https://doi-toshio.com/kw-yo001/. In Section 11, there is a grainy photograph of the Inn of Long Life (寿命館) itself.
- Hamadera Park, where the Inn of Long Life once stood, still exists, and one can still walk among the gnarled pines and see some of Akiko’s poems inscribed on rocks. (http://hamadera.osaka-park.or.jp)
- Uta Awase: In a traditional uta-awase game, two teams compete to write tanka using a prompt, or dai (題). The dai is often a seasonal word such as “plum blossom” or “misty moon”. Renga (連歌) or linked verse’ is a particularly challenging version of the game. The first player writes the last two lines (or 14 syllables) of a tanka, and using that as a prompt, the second player writes the first half (the haiku). Most Japanese children practice writing haiku and tankain elementary school. The Imperial Family holds an annual Uta-kai-hajime (歌会初) as part of official New Year celebrations. Attended by the Emperor, these poetry readings are eye-wateringly boring, and most young Japanese are unaware that they even exist.
- Kyōan’s embarrassing moment inspired by Mori, p.96 and Beichman, p.88. Beichman draws on Kyōan’s version of the story, in which he wrote a poem for Tomiko telling her she need not worry about being a girl, just for today; Tekkan embarrassed him by telling everyone about it.
- “A girl of twenty” (「その子二十櫛にながるる」), interpretation inspired by Tawara Machi and Yoko Kato.
- “I wash my brush” (「筆あらひ」) and “Don’t think this red flower poem”「やすぶみ」found in Naoki Kojirō, Yamakawa Tomiko and Yosano Akiko, p.56-57.
- “Please, let me call you Teacher” (「師とよぶをゆるしたまへ」), found in Beichman, p.89, Watanabe Vol. 1, p.83, and Mori, p.99.
- Tanka by Tekkan for Akiko: “Kyoto lipstick does not suit you” (「京の紅は」), Beichman, p.146-47 and MerryBlog (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/21890682/).
- “What shall we put on my burning lips?” (「もゆる口に」), MerryDiary and Tawara Machi (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/21890682/) , Beichman, p.147.
- “Evening tide” (「夕潮に磯の松が根」) (Tekkan) and “Along the sandy road” (「松多き高師の浜」) (Tomiko) found in Mori, p.99.
V: Poets on the Beach
- “Hair, spilling from her shoulders” (「肩おちて経にゆらぎ」), from Ōtsuka Sakura, Uta ni Kikena, and MerryDiary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/20770317/).
- “Waiting for you/My heart is filled with longing” from Manyōshu, Nippon Gakujyutsu Shinkōkai translation, Columbia University Press, 1965, p.11-12.
- Tekkan’s backstory, including his pen name, Kōno’s pen name Tetsunan, and meeting with Naobumi after almost starving, found in Mori, pp.64-67.
VI. Star Children
- “If one of these poems disappeared” (「この歌の一つ缺けなば」) ( Tekkan), inspired by Beichman, p.98.
- “As I write” (「歌かくと蓮の葉をれば」), inspired by Beichman, p.100.
- “I will write on the back of that lotus leaf” (「神もなほ知らじ」), Tanabe Seiko, Sen Suji no Kurogami『千すじの黒髪』), Bunshun Bunko 1974, p.178 for the original Japanese and Meredith McKinney’s translation, A Thousand Strands of Black Hair, p.137.
- “Young teacher pulls back his sleeve” (「荷葉なかば」), Beichman, p.101.
VII: Three Poets
- “You in the autumn wind” (「秋かぜにふさはしき」) (Tekkan), Merry Diary interpretation (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/22623284/).
- “I love this old fan” (「かたみぞ」), Beichman, p.97 and ‘Sakuramitih’ blog (https://sakuramitih31.livedoor.blog/archives/17926481.html).
X: The Secret
- “It floats in my memory”,「親の家」(“Oya no Ie”), Yosano Akiko Zenshū.
- “Moonlit night above lotuses”, (「月の夜の蓮」), inspiration from https://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/mimuaki/diary/200408250000/.
- “Autumn finds we three”, (「秋を三人みたり」), inspiration from 「永観堂と晶子」(“Eikando to Akiko”), https://blog.goo.ne.jp/lilas526/e/a5b7ef7d13dbc6677b50d59eb0bf0616 .
