Editing Kenji Miyazawa (section)

==Biography==
[[File:Miyazawa Kenji and group.jpg|thumb|Miyazawa Kenji and the editorial staff of the student agricultural magazine "Azalea", 1917.]]

Miyazawa was born in the town of [[Hanamaki, Iwate|Hanamaki]],<ref name=kodansha>''[[Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan]]'' article "Miyazawa Kenji" (p. 222–223). 1983. Tokyo: Kodansha.</ref> [[Iwate Prefecture|Iwate]], the eldest son<ref name=kinenkai1>{{cite web |url=http://www.miyazawa-kenji.com/kinenkai.html |title=Ryakenpu, Omona Dekigoto |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Miyazawa Kenji Memorial Society website |publisher=Miyazawa Kenji Memorial Society |access-date=May 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429105015/http://www.miyazawa-kenji.com/kinenkai.html |archive-date=April 29, 2015 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> of a wealthy pawnbroking couple, Masajirō and his wife Ichi.<ref name=kodansha/><ref name="Cimarelli" >Massimo Cimarelli (ed.tr.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=sKH-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PP3 ''Miyazawa Kenji: Il drago e il poeta''], Volume Edizioni srl, 2014 p.3</ref><ref name="keene 284">Keene 1999, p. 284.</ref> The family were also pious followers of the [[Jōdo Shinshū|Pure Land Sect]], as were generally the farmers in that district.<ref name="Mitsutani" /> His father, from 1898 onwards, organized regular meetings in the district where monks and Buddhist thinkers gave lectures and Miyazawa, together with his younger sister, took part in these meetings from an early age.<ref name="Cimarelli" />  The area was an impoverished rice-growing region, and he grew to be troubled by his family's interest in money-making and social status.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> Miyazawa was a keen student of natural history from an early age, and also developed an interest as a teenager in poetry, coming under the influence of a local poet, [[Takuboku Ishikawa]].<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> After graduating from middle school, he helped out in his father's pawnshop.<ref>Ueda p.217</ref> By 1918, he was writing in the [[tanka]] genre, and had already composed two tales for children.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> In high school he converted to [[Nichiren Buddhism|the ''Hokke'' sect]] after reading the [[Lotus Sutra]], a move which was to bring him into conflict with his father.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/>
In 1918, he graduated from {{Nihongo|Morioka Agriculture and Forestry College|盛岡高等農林学校|Morioka Kōtō Nōrin Gakkō|extra=now the Faculty of Agriculture at [[Iwate University]]}}.<ref name=Fujii>{{cite speech |title=Heisei Nijū-nendo Kokuritsu Daigaku Hōjin Iwate Daigaku Sotsugyōshiki Shikiji |trans-title=President’s Address at the Graduation Ceremony of Iwate University, School Year 2008 |script-title=ja:平成２０年度国立大学法人岩手大学卒業式式辞 |language=ja |author=Katsumi Fujii |date=March 23, 2009 |location=Morioka |url=http://www.iwate-u.ac.jp/shokai/aisatu/g_sikiji20090323.htm |quote=１９１８年三月、本学農学部の前身である盛岡高等農林学校を卒業した賢治は、農業実践の指導を先ず教育の現場に求め、３年後に稗貫農学校（現在の花巻農業 高校）の教員となります。その後、詩に童話に旺盛な文芸活動を展開しましたが、病を得てさらに１２年後、わずか３７歳で帰らぬ人となったことは、ご承知の 通りです。 |access-date=April 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081413/http://www.iwate-u.ac.jp/shokai/aisatu/g_sikiji20090323.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He embraced [[vegetarianism]] in the same year.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> A bright student, he was then given a position as a special research student in geology, developing an interest in soil science and in fertilizers.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> Later in 1918, he and his mother went to [[Tokyo]] to look after his younger sister {{Nihongo|Toshi|宮澤トシ|Miyazawa Toshi}}, who had fallen ill while studying in [[Japan Women's University]]<ref name=kinenkai1/><ref name="keene 284"/> He returned home after his sister had recovered early the following year.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/><ref name="keene 284-5">Keene 1999, pp. 284–285.</ref>

As a result of differences with his father over religion, his repugnance for commerce, and the family pawnshop business in particular (he yielded his inheritance to his younger brother Seiroku),<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> he left Hanamaki for Tokyo in January 1921.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/><ref name=kodansha/> There, he joined [[Tanaka Chigaku]]'s [[Kokuchūkai]], and spent several months in dire poverty preaching Nichiren Buddhism in the streets.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> After eight months in Tokyo,  he took once more to writing children's stories, this time prolifically, under the influence of another Nichiren priest, Takachiyo Chiyō, who dissuaded him from the priesthood by convincing him that Nichiren believers best served their faith by striving to embody it in their profession.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> He returned to Hanamaki due to the renewed illness of his beloved younger sister.<ref name=kodansha/><ref name="keene 285">Keene 1999, p. 285.</ref> At this time he became a teacher at the Agricultural School in Hanamaki.<ref name="keene 285"/> On November 27, 1922, Toshi finally succumbed to her illness and died at age 24.<ref name=kinenkai1/> This was a traumatic shock for Miyazawa, from which he never recovered.<ref name="keene 285"/> He composed three poems on the day of her death, collectively entitled {{Nihongo|"Voiceless Lament"|無声慟哭|Musei Dōkoku}}.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/><ref name="miyamatsu 169">Miyakubo and Matsukawa 2013, p. 169.</ref>{{efn|The individual poems are entitled "Eiketsu no Asa" (永訣の朝), "Matsu no Hari" (松の針) and "Musei Dōkoku" (無声慟哭).<ref name="miyamatsu 169"/>}}

