Takuboku Ishikawa

With the troubled eyes of a youth
I envied
Birds flying—
Flying they sang.

Ishikawa Takuboku (Japanese: 石川 啄木) (February 20, 1886 – April 13, 1912) was a Japanese poet.

Quotes

• Like to a stone
  That rolls down a hill,
  I have come to this day.
  • A Handful of Sand ("Ichiaku no Suna"), as translated by Shio Sakanishi

• With the troubled eyes of a youth
  I envied
  Birds flying—
  Flying they sang.
  • A Handful of Sand ("Ichiaku no Suna"), as translated by Shio Sakanishi

• Kyoshitsu no
  Mado yori nigete
  Tada hitori
  Kano shiro-ato ni
  Ne ni yukishi ka na
  • Running away
    From the window of a classroom,
    Alone,
    I lay down among the ruins of a castle.
    • Quoted in Modern Japanese Literature, ed. Donald Keene (New York: Grove Press, 1960), p. 208

• たはむれに母を背負ひて
  そのあまり軽きに泣きて
  三歩あゆまず
  • tawamure ni haha wo seoite
    sono amari ni karoki ni nakite
    sanpo ayumazu
    • Just for fun I put mother on my back
      but cried because she was so light
      I couldn't even do three steps.
      • ^{[citation needed]}

Quotes about Ishikawa

• Ishikawa was a poet of great ability who wanted to develop critical 'realism', but dealt too 'emotively' with human suffering and was isolated from the mainstream of socialist activity. He was passionately in sympathy with the latter, but is marked down as a 'romantic'.
  • E. Stuart Kirby, Russian Studies of Japan: An Exploratory Survey (1981), p. 103

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Takuboku Ishikawa on Wikipedia
• Media related to Takuboku Ishikawa on Wikimedia Commons