Tachihara Michizō

was a Japanese poet and architect. He died at age 24 from tuberculosis, before either career could seriously get under way. Michizō struggled to find a way for an urban poet to root himself in traditional customs and still be "modern."

Though a citizen of Tokyo, Michizō would rarely mention modern urban scenes in his work. Aside from several references to cars, Michizō chose to describe a vegetable, not a mineral realm. He described trains as vehicles of escape or fate in which they cart people away or carry him to new experiences that may rescue him from being cooped up in his architectural office.

The natural landscapes of the Shinano Highlands provided an endless parade of conventional imagery that Michizō would use in his work; such as birds, clouds, flowers, grasses, mountains, skies, trees, and wind. A sizable part of his poetry used poetic impulse. Michizō's work has often been labeled sentimental. He wrote openly about his feelings and expressed what was in his heart, allowing his verse to be both uncontaminated and genuine.

Education & development

Michizō as early on as preschool took an interest drawing, and teachers began to regard him as a child prodigy. In 1927, Michizō entered Morioka Third High School where he joined the Painting Club, which taught him the use of pastel crayons. He also joined the Magazine Club which shows him how to submit manuscripts for publication. By 1929 the The Alumni Bulletin had printed 11 tanka and a of his drawings would win the silver medal in a student exhibition.

Michizō tested out of the fifth year of high school and directly entered college choosing to study science; which required English. He joined the Literary Club and shifted from using tanka to free verse in his poetry. Michizō also began reading the German poet Rilke as well as French poets Valéry and Baudelaire.

Michizō graduates from First College in 1934 and enters the Imperial University, a three-year course of study, as an architecture major. At the university he won the annual prize for the best project or design by an architectural undergraduate three years in a row and was also asked by five different literary journals ask him to submit works. Upon graduation, he was hired by Ishimoto Architects. However, he disliked his job where he feels cooped up and creatively hemmed in with no control over his conceptions.

Tuberculosis

By March 1938, Michizō began experiencing exhaustion and sense of oppression. He also found himself sleeping more often and suffered from a low-grade fever. Doctor orders rest, yet Michizō decides on a long trip for northern Honshū and Nagasaki. In December 1938 he arrives in Nagasaki exhausted; admitted himself to a hospital where he began coughing up a huge amounts of blood. He returned to Tokyo where doctors order continual rest; however, Tuberculosis had already began to affect other vital organs. Enters a Tokyo sanatorium. On March 29, 1939 his illness had completely taken over and he died.

References

*Robert Epp, "Though a Prism—Nine Modern Japanese Poets for Young Readers" (Forthcoming), pages 133-134 and 145-146.
*Robert Epp and Iida Gakuji, translators and compilers, "Of Dawn, Of Dusk—The Poetry of Tachihara Michi"zô (Los Angeles, CA: Yakusha, 2001), 464 pages. ISBN 1880276453