¡®Strong in the Rain,¡± a classic Japanese poetry collection from Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1921), beautifully reveals much about both nature and humanity.
Miyazawa, raised in rural Iwate Prefecture, was an agricultural science teacher, a devout Buddhist and a social activist. Best known for his children¡¯s books, notably ¡°Night on the Milky Way Train,¡± Miyazawa¡¯s poems reveal a deeper layer to the talented Japanese artist and activist. His sharply intellectual lyricism blends a knowledge of science and egalitarianism. Nature is not a peripheral ideal, subservient to humanity, but the essential core of existence. Miyazawa¡¯s imagery spans geological time as a metaphor for the heart (¡°My Heart Now¡°) or evokes all the grief and guilt of death within the dropping of pine needles (¡°Pine Needles¡°). Stylistically, the poems startle in their diversity, from sparse, spare snippets of metaphor to long, prose-poems in narrative form.
The small tome starts with a comprehensive biography of Miyazawa in the introduction by Roger Pulvers and ends with copious commentary on the poems. The title poem, ¡°Strong in the Rain,¡± is considered Miyazawa¡¯s most famous, memorably praising a ¡°Blockhead,¡± a country man who acts in quiet compassion wherever he is needed. The reader can clearly feel Miyazawa¡¯s own values and hopes for humanity across time in these challenging but rewarding poems.
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