Her hair at twenty
Flowing long and black
Through the teeth of her comb
Oh beautiful spring
Extravagant spring!
My skin is so soft
Fresh from my bath
It pains me to see it covered
By the fabric
Of an everyday world
No Japanese poet in modern times has described female sensibilities and feminine passion as exquisitely as Akiko Yosano. Last month marked the 130th anniversary of her birth, yet her poetry speaks about love, lust and devotion in ways that are still startling, fresh and revealing to us today.
Yosano's most renowned metaphor involves her hair, and it was her 399-tanka collection, "Midaregami" (Disheveled Hair), published on Aug. 15, 1901, that brought her to the immediate attention of the public and the critics alike. (The tanka is a traditional form of poetry consisting of 31 syllables in five lines.)