Acceptance of Japanese Haiku and Its Problem in Colonial Taiwan in Comparison with the Haiku World of Colonial Korea

• Main Author: Kazuo ISODA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Global Institute for Japanese Studies, Korea University 2016-06-01
• Series: Gwagyeong Ilboneo Munhak Yeongu
• Subjects: Taiwanese seasonal words; Korean color; cultural discrimination among colonies; Hototogisu; Ō Hekishō
• Online Access: https://www.bcjjl.org/upload/pdf/jjlls-3-1-147.pdf

This paper analyzes the particular problems concerning Japanese haiku in colonial Taiwan in comparison with haiku during the same period in Korea. Haiku began to be written by the Japanese in Taiwan just after its colonization, and much later by some Taiwanese. While Japanese haiku poets in Taiwan strongly stressed accommodation to particular characteristics of its quasi-tropical weather, asking ardently for a compilation of Taiwanese seasonal words (台湾季語), those in Korea stressed the Korean colors of its local community (朝鮮色). There were meaningful instances of cooperation among Japanese and Korean haiku poets in Korea, while no similar cooperation occurred in Taiwan. This corresponds seemingly with the fact that a larger number of works of Korean poets were accepted by the leading haiku magazine “Hototogisu” (ほととぎす) than those of Taiwanese poets. In this sense, Korean haiku was superior to Taiwanese haiku. The cause of this phenomenon seems to be, at least partly, cultural discrimination among Japanese colonies. For example, Japanese haiku leader Takahama Kyoshi (高浜虚子) visited the Korean haiku circle three times during the colonial era, while he never officially visited the Taiwanese haiku circle. Toward the end of Japanese colonization, the leading Taiwanese haiku poet Ō Hekishō (王碧蕉) criticized Japanese conventional season-consciousness, trying to adapt haiku to Taiwanese traditional culture, but in vain. (197 words)