VIII: Forget-Me-Nots
- “I turned my back like it was nothing,” (「それとなく」) (Tomiko), Beichman, p.143, Mori, p.113.
- “Black hair, a thousand strands of hair,” (「くろ髪の千すぢの髪」), Tanabe and McKinney; also, Roger Pulvers, Yesterday is Another World, Tanka by Yosano Akiko, Asia Pacific Journal, Feb. 2010 (https://apjjf.org/roger-pulvers/3296/article).
- “Without asking or saying,” (「いはず聴かず」), Merry Diary and Tawara Machi (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/20955598/).
IX: Two Poets
- “Cold morning in the Kyoto hills,”「鶯に朝寒からぬ」, inspiration from Merry Diary and Tawara Machi (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/20836388/).
- November 1901 issue of Myōjo censored
- “Spring is short, nothing lasts,” (「春みじかし何に不滅の命ぞと」), Beichman, p.168 and Dipity1964 blog (https://dipity1964.exblog.jp/21997469/).
- The story of Yokihi and Emperor Gensō is originally from China but is well known in Japan. The Chinese call Yokihi ‘Yang Guifei’. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Guifei.
- “I want to do things that are said to be good,” (「人の世の掟の上のよきことも」), interpretation from Ōtsuka Torahiko, 『名歌即訳・与謝野晶子』(Meika Sokuyaku Yosano Akiko), Graceland 2004.
- “Forsaking poetry and life,” (「われと歌をわれといのちを」), Ōtsuka, p.34.
X: The Secret
- “Thinking of you,” poem by Ono no Komachi (825-900 AD), This version of Ono no Komachi (c.825 – c.900)'s poem is a variation of the Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani translation "Did he appear" on p. 3 of The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Japanese Court (NY: Vintage Classics, 1990).
- “Like a crazed thing,” (「狂ひの子」)
- “When the peach trees bloom,” (「山ごもりかくて」), Beichman, p.158; Merry Diary and Tawara Machi (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/20559272/).
- Letter from Takino to Akiko described in Beichman, pp.157-58. The letter no longer exists, so I have imagined it.
- “It floats in my memory”, Akiko’s poem about her last night in Sakai, 「親の家」(Oya no Ie), Yosano Akiko Zenshū.
- “You’re up early,” (「母よびて」), inspiration from Merry Diary and Tawara Machi (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/page/92/).
XI: Escape
- “Haunted by dreams of my weeping mother,” (「来世とや捨てて」), Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/24364769/).
- “Raising up my love for you,” (「わが心君を恋ふると」), Mori, p.133.
- “Reaching out a finger absently,” (「ひとすじにあやなく」), Ōtsuka, p.40 and Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/22306593/).
- ‘Winter is best when it’s fearfully cold’, from The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon (966 – 1017 AD), translated by Meredith McKinney, Penguin Random House 2006.
XII: The Visitor
- “The child’s ghosts”「三つ子の魂は百までも」
- Hidetarō’s angry visit based on Mori, p.143-46.
XVI. Bitter Weeds
- Mori Ōgai, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mori_Ōgai
- “I wonder what those flowers are? Genji mused,” from Tale of Genji, Seidensticker translation, vol.1, p.58.
- “Forgive me, I love two women,” (「ゆるしたまへ二人を恋ふと」). This tanka and scene based on Watanabe, vol.2, pp.40-46. Interpretation from Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/24010787/).
- Letters from Tsuné about the birth of the twins, based on account in Mori, p.175-77.
- “Their husbands will come,” (「むこ来ませ」), poem by Mori Ōgai on the birth of the twins, Mori, p.177.
XVII: Tomiko’s Journey
- “Winter evening,” (「冬の夜」), Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/30682374/).
- “Drop me to the bottom of the eternal spirit world,” (「おとしませ」), “Does the rainbow fade again”, (「虹もまた消えゆくものか」), by Tomiko, from Naoki Kojiro, Yamakawa Tomiko to Yosano Akiko, Hanawa Shobō, 1996, p.65, 98, and Kimura Mariko, 山川登美子「夢うつつ十首」(“Ten Dream poems by Yamakawa Tomiko”),
(https://blog.goo.ne.jp/mariko_kimura/e/07c5c26efc331be39344f296e8c0cb6d).
- Letter from Tomiko is fictional, based on events described in Naoki Kojiro, pp.60-62.
