Hokkaido Tanka · Taisho Period · 1921

A Rebel Poet Returns to Girlhood: Hakodate, 1921

海こひし潮の遠鳴りかぞへつつ少女となりし父母の家

Umi koishi / shio no toonari / kazoetsutsu / shoujo to narishi / chichi haha no ie

Longing for the sea, counting the distant thunder of waves— in my parents' home, I became a girl again.

— Yosano Akiko (与謝野晶子)

About the Poet

Yosano Akiko (1878-1942) stands as one of Japan's most passionate and revolutionary poets. Born in Sakai, Osaka, she defied Victorian-era Japanese conventions with her sensual, bold tanka that celebrated female desire and individuality. Her landmark collection 'Midaregami' (Tangled Hair, 1901) shocked and electrified readers with its unabashed romanticism. She famously eloped with her mentor Yosano Tekkan and bore eleven children while maintaining a prolific literary career. Akiko visited Hakodate in 1921 during an extensive Hokkaido journey, where the northern seascape stirred deep memories of her childhood home near Osaka Bay. Beyond poetry, she translated 'The Tale of Genji' into modern Japanese and wrote fearlessly against militarism. For travelers, her work offers a window into Taisho-era Japan's artistic flowering and women's emerging voices. Her former residence in Sakai is now a museum, while her poetry continues to resonate at scenic spots throughout Japan.

Hakodate, Hokkaido

Hakodate, perched at Hokkaido's southern tip, enchants visitors with its unique blend of Japanese and Western heritage. The historic port city boasts stunning views from Mount Hakodate, where the famous night panorama reveals a glittering hourglass-shaped peninsula. Summer transforms the city into a pleasant escape from mainland humidity, with temperatures ideal for exploring the atmospheric Motomachi district's Western-style buildings and Orthodox churches. The morning market overflows with the freshest seafood—don't miss the legendary squid. Take the nostalgic streetcar through town, visit the star-shaped Goryokaku Fort, and stroll the red-brick warehouses at sunset. The constant presence of the sea, its sounds and scents, pervades every corner—just as Akiko captured in her verse. Summer festivals and comfortable weather make June through August ideal for experiencing this romantic port city.

Understanding the Poem

Akiko's tanka captures the profound emotional regression that familiar places trigger within us. The 'distant thunder of tides' serves as a Proustian madeleine—each wave counted becomes a heartbeat of memory, transporting the adult poet back to girlhood. The verb 'narishi' (became) suggests not mere remembering but actual transformation; in her parents' home by the sea, she doesn't recall being young—she becomes young again. This reflects the Japanese aesthetic concept of 'natsukashii,' a nostalgic longing tinged with sweetness and melancholy. The sea represents both constancy and change: the same waves she heard as a child still sound, yet everything has transformed. Written during her 1921 Hokkaido journey, far from her Osaka birthplace, the poem reveals how travel paradoxically deepens homesickness while offering healing distance. The simple domesticity of 'father mother's house' grounds cosmic ocean imagery in intimate, universal emotion.