TŌKYŌ, December, 1897.
DEAR ŌTANI,--I have your very nice letter, which gave me much pleasure.
This is just a line before I go away, in regard to the subject for
January, and relevant matters.
First let me tell you that you are very, very much
mistaken--extraordinarily mistaken--in thinking that I do not care for
what you call "vulgar" songs. They are just what I care _most_ about. In
all the poems that you translated for me this month, I could find but
_one_ that I liked very much; and that was a _dodoitsu_.
Now I am going to shock you by saying something that may surprise you;
but if I do not say it, you will _never_ understand what I want. In all
the great mass of student poetry that you collected for me, I found
only seventeen pieces that I could call poetry,--and on submitting
those seventeen pieces to higher tests, I found that nearly all were
reflections of thoughts and feelings from older poets. As for the book
that you translated, I could find no true poetry in it at all, and
scarcely anything original.
And now let me tell you my honest opinion about this whole matter. The
_refined_ poetry of this era, and most of the poetry that you collected
for me of other eras, is of little or no value. On the other hand, the
"vulgar" songs sung by coolies and fishermen and sailors and farmers and
artisans, are very true and beautiful poetry; and would be admired by
great poets in England, in France, in Italy, in Germany, or in Russia.
You will think, of course, that this only shows my ignorance and my
stupidity. But please reflect a little about the matter. A great poem
by Heine, by Shakespeare, by Calderon, by Petrarch, by Hafiz, by
Saadi, remains a great poem _even when it is translated into the prose
of another language_. It touches the emotion or the imagination in
every language. But poetry which cannot be translated is of no value
whatever in world-literature; and it is not even true poetry. It is a
mere playing with values of words. True poetry has nothing to do with
mere word-values. It is fancy, it is emotion, it is passion, or it is
thought. Therefore it has power and truth. Poetry that depends for
existence on the peculiarities of _one language_ is waste of time, and
can never live in people's hearts. For this reason there is more value
in the English ballad of "Childe Waters" or of "Tamlane," than in the
whole of the verse of Pope.
Of course, I know there are some beautiful things in Japanese classical
poetry--I have translations from the _Manyōshū_ and _Kokinshū_
which are beautiful enough to live forever in any language. But these
are beautiful because they do _not_ depend on word-values, but upon
sentiment and feeling.
I fear you will think all this very foolish and barbarous; but perhaps
it will help you to understand what I want. "Vulgar" poetry is supremely
valuable, in my humble opinion.
Please this month collect for me, if you can, some poems on the _Sound
of the Sea and the Sound of the Wind_. If there are not many poems on
these subjects, then you might add poems on the Sea and the Wind in any
other connection. What I want to get is the _feeling_ that the sound and
the mystery of Wind and Sea have inspired in Japanese Song.
With best wishes ever, faithfully yours,