- “I will float in my boat,” (「花かをる常世の島」), by Tomiko, interpretation inspired by Merry Diary, 「山川登美子の歌」 (Poems by Yamakawa Tomiko), (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/23236109/).
XVIII: To Be Loved
- “I grieve for the dead one,” (「亡き人を悲しねたしと」), interpretation inspired by Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/25541031/).
- “A mouse lives in my ceiling,” (「我が家の天井に鼠」), Yosano Akiko Zenshū.
- “I understand that men cannot fully comprehend,” from Yosano Akiko, “Tales of the Birthing Room” (「産屋の物語」).
- Story of Kaoru and Oigimi, from Tale of Genji, Seidensticker translation, Chapter 47: Trefoil Knots, pp.863 and 865. Akiko’s wish to be loved and die young and beautiful like Oigimi, inspired by G.G. Rowley, p.49.
- “If I were to say,” (「み心の半ばをわれにかへせよと」), Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/25738164/).
- “Just a wife,” (「楽しげに子らに交じりて」), Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/25701889/).
XIX: Tales From the Delivery Room
- “Riding through the hospital gate,” (「生きてまた帰らじと」), Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/25968697/).
- This account of Uchiko’s birth is based on Yosano Akiko, Postpartum Diary (「産褥の記」).
- “Baby snake rips,” (「蛇の子に胎を裂かるる」), Postpartum Diary.
- “What does he know about it?” based on Yosano Akiko, First Labor Pains. (「第一の陣痛」).
- “This mother’s bones are crushed,” Yosano Akiko, Postpartum Diary (「産褥の記」).
- “New mother chants a prayer”, (「母なるが枕経よむ」), interpretation inspired by Merry Diary and Tawara Machi, (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/20820395/).
- “Lying on the border between dream and wakefulness,” (「虚無を生む」), and “My exhausted body desperately needs sleep,” Yosano Akiko, Postpartum Diary.
XX: One Long Day and Two Decisions
- “As a mother I think it not impossible,” (「母として」), inscribed on a stone at the Sakai City Traditional Crafts and Culture Hall. Interpretation described in Yosano Akiko Club, 「与謝野晶子 歌碑・文学碑めぐり」(“Visiting Yosano Akiko Memorial Stones and Cultural Landmarks”), 2023.
- “I used to put enormous effort”, from Akiko, 「以前は気分や空想の仕事は」, in Michiko Nagahata, A Chaos of Flowers (『華の乱』), p.195.
- “Can you guess what my husband has been doing lately?”, Mori, p.194-95.
- This very long day inspired by Akiko’s diary over six days in March 1912, translated in G.G. Rowley, pp.78-80.
- “It was a stormy night,” Murasaki Shikibu, Tale of Genji, Seidensticker translation, Vol. 1, p.84.
XXI: Making Plans
- Ōgai’s support of the Paris plan, from Mori Ōgai, Japanesewiki.com ( https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/person/Ogai%20MORI.html).
- “Spring child, passionate child,” (「かたちの子春の子」), Merry Diary and Tawara Machi (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/22011501/).
- First meeting with Hiratsuka based on fictionalized description in Nagahata, 『華の乱』(A Chaos of Flowers), pp.96-102.
XXII: The Second Escape
- “You cross the ocean,” (「海こえて」), Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/25917497/).
- The Atsuta Maru was a postal delivery ship commissioned in 1909 to run the route between Japan and Europe. While it took passengers, it was no luxury steamer. It was primarily a cargo ship. https://crd.ndl.go.jp/reference/modules/d3ndlcrdentry/index.php?page=ref_view&id=1000150577
- Akiko’s musings on needing to feed herself, to drink ‘new wine’, based on a letter, possibly to Masako, paraphrased in Mori, pp. 212-15.
- “I understand her better”, Akiko’s feelings about her mother; Akiko wrote, “Ah, thinking back now, there were days when I despised my mother/But now I think I understand what was in her heart.” from Mori, p.178.
- “In the beginning, woman was the sun,” (「元始、女性は実に太陽であった」), Nagahata, A Chaos of Flowers, p.99-100.
- “The day the mountains move has come.” (「山の動く日来たる」). This is one of Akiko’s best-known poems; it has been translated into many languages. As with my other translations, I worked from the original language. Other English translations will necessarily be similar.
