Hear about Mukai Kyorai on Episode 41 of our Podcast, the Japan Archives.

• Period: Edo Period
• Occupation: Poet
• Family: –
• Birth: 1651
• Death: 1704

Mukai Kyorai

Mukai Kyorai (向井 去来), real name Mukai Kanetoki², lived from 1651 to 1704, born to a physician from Nagasaki.¹ As he grew up he excelled in martial arts, but by the age of 23 he decided to give this up to persue poetry,² this led him to meet Bashō at Ise in 1686.³

As a disciple of Bashō we see him involved in the composition of different kasen (thirty-six verse sequences) with Bashō and others. One entitles Ichinaka wa (Out in the Streets) included 12 poems by him.¹ He has become known as one of the ten main disciples (Bashō Juttetsu) of Bashō.³

He and Bashō grew close and so whenever Bashō would visit Kyoto he would stay in Mukai’s country cottage called Rakushisha, and this is where Bashō would write his diary the Saga Nikki.²

After Bashō‘s death he remained a faithul disciple, working with Nozawa Bonchō to compile the haika collection called the Sarumino in 1691.¹

In 1704³ he writes the Kyoraisho, one of the main resources on Bashō’s ideas and ideals¹, it also includes discussions on the concepts of fueki ryūkō (permanance and change) sabi (loneliness) and shiori (indefinable quality of pathos).²

Footnotes

1. Carter, S.D. (1991) ”Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology”. California: Stanford University Press.
2. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
3. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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The post Mukai Kyorai appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

• Co-ordinates: : 32°58′N 129°48′E
• Island: Kyushu
• Region: Kyushu Region
• Capital: Nagasaki

• See also: Iki Province, Tsushima Province, Hizen Province.
• See also: List of Prefectures.

Nagasaki Prefecture

Nagasaki Prefecture (長崎県 – Nagasaki-ken) is located on the island of Kyushu. It is bordered by the Genkai Sea and Tsushima Strait on its northern edge, by Saga Prefecture and the Ariake Sea on its east, the Amakusa Sea on the south and the East China Sea on the west. It’s capital city is called Nagasaki.

Establishment

After the Taika Reforms in AD645, and the establishment of the ritsuryō system, this area was split into several different provinces. The island of Iki and Tsushima became island Provinces, and the prefectures peninsula area became Hizen Province. Nagasaki Prefecture’s present boundaries were established in 1833 after the Meiji Restoration.

History

This area was long known for its connections to the outside world and it is this prefecture where Christian Missionaries first began to visit Japan after the arrival of St. Francis Xavier in 1550 in Hirado. Eventually this led to the Shimbara Uprising in the Shimbara Peninsula in 1637 which followed from Christian oppression by the Tokugawa Shogunate.¹

Islands in this Prefecture

• Chikanoshima
• Futagonoshima
• Hiradoshima
• Ikinoshima
• Tsushima

Footnotes

1. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.

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