Mitsuhashi Takajo or Takajo Mitsuhashi (三橋 鷹女; born Fumiko Matsuhashi (三橋 たか) near Narita, Chiba on 24 January 1899; died 7 April 1972[1]) was a haiku poet of the Shōwa period.

Statue of Mitsuhashi Takajo

Biography

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Mitsuhashi Takajo was born near Narita. She was an admirer of Akiko Yosano and her father wrote tanka. In 1922 she married Kenzō (東 謙三), a dentist who wrote haiku and that influenced her to switch to haiku herself. By 1936 she became part of a group that founded the short-lived Kon (dark blue) publication and in 1940 had the collection Himawari or Sunflowers published. The war proved difficult for her family and in 1953 she became involved in a progressive magazine of avant-garde poets who allowed experimental haiku. Her last collection, in 1970, dealt somewhat with death as she had been ill for years.[2]

Legacy and image

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She has been referred to as a religious ascetic[3] or one who led a life of asceticism and spiritual concentration. She is said to have written works of self-alienation and the Void.[4] A statue of her is at Shinshoji Temple.[5]

She is also placed as one of the "4 Ts" of Japanese female haiku poets. The other three are Tatsuko Hoshino, Nakamura Teijo, and Hashimoto Takako.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Haiku Society of America
  2. ^ Makoto Ueda (21 August 2012). Far Beyond the Field: Haiku by Japanese Women. Columbia University Press. pp. 109–110. ISBN 978-0-231-50279-5.
  3. ^ Kirstin Olsen (1 January 1994). Chronology of Women's History. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 327. ISBN 978-0-313-28803-6.
  4. ^ Ikuko Atsumi; Kenneth Rexroth (17 February 1982). Women Poets of Japan. New Directions. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8112-2387-4.
  5. ^ Japan Navigator: Haiku Stones: Narita City (Mitsuhashi Takajo)
  6. ^ Haiku Mind. Shambhala Publications. 2008. pp. 40, 42, 80, and 196. ISBN 978-0-8348-2235-1.