XXIII: Across the Steppe
- Description of the trip from Vladivostok to Paris based on Yosano Akiko, To Paris (「巴里まで」).
- Paris experience, Janine Beichman, “Akiko Goes to Paris: The European Poems”, Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, Vol.25, No.1, April 1991, pp.121-145.
- “Seven thousand miles,” (「三千里わが恋人のかたはらに」), Watanabe, Vol.2, p.240.
- “My children do not know a tansu,” (「わが子らは箪笥を知らず」), from Mori Fujiko, 『与謝野寛・晶子の末娘が紡ぐ父母の思い出』(“Yosano Hiroshi and Akiko’s Youngest Daughter Weaves Memories of Mother and Father” ), Sakai Museum Printing, 2018, p.105.
- Rin and the apple, based on description in Mori, p.207.
XXIV: The City of Light
- “Ah, May in France,” (「ああ皐月仏蘭西」), 「夏より秋へ」(From Summer to Fall), Akiko Complete Works; translation inspired by Janine Beichman,
“Akiko Goes to Paris”; Watanabe (the book is named after the tanka); Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/26281994/).
- “Woken by the Spanish child downstairs,” (「下に住む西班牙の子」), Watanabe, Vol.2, p.243.
- Description of the flat at Rue Victor Massé is based on Tomimura Shunzō, Memories of Victor Masse 26 , For Those Who Study Yosano Akiko, Sekai Shisō Sha, 1995 (富村俊造著 「ビクトル・マッセ２６の思い出」・『与謝野晶子を学ぶ人のために』世界思想社 １９９５年).
- Letter from Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo, 24 September 1888, https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let686/letter.html. Request for permission to reprint this letter commenced via email in April 2025 with the Van Gogh Museum. Also, thank you to The Canvas for their description of Japonisme: https://www.patreon.com/TheCanvas.
- Le Magnifique, from “A Brief History of French Fashion”, Marie Claire, 11 March 2015.
- “Street wagons heaped with roses,” (「四つ辻の薔薇を積みたる車」)
- “Une Célèbre Poétesse Japonaise à Paris” from Les Annales magazine, published in France, with Akiko’s “First Impressions of Paris” essay (https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/literary-magazine-Impressions-contributed-LESANNALES/dp/B0DBV3G3BB).
- “The woman in Europe is always active,” Yosano Akiko, “From the Paris Travel Window” (『巴里の旅窓より』). Adapted and shortened by the author.
XXV: A New Era
- “Night descends on Paris,” (「生きて世にまた見んこと」), interpretation by Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/26281994/).
- News of the Emperor’s death reached them in Vienna, Yosano Akiko, From Paris, Complete Works of Yosano Akiko (「巴里より」『与謝野晶子全集』).
- “After joining my husband in Paris,” and “I feel like a different person here,” Yosano Akiko, From Paris, Complete Works of Yosano Akiko (「巴里より」『与謝野晶子全集』).
- I was unable to include the wonderful story of Auguste Rodin and Akiko in this book, but I will post some of the unpublished chapter on my website.
- Hirano Maru, carrying cargo and passengers, was sunk by a German U-Boat in the last days of WWI. 210 people perished in the incident (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/平野丸).
- “The ship rocks,” (「船ゆれて紅茶の椀の匙鳴れば」), modern interpretation by Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/26676412/).
XXVI. Good Wife, Wise Mother
- “One night, in the season of baby chicks”, Yosano Akiko, Tales of the Maternity Ward, (「産屋物語」).
- Information on Akiko’s various translations of The Tale of Genji drawn from G.G. Rowley, Yosano Akiko and The Tale of Genji, University of Michigan, 2000.
- Uchiko’s memories of her childhood visits to her biological parents’ home drawn from her memoir, Yosano Uchiko, Murasakigusa (Purple Grass), Shintōsha, 1967, p.16-18.
- Yosano Akiko, Headless Women (「首なし女」).
- See Laurel Rasplica Rodd, “Yosano Akiko and the Taishō Debate over the “New Woman” in Recreating Japanese Women, 1600-1945, ed. Gail Lee Bernstein, University of California 1991 and Sharon L. Sievers, Flowers in Salt: The Beginnings of Feminist Consciousness in Modern Japan, Stanford University Press, 1983.