[[File:Miyazawa_Kenji_in_a_paddy_field.jpg|thumb|Miyazawa Kenji standing in a paddy field as a teacher of Hanamaki Agricultural School.]]

He found employment as a teacher in [[agricultural science]] at Hanamaki Agricultural High School (花巻農学校).<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> He managed to put out a collection of poetry, {{Nihongo|''Haru to Shura''|春と[[Asura (Buddhism)|修羅]]||extra="Spring and the Demon"}} in April 1924, thanks to some borrowings and a major grant from a producer of [[nattō]].<ref>Hoyt Long ,[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Wco6gxpor8C&pg=PT369 ''On Uneven Ground: Miyazawa Kenji and the Making of Place in Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press, 2011 p.369 n.5]</ref> His collection of children's stories and fairy tales, ''[[The Restaurant of Many Orders|Chūmon no Ōi Ryōriten]]'' (注文の多い料理店, "The Restaurant of Many Orders"), also self-published,  came out in December of the same year.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/><ref name=kodansha/> Although neither were commercial successes &mdash; they were largely ignored &mdash; his work did come to the attention of the poets [[Kōtarō Takamura]] and [[Shinpei Kusano]], who admired his writing greatly and introduced it to the literary world.<ref name=kodansha/>

Kenji resigned his post as a teacher in 1926 to become a farmer and help improve the lot of the other farmers in the impoverished north-eastern region of Japan by sharing his theoretical knowledge of agricultural science,<ref name=kodansha/><ref name="keene 288">Keene 1999, p. 288.</ref> by imparting to them improved, modern techniques of cultivation. He also taught his fellow farmers more general topics of cultural value, such as music, poetry, and whatever else he thought might improve their lives.<ref name=kodansha/><ref name="keene 288"/> He introduced them to classical music by playing to audiences compositions from Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner and Debussy on his gramophone.<ref name="Mitsutani">Margaret Mitsutani, "The Regional as the Center: The Poetry of Miyazawa Kenji", in Klaus Martens, Paul Duncan Morris, Arlette Warken (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=pwZi7Oaf_dQC&pg=PA66  ''A World of Local Voices: Poetry in English Today''], Königshausen & Neumann, 2003 pp.66–72 p.67.</ref> In August 1926 he established the {{nihongo|Rasuchijin Society|羅須地人協会|Rasuchijin Kyōkai|extra=also called the "Rasu Farmers Association"}}.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> When asked what "Rasuchijin" meant, he said it meant nothing in particular, but he was probably thinking of {{nihongo|''chi''|地||extra="earth"}} and {{nihongo|''jin''|人||extra="man"}}.<ref name="keene 288"/> He introduced new agricultural techniques and more resistant strains of rice.<ref>Mitsutani p.67.</ref> At the detached house of his family, where he was staying at the time, he gathered a group of youths from nearby farming families and lectured on [[agronomy]].{{citation needed|date=May 2015}} The Rasuchijin Society also engaged in literary readings, plays, music and other cultural activities.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> It was disbanded after two years as Japan was being swept up by a militarist turn, in 1928, when the authorities closed it down.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/><ref name="keene 288"/>

Not all of the local farmers were grateful for his efforts, with some sneering at the idea of a city-slicker playing farmer, and others expressing disappointment that the fertilizers Kenji introduced were not having the desired effects.<ref name="keene 289">Keene 1999, p. 289.</ref> He advocated natural fertilizers, while many preferred a Western chemical 'fix', which, when it failed, did not stop many from blaming Kenji.<ref name="Mitsutani" />  Their reservations may have also persisted as he had not wholly broken from economic dependence on his father, to whom farmers were often indebted when their crops failed, in addition to his defection to the Lotus Sect soured their view, as farmers in his area were, like his own father, adherents of the Pure Land Sect.<ref name="Mitsutani" /> Kenji in turn did not hold an ideal view of the farmers; in one of his poems<!-- Keene gives the Japanese title as "Sono Chichi to au" ("Meeting His Father"), but however I Google I can't find the Japanese orthography for the Japanese title, so I'm reluctant to quote it. ~Hijiri88, May 2015. --> he describes how a farmer bluntly tells him that all his efforts have done no good for anyone.<ref name="keene n197">Keene 1999, p. 289, citing (note 197, p. 379) ''Miyazawa Kenji'' 1968, p. 311–314.</ref>

