※This article was published at
March 2015.※
Misuzu Kaneko is a poet from late Taisho era who wrote a famous poem called “Watashi To Kotori To Susuzu To” (Me and a Bird and a Bell) that contains the line “everyone is different, everyone is good.”
There have likely been many people comforted by this poem while having uncertainties toward their own personality and way of life.
She also has many other poems that lift up the spirit.
Misuzu Kaneko is a Japanese writer of nursery rhymes and poetry who was born in Senzaki in 1903 and passed away at the young age of 26.
Although I had read her work before, I became more familiar with her thanks to a drama that was broadcast on television.
Senzaki was portrayed as a lively port town in the drama, and this is with good reason.
After the end of the Pacific War, it was used as a port where many Japanese nationals that had been overseas landed.
The building “Kaneko Buneido” in the Kaneko Misuzu Memorial Museum, which recreates the poet’s home where it was originally located, is a mix of old and new that provides the visitor with a sense of former times.
The mysterious atmosphere will make you feel as if you have gone back in time.
Misuzu Kaneko’s poetry often featured motifs such as the sea and fish, which is perhaps a sensibility that was developed thanks to growing up in a rich natural environment.
Sea urchins and abalone are caught at Senzaki in addition to inshore catches such as squid and horse mackerel, and these catches are shipped to Kansai and Kyushu.
The views of the Japan Sea as you walk along the harbor are beautiful, almost like a picture.
The scenery cleanses the soul like a beautiful poem.
Although times change, the heart of man is universal.
I believe that this may be the archetypal image of rich sensitivity.
Information
Kaneko Misuzu Memorial Museum
Address: 1308 Senzaki, Nagato-shi, Yamaguchi Prefecture
TEL: 0837-26-5155
Map
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