Kaneko, Misuzu

Kaneko’s career as a poetry writer for children really began at the age of twenty, shortly after she became the manager and sole employee of a small bookstore in Shimonoseki , a town on the southern tip of Honshu . Here she found that several magazines, which were at the height of the boom in the children's literature sector, asked their readers to send their own stories and poems. Kaneko sent a selection of her poems, of which five (among them, “Pisces”) were accepted for publication in September 1923 in four of these journals. Over the next five years, Kaneko published fifty-one major poems.

In 1926, against her will, her parents married her to an unloved person, who forbade publication and was a womanizer, not correcting herself even with the birth of her daughter ^[1] . Soon, the husband contracted a venereal disease in the entertainment quarter and infected his wife, who in 1930, unable to stand it anymore, filed for divorce. At first, the ex-husband allowed her to raise her daughter on her own, but then changed her mind and tried to get custody of the child ^[1] . In protest, Kaneko committed suicide by writing a letter asking the grandmother (her mother) to raise the child, because she herself "does not have the proper abilities."

In the years following her death, the era of militarism began in Japan, and the literary talents of that time were forgotten. But one of the poems of the poet made a huge impression on the poet Setuo Yazaki, and he decided to try to find Kaneko's relatives. In 1982 , as a result of 16-year-old searches by Setsuo Yazaki, the poet's brother was found in Tokyo , who has five hundred and twelve verses written by Kaneko herself in three notebooks. The entire collection was published by the JULA Publishing Bureau in six volumes of anthology ( 1984 ) and the name Kaneko quickly gained popularity in Japan. Currently, Setsuo Yazaki is the director of the Misudzu Kaneko Museum opened in Nagato, and thanks to his tireless efforts, Kaneko's works have become part of world culture ^[1] .

Kaneko's work is compared with the poetry of Christina Rossetti ^[1] .

On March 10, 2009, the UNESCO organization organized a round table where the problems and achievements of Japanese women in the public and cultural life of the country were examined. Japanese female poetry was presented by verses by Misuzu Kaneko ^[2] .

"I, the bird and the bell"

Even spreading my arms to the sides,

I can’t fly to heaven

The bird can fly, but me

On the earth will not catch up, since I run.

Even I will tremble with my whole body,

I won’t publish silver chime,

The bell rings, but

So many songs do not know like me.

A bell and a bird and I -

We are different, but all are good.

Original text (Japanese)

: わ た し と 小鳥 と す ず と

わ た し が 両 手 を ひ ろ げ て も 、

お 空 は ち っ と も と べ な い が 、

と べ る 小鳥 は わ た し の よ う に 、

地面 を は や く は 走 れ な い。

わ た し が か ら だ を ゆ す っ て も 、

き れ い な 音 は で な い け ど 、

あ の 鳴 る す ず は わ た し の よ う に

た く さ ん な う た は 知 ら な い よ。

す ず と 、 小鳥 と 、 そ れ か ら わ た し 、

み ん な ち が っ て 、 み ん な い い。

• (jap.) Official site of the Misudzu Kaneko Museum in Nagato