XXVII: The School
- “When roses bloom on the school terrace,” (「学院のテラスの薔薇」), Watanabe, vol. 2, p.321.
- Bunka Gakuin was the first equal co-educational school in Japan. It also had no funding from the gov’t, funded completely by Nishimura Isaku. It taught Western and Christian ideas in addition to traditional Japanese values and had no school uniforms – encouraging western dress over Japanese style dress. This helped make it a fashion trendsetter. (see https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/文化学院 ).
- Scene at Nishimura Isaku’s home is imagined, but he did have a home like this in rural Shingu, and he did have to convince Akiko and Hakutei to join the Bunka Gakuin venture with him (see http://www.rifnet.or.jp/~t-syuji/9.html). Akiko did study painting in France.
- “Our educational goal is this:”, Yosano Akiko, “About the Establishment of Bunka Gakuin” (「文化学院の設立について」) in The Complete Works of Yosano Akiko.
- “I must calm this mountain of fire,” (「火の山もおさへ」), Nagahata, p.271; Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/29765039/).
- Scene on the train platform inspired by Watanabe, Vol. 2, p.322.
XXVIII: The Day the Mountains Moved
- “Order prevails only in the sky,” (「空にのみ規律残りて」), Watanabe, vol.2, p.346, Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/30089149/).
XXIX: Life Goes On
- “Of ten-plus years writing,” (「十余年わが書きためし」), translation inspired in part by G.G. Rowley, p.138; Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/30089149/).
- “Someone loved this,” (「焦げはてしピアノの骨」), Irie Haruyuki, 『コレクション日本歌人選０３９・与謝野晶子』(Collection of Selected Japanese Poets#39: Yosano Akiko), Kasama Shoin, 2014, pp.34-35.
XXX: The Better Mama
- “All those things my mother told me,” (「母もまたしかく云ひけり」), Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/25299381/).
- Uchiko’s homecoming based largely on her account in Yosano Uchiko, Murasakigusa.
- “… This is such a strange place,” paraphrased from Murasakigusa.
XXXI: Don’t Say Her Name
-“My lilies bloom the color of crows’ wings” (「わが命に百合からす羽の色にさきぬ」), Itsumi Kumi, 『恋衣全釈』(Robes of Love: Full Interpretation), Kazema Shobo, 2008; Yosano Akiko #55, pp.232-234.
- T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, first published in June 1915 in the magazine Poetry: A Magazine of Verse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Love_Song_of_J._Alfred_Prufrock#:~:text=Eliot%20began%20writing%20the%20poem,and%20Other%20Observations%20in%201917.).
- More about Arishima Takeo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeo_Arishima .
XXXII: A Man is Like a Nail
- “I have made up my mind,” (「男をも灰の中より」), Ōtsuka, p.105.
- “When my wife is ill,” (「妻病めば」) and “My genius wife,” (「人の屑われ代わり」) , Yosano Tekkan, introduced to me by Prof. Ōta Noboru, Chairman, Yosano Akiko Club, Sakai, Japan.
XXXIII: One Poet
- “The children put his inkstone,” (「筆硯煙草を子等は棺に入る」), translation inspired by Beichman, Embracing the Firebird, p.3; Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/30583614/).
- “Will mornings go on like this?” (「君を見し夢の話」), translation inspired by Beichman, Embracing the Firebird, p.4.
- Telling Uchiko she can’t go to college, though her father wanted her to, based on Yosano Uchiko’s memoir, Murasakigusa.
- “Today I take my place among women,” translated by Beichman, “Yosano Akiko’s Princess Saho and its Multiple Speakers” Waseda Rilas Journal No. 8, (特集 5 RILAS 研究部門「創作と翻訳の超領域的研究」), October 2020.
XXXIV. The Child’s Ghosts
- “We worked at the same desk,” (「筆とりて木枯らしの夜」), Mori, Fubo no Omoide, and Merry Diary (https://merry1109.exblog.jp/30682374/).
- Scene at the hot spring resort with Uchiko and Akiko is imagined/expanded upon from Uchiko’s memoir Murasaki Gusa, pp.161-63.
XXXV: Kintsugi
- “Long ago,” (「劫初ごふしょより作り」), first recommended to me by poet Jane Hirshfield. It is inscribed on a stone at Honganji Sakai Betsuin Temple. Interpretation in Ōtsuka, p.196.