MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR 2 (February, 2001)

STRONG IN THE RAIN

Strong in the rain

Strong in the wind

Strong against the summer heat and snow

He is healthy and robust

Free of all desire

He never loses his generous spirit

Nor the quiet smile on his lips

He eats four go of unpolished rice

Miso and a few vegetables a day

He does not consider himself

In whatever occurs...his understanding

Comes from observation and experience

And he never loses sight of things

He lives in a little thatched-roof hut

In a field in the shadows of a pine tree grove

If there is a sick child in the east

He goes there to nurse the child

If there's a tired mother in the west

He goes to her and carries her sheaves

If someone is near death in the south

He goes and says, ‘Don't be afraid'

If there's strife and lawsuits in the north

He demands that the people put an end to their pettiness

He weeps at the time of drought

He plods about at a loss during the cold summer

Everybody calls him ‘Blockhead'

No one sings his praises

Or takes him to heart...

That is the sort of person

I want to be

This is Miyazawa Kenji's most famous poem, though he no doubt did not intend　it to be. It was found in his little notebook and turned into a national　prayer. I would venture to say that this is probably the single most wellknown poem in Japan. It is also one of the most written-about.

To my mind, this is the kind of person that Miyazawa Kenji wished to be precisely because he wasn't. It is true that he gave of himself tirelessly, and keenly felt the misery of the poor farmers of his native Iwate. But he was also a frightful egotist and someone who most certainly did not desire to be called a blockhead. He craved recognition for his writing just as virtually all other authors do. He wanted to be taken to heart. He was himself full of pettiness and anger.

It is his own personal faults and failings, his selfcentered spirit, not his alleged selflessness, that gave him the inspiration to write this poem.

And, in fact, that is what makes it intriguing as truth.

READ THIS ARTICLE IN JAPANESE

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