According to Sibayama Zyun'iti, he started learning [[Esperanto]] in 1926, but never reached a high level in the language.<ref name="mima_sizy">Miyamoto Masao and Sibayama Zyun'iti: [http://www.hh.e-mansion.com/~sibazyun/ali-trad/poe-miyazawa0.htm Poemoj de MIYAZAWA Kenzi, memtradukitaj esperanten]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://enjoyiwate.com/?p=10884 | title=Kenji Miyazawa Ihatovkan Exhibition "Kenji Miyazawa and Esperanto Exhibition" }}</ref> He also studied English and [[German language|German]].{{citation needed|date=May 2015}} At some point he translated some of his poems into Esperanto;<ref name="dapo" /> the translated pieces were published in 1953, long after his death.<ref name="mima_sizy" /> According to [[Jouko Lindstedt]], Kenji was made interested in Esperanto by the Finnish scientist and Esperantist [[Gustaf John Ramstedt]], who was working as [[Chargé d’affaires|a diplomat]] for Finland in Japan.<ref name="lt">Jouko Lindstedt: [https://lingvatereno.blogspot.com/2021/08/sciencisto-diplomato-esperantisto-22.html Scientisto, diplomato, esperantisto] (part 2)</ref>

<!-- https://apjjf.org/2013/11/44/Roger-Pulvers/4021/article.html 'He studied English, German and Esperanto, particularly Esperanto, in which he wrote poetry' – but maybe this is based on wp? ~a user, October 2022.

The following text isn't half bad, but is definitely out of place where it is now. Any ideas on what to do with it? ~Hijiri88, May 2015. -->Kenji's writings from this period show sensitivity for the land and for the people who work in it. He was a prolific writer of children's stories, many of which appear superficially light or humorous but include messages intended for the moral education of the reader. He wrote some works in prose and some stage plays for his students and left behind a large amount of ''[[tanka]]'' and [[free verse]], most of which was discovered and published posthumously. His poetry, which has been translated into numerous languages, has a considerable following to this day. A number of his children's works have been made into animated movies, [[anime]], in Japan.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

He showed little interest in romantic love or sex, both in his private life and in his literary work.<ref name="pulvers 9–28">Pulvers 2007, pp. 9–28. "Kenji, it must be remembered, was a man who displayed no particular interest in romantic love or sex." Keene, though, states "he sometimes wandered all night in the wood in order in order to subdue the waves of sexual desire [he sensed within himself]" (Keene 1999, p. 288).</ref><!-- Why is there a 17-word quotation but cited to pages 9-28!? What page is THIS quotation on? I would assume "9–28" is the entire length of the "Introduction", but if so it's inappropriate to be citing this huge page range for a single quote. ~Hijiri88, May 2015. --> Kenji's close friend {{Nihongo|Tokuya Seki|関登久也|Seki Tokuya}} wrote that he died a virgin.<ref name="keene n193">Keene 1999, p. 288, citing (note 193, p. 379) Seki 1971, pp. 130–132.</ref>

===Illness and death===
Kenji fell ill in summer 1928, and by the end of that year this had developed into acute [[pneumonia]].<ref name="keene 289-90">Keene 1999, pp. 289–290.</ref> He once wept on learning that he had been tricked into eating carp liver.<ref name="keene n198">Keene 1999, p. 290, citing (note 198, p. 379) Kushida, "Shijin to Shōzō" in ''Miyazawa Kenji'' 1968, p. 393.</ref> He struggled with [[pleurisy]] for many years and was sometimes incapacitated for months at a time. His health improved nonetheless sufficiently for him to take on consultancy work with a rock-crushing company in 1931.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> The respite was brief; by September of that year, on a visit to Tokyo, he caught pneumonia and had to return to his hometown.<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/> In the autumn of 1933, his health seemed to have improved enough for him to watch a local [[Shinto]] procession from his doorway; a group of local farmers approached him and engaged him in conversation about fertilizer for about an hour.<ref name="keene 291">Keene 1999, p. 291.</ref> He died the following day, having been exhausted by the length of his discussion with the farmers.<ref name="keene 291"/> On his deathbed he asked his father to print 1,000 copies of the Lotus Sutra for distribution. His family initially had him buried in the family Pure Land temple Anjōji, but when they converted to [[Nichiren Buddhism]] in 1951, he was moved to the Nichiren temple Shinshōji.<ref name=hanamakikanko1>{{cite web |url=http://www.kanko-hanamaki.ne.jp/marugoto/detail.php?p=121 |title=Marugoto Jiten: Shinshōji |date=2011 |website=Ihatovo Hanamaki |publisher=Hanamaki Tourism & Convention Bureau |access-date=March 1, 2015}}</ref> After his death, he became known in his district as Kenji-[[Bodhisattva|bosatsu]] (賢治菩薩).<ref name="kilpatrick 11-25"/>

Miyazawa left his manuscripts to his younger brother Seiroku, who kept them through the [[Pacific War]] and eventually had them published.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nagai |first1=Kaori |title=Foreeord in: "Night Train to the Starts and other stories" by Kenji Miyazawa |date=2022 |publisher=Vintage Classics |isbn=9781784877767 |page=xii}}</ref>