Hagiwara Hiromichi - Life

Life

Hiromichi was born on 2.19.1815 in the province of Bizen (what is now the city of Okayama), Japan. He died on 12.3.1863 in Osaka, Japan. (Both dates are according to the lunar calendar used in premodern Japan.) Hiromichi’s father, Fujiwara Eizaburõ, was a retainer in service to the Okayama feudal lord (daimyo). Hiromichi’s name at birth was Fujiwara Keizō 藤原鹿蔵. He adopted the name Hagiwara Hiromichi after relinquishing his status as a samurai and moving to the city of Osaka to pursue a career as a poet and scholar of literature in 1845. He also published works under the literary name (gō) of Nirazono (garlic garden).

Hiromichi’s social status was nominally that of a samurai, but his childhood did not afford the comforts or stability associated with noble birth. Hiromichi’s father, who received only a meager stipend as a retainer, was plagued by ill health. According to his autobiography, Hiromichi was raised largely in the care of his mother and her family and earned the reputation of being a child prodigy by memorizing the entire Ogura Hyakunin isshu (Collection of 100 poems by 100 poets) at the age of 2. Following the death of his mother in 1821 he returned to live with his father who had taken to supporting himself as a teacher of Confucian classics.

Hiromichi’s childhood fascination with the Hyakunin isshu developed into a lifelong interest in poetry and poetic criticism. At the age of thirteen he was introduced to Hiraga Motoyoshi (1800-1865) an established poet and avid student of nativist studies. Hiromichi submitted 450 of his own waka poems to Motoyoshi, asking for corrections and advice. This led to an ongoing exchange concerning both poetry and ideology between the two. Hiromichi’s extant poems are not similar to the classical Man'yōshū style poems associated with Motoyoshi, but like Motoyoshi, he expressed deep admiration for the work of the leading nativist scholars of his age such as Kamo no Mabuchi and Motoori Norinaga.

Hiromichi suffered from palsy in middle-age. Health problems diminished his productivity as a calligrapher and author. An acquaintance remarked that despite severe health problems, Hiromichi's devotion to his work remained equal to that of a Buddhist monk. Hiromichi died in Osaka in 1863, without leaving any disciples or heirs. The noted Meiji author and scholar Mori Ogai includes the description of a solemn visit to Hiromichi's grave in his literary journal Shigarami zōshi (the weir; 1889-94).