Yaichi Aizu and Foreign Literature

This essay discusses the relationship between a country bumpkin named Yaichi Aizu (1881～1956, 会津八一) and foreign literature. This country – bred man later became a prominent figure in the world of Haiku, Tanka (i.e. a 31 syllable Japanese Ode), calligraphy, and Oriental (Nara) art, learning by himself. Yaichi Aizu was born in a famous Japanese restaurant in Niigata city, Niigata Prefecture, and was educated at Niigata Prefectional Common Middle School. While there, he did well and loved ancient poems and became a Haiku judge for some local newspapers. After finishing the school, he went to Tokyo to enter the Tokyo Professional School (i.e. Tokyo Senmon Gakko, 東京専門学校, nowadays named Waseda University), which was founded in Oct., 1882, by Ōkuma Shigenobu who was dismissed from the State Council due to the plot by the Premier, Ito. This school was suspected of being a training institute for revolts and invited lots of spies. The school was located in the village of Waseda and was surrounded by rice fields and groves. Yaichi majored in English literature at this school. In Sep., 1902, Tokyo Professional School was raised to University and was called Waseda University thereafter. The situation developed in their favour attracting a multitude of applicants for entrance. The University was a jumble of good and bad, however, strangely it produced many men of talent. Later a host of Aizu’s classmates became magnates in the literary world. The reason for that remains unknown, however, men of ability flocked together in the school. Scholars of the first order taught in this school. A peculiar academical climate at Waseda might have exerted a good influence on the students both materially and spiritually. As a student in the literary course, Yaichi was lucky enough to take the lecture of Lafcadio Hearn (1850～1904, writer, b. in Greece) who moved to Waseda after quitting Tokyo University. He taught for only few months at Waseda because of his sudden death caused by heart failure. Before his death, Hearn, had instilled a deep love of Greek culture in Yaichi. This led him to study Oriental (Nara) art later on. After graduating from Waseda in July, 1906, Yaichi left Tokyo for the Itakura village, in the county of Nakakubiki, Niigata Prefecture, to teach English at Yūgaki Gakusha (i.e. a private middle school, 有垣学舎). He taught English to upper-class pupil. He took a room at a private house where he often sat up late reading foreign and Japanese books. In Sep., 1910, Yaichi moved to Waseda Middle School after working for Yūgaki Gakusha for about five years. At the newly appointed school, he worked for some 21 years, teaching English and later morals (修身). Very often he got side-tracked in the class, telling Hearn’s ghost stories and Greek myth which delighted the pupils. He loved the pupils who were attached to him. They visited his dwelling by twos and threes on Sundays. In March, 1925, Yaichi resigned from the Middle School and was appointed a Professor at Waseda Kōto Gakuin (i.e. a kind of higher school) and a lecturer at the faculty of literature of the University, teaching English and Oriental (Nara) art later on. His speciality was English literature though, he didn’t show remarkable results in this field. While he was a student at Waseda in Feb., 1904, he published a little magazine titled Hokujin (i.e. a Northerner, 北人) with young lovers of literature in Niigata Prefecture. Nowadays this magazine is hard to find, however, Yaichi published the next 6 translations at a time without his signature. A short story : A Novel, Kyōshitsu no nagori (i.e. A Farewell to the Last Class, 小説教室の名残). The Last Class ― The Story of a Little Alsatian by Alphonse Daudet. Poems : Kisaragi no Yūbe (i.e. An Evening in February, 二月の夕). Longfellow’s ‘Afternoon in February’. Kajin no Uta (i.e. The Poet’s Song, 歌人のうた).―Tennyson’s ‘The Poet’s Song’. A short criticism : Chaucer and Dante by Brooke. Goldsmith, a part of biography of Oliver Goldsmith written by Washing