By Levi Wright
“Trembling heart of the gods, the central active energy of humanity emerges from the core of collective life. The city is a motor. Its core is dynamo-electric,” wrote the poet Hirato
Renkichi in his 1921 *Manifesto of the Japanese Futurist Movement*.
Renkichi, a highly influential figure who lived in Japan during the Taisho era, developed a degree of mythic appeal because most of his works have remained in the original language. However, today, Sho Sugita, a poet and translator who has translated these verses into English, will read some of the poems at Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque St., today at 7 p.m.
The Taisho era was a time of growth in Japan that marked a break from tradition.
“[The era] brought numerous displays of changes that ranged from domestic gas-powered baths to panels that promoted the benefits of petroleum-powered vehicles,” Sugita said. “And an infrastructure for mass media — newspapers, magazines, and radio broadcasts — provided transcontinental news of contemporary affairs to the curious Japanese youth, a privilege that was probably scarce in the generation born before the turn of the century.”
With all the emerging technologies and ideas, a series of avant-garde movements swept through Japan, including futurism, dada, and surrealism.
A futurist, Renkichi decided to turn his back on the influences of the past and, instead, forge ahead with his new vision, consisting of a number of formal techniques that hadn’t been used before.
“A lot of poetry in that era of japan was in verse form, formalized … His writing was trying to break apart those conventions,” Sugita said.
Writing around the time of World War I, Renkishi spent a good deal of his life in an environment that actively suppressed creativity. This, in turn, however, led artists such as Renkichi to push the boundaries of art even further, leading to what Sugita said was
Sugita noted the nuances found in the process of translating such a
cryptic and avant-garde “a more lively and creative art scene in Japan.” work.
“Different translations can bring out different material from the original source text. I only hope I can trigger that conversation,” Sugita said. Being a poet himself, Sugita can offer a translation that others cannot.
One of the translated poems Sugita will read is Renkishi’s “Kitchen.”
“The poem shows many unique literary devices and characteristics that were not present in Japanese poetry during Hirato’s time, like line breaks,” Sugita said.
Renkichi wasn’t the only futurist in Japan during this era, but Sugita noted that his work had a particular appeal.
“What attracted me to Hirato Renkichi [as opposed to Kanbara Tai, who was an earlier practitioner of the Japanese avant-garde in a temporal sense] would be that, at least for me, he is a much clearer reflection of Japan than the more academic Kanbara Tai or Kinoshita Shuichiro,” Sugita said.
“[His work captures the] electrifying energy of the cities, complicated by images of God, violence, sex, machines, and nature. He didn’t just sit and write — he was going out of his way and handing these poems out in the streets. That was really exciting, both as a reader and translator of Hirato’s poetry.”
Sho Sugita
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque
Cost: Free