This article needs additional citations for
verification. (February 2008) |
Ame ni mo makezu (雨ニモマケズ, 'Be not Defeated by the Rain') [1] is a poem written by Kenji Miyazawa, [2] a poet from the northern prefecture of Iwate in Japan who lived from 1896 to 1933. It was written in a notebook with a pencil in 1931 while he was fighting illness in Hanamaki, and was discovered posthumously, unknown even to his family when it was published. Because "11.3" was written at the top of the opening page with blue pencil, it is presumed to have been written on November 3, 1931.
Kenji always carried a notebook and pencil with him, and there are as many as 15 notebooks. In the notebook with Ame ni mo makezu, Kenji wrote about his thoughts on his sickbed, his religious beliefs, and the important events of his life. Although Kenji did not intend to show Ame ni mo makezu to others as poetry, it has become his most widely known poem and is considered one of his masterpieces.
In November 1936, a poetry monument engraved with this work was erected in Hanamaki. The poem was popularized by being recorded in "Kaze no Matasaburo", a collection of works for children published in 1939. On April 11, 2011, the poem was read aloud in English by the President of the Cathedral of Samuel Lloyd III at a memorial service was held at the National Cathedral in Washington to mourn the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The text of the poem is given below in Japanese, as a transliteration using romaji, and in translation. Aside from including some kanji, the poem was written in katakana rather than hiragana (see style). This was used expression like antithesis. The last sentence reveals subject.
Original | Modern orthography | Transliteration | English translation [3] |
---|---|---|---|
雨ニモマケズ |
雨にもまけず |
ame ni mo makezu |
Unbeaten by the rain |
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Miyazawa chose to write the poem using katakana. This could seem to be stylistically odd from a modern perspective, as katakana is nowadays (usually) only used in Japanese writing to denote foreign words. However, at the time, katakana rather than hiragana was the preferred syllabary. The limited use of kanji might be viewed as a move to make his poem more accessible to the rural folk of northern Japan with whom he spent his life,[ citation needed] or perhaps as similar to American poet E. E. Cummings's style in using primarily lower case.[ citation needed] Another interpretation could be that, since katakana were regularly used in pre-war Japan for laws, regulations and other normative texts, the use of katakana here emphasizes the normative character of this promise to self.
This section needs additional citations for
verification. (November 2023) |
The best-known poem by the region's most beloved poet, Kenji Miyazawa (born in 1896), starts "Be not defeated by the rain". It extols the virtues of enduring harsh conditions with good grace.
This article needs additional citations for
verification. (February 2008) |
Ame ni mo makezu (雨ニモマケズ, 'Be not Defeated by the Rain') [1] is a poem written by Kenji Miyazawa, [2] a poet from the northern prefecture of Iwate in Japan who lived from 1896 to 1933. It was written in a notebook with a pencil in 1931 while he was fighting illness in Hanamaki, and was discovered posthumously, unknown even to his family when it was published. Because "11.3" was written at the top of the opening page with blue pencil, it is presumed to have been written on November 3, 1931.
Kenji always carried a notebook and pencil with him, and there are as many as 15 notebooks. In the notebook with Ame ni mo makezu, Kenji wrote about his thoughts on his sickbed, his religious beliefs, and the important events of his life. Although Kenji did not intend to show Ame ni mo makezu to others as poetry, it has become his most widely known poem and is considered one of his masterpieces.
In November 1936, a poetry monument engraved with this work was erected in Hanamaki. The poem was popularized by being recorded in "Kaze no Matasaburo", a collection of works for children published in 1939. On April 11, 2011, the poem was read aloud in English by the President of the Cathedral of Samuel Lloyd III at a memorial service was held at the National Cathedral in Washington to mourn the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The text of the poem is given below in Japanese, as a transliteration using romaji, and in translation. Aside from including some kanji, the poem was written in katakana rather than hiragana (see style). This was used expression like antithesis. The last sentence reveals subject.
Original | Modern orthography | Transliteration | English translation [3] |
---|---|---|---|
雨ニモマケズ |
雨にもまけず |
ame ni mo makezu |
Unbeaten by the rain |
![]() | This section has multiple issues. Please help
improve it or discuss these issues on the
talk page. (
Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Miyazawa chose to write the poem using katakana. This could seem to be stylistically odd from a modern perspective, as katakana is nowadays (usually) only used in Japanese writing to denote foreign words. However, at the time, katakana rather than hiragana was the preferred syllabary. The limited use of kanji might be viewed as a move to make his poem more accessible to the rural folk of northern Japan with whom he spent his life,[ citation needed] or perhaps as similar to American poet E. E. Cummings's style in using primarily lower case.[ citation needed] Another interpretation could be that, since katakana were regularly used in pre-war Japan for laws, regulations and other normative texts, the use of katakana here emphasizes the normative character of this promise to self.
This section needs additional citations for
verification. (November 2023) |
The best-known poem by the region's most beloved poet, Kenji Miyazawa (born in 1896), starts "Be not defeated by the rain". It extols the virtues of enduring harsh conditions with good grace.