YOSANO Akiko and Sakai

My friend of local assembly members, told me about  2009 Women's Conference in Sakai.  I really wanted to know how is like the city of Sakai, because an extraordinary women was born there.

YOSANO Akiko(1878-1942)is widely known as the great poet of tanka(thirty-one-syllable verse) who personified the Romanticism through the three eras of Meiji, Taisho and Showa. Born into the famous Surugaya Confectionery family in Sakai, where closed to Sennoriky’s house, the 16C’s founder of Tea ceremony.   Dubbed by her first collection of poems ”Midaregami”, Ｔａｎｇｌｅｄ　Ｈａｉｒ　she expressed her love for a man who had married and his little children.  She became the “Poetess of Passion”, she was one of the leading figures in the history of modern literature, and Japanese classical literature. Besides, she was Tekkan’s wife and mother of 11children(and missed 2 others). supported her husband's works and their family financially. In 1912 she went to Paris, pursuing her husband’s abroad study, and brought more ideas to plague the conservative society. She wrote countless essays on the rights of women and played an active role in advancing women’s education. The accomplishments of YOSANO Akiko, a pioneer in the struggle for the liberation of women and a fearless activist in a wide variety of fields whole her life.

One of her long poem " kimi shinitamoukotonakare" O my Brother, You Must not Die,  protested to militarism, is so impressed me.  She bravely criticized the government for entrance into the Russo-Japanese war, although others writers were put in jail, Akiko was not touched.  Akiko continued to write her views concerning politics, economics and women's rights. Her children were all successful, including doctors and lawyers. a head of the 1964 Olympics Games in Tokyo.  Her grandson had been a minister of Japanese diet.

Ref: http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/index.html