Auteur : Marianne Simon-Oikawa

Journal : Circuladô, Revista de Estética e Literatura do Centro de Referência Haroldo de Campos

Despite the rich exchanger between Japanese and Western poets since the 1960s, Japan’s part in the international movement of visual poetry (shikakushi or bijuaru poetorî) is still poorly recognized. One of the reasons for this is the difficulty for readers from alphabetic cultures to understand the specificity of the Japanese writing system, as well as the effects that poets produce with it. The paper presents a selection of poems combining sinograms, syllabic characters and alphabetical letters, and discusses some of the characteristics of Japanese visual poetry today, where written signs circulate in a globalized manner. After recalling the role of Kitasono Katsue (1902-1978) and Niikuni Seiichi (1925-1977), two major poets in the history of visual poetry, the paper focuses on some of the latter’s most representative poems and their main features. Other poets’ use of calligraphy, typography and graphic design, geometry and drawing, color, and combinations of several writing systems within a single work is then examined. Selected from a prolific and polymorphous production, works by Fujitomi Yasuo, Kajino Kyûyô, Kitasono Katsue, Niikuni Seiichi, Takahashi Shôhachirô, Tanabe Shin, Tanabu Hiroshi, Yamanaka Ryôjirô, Yarita Misako, and Yoshizawa Shôji are presented and discussed.

Axes thématiques : Avant-gardes et modernité

Mis à jour le 01/01/2022