Vivid, rich, suggestive, imaginative -- with these words, writer Janine Beichman aptly describes the extraordinary early poetry of Akiko Yosano (1878-1942). The first work in English to undertake such a comprehensive assessment of Akiko's early life and poetry, "Embracing the Firebird" is an outstanding account of the formative years of Japan's preeminent modern female poet.
Combining biography, commentary, translation, interpretation and critique, Beichman traces Akiko's developing career with a fine eye for detail and for the significant factors that led to the poet's astonishing success. Beichman's narrative follows Akiko from her birth to a merchant family in the western Japanese port city of Sakai, through her youthful liaison with Meiji poet and critic Tekkan Yosano, to the debut of Akiko's first tanka poetry collection "Midaregami" or "Tangled Hair" in 1901.
Chapters on the aesthetics and construction of "Tangled Hair" and its significance in modern Japanese literature are incorporated with many fine, close readings of Akiko's tanka and a number of excellent photographic reproductions of Meiji literary notables, Akiko's poetic texts and Akiko herself.