Young Japanese poet Akiko Yosano posing by an open window.
“I can give myself to her
In her dreams
Whispering her own poems
In her ear as she sleeps beside me.”
– Yosano Akiko
Akiko was born on December 7, 1878, in Sakai, Japan to a well-off family. Her family had expected a son, and because of this, her father was distant toward her for most of her early childhood until Akiko became interested in literature and reading which became the basis of their relationship. Her mother was remembered as a detached figure in most of her work and her autobiographical material discussed her as an aggressive and oftentimes scary figure in Akiko’s life.
It was mostly due to her mother that one of her first, and most outwardly apparent rebellions began. While her mother dressed her at a young age in clothes Akiko was bored by, the second Akiko was allowed to dress herself, she did so extravagantly. She wore bright colours and outfits that would remain in people’s minds for years after their meeting.
While her brothers were sent to secondary education, Akiko was starting to help run the family business and care for her younger sister who would later say she saw Akiko as a mother. Despite her growing assistance and proven responsibility, her parents maintained a strict attitude towards her and locked the door of her bedroom every night to protect her, something she was deeply offended by. She would remember in her memoirs that she had been a very practical and safety-conscious girl, and her family believing she needed extra protection made her feel like they didn’t know her at all.
More and more as she grew up, she found people treated her a certain way because she was a woman and would dismiss her and her personality when judging her, making choices and judgements for her based solely on her gender.
It was in poetry that she channelled her feelings and thoughts as they developed, writing tankas that focused largely on her experiences as a woman and women in general. She would find success quickly and catch the attention of others in the Japanese literary community, writing for the poetry magazine, Myōjō.
It was through this that she met Tomiko and the man who would become her husband, Tekkan. Both were writers, and she formed a close bond with each of them, she and Tomiko built a friendship as they both pursued Tekkan.
All three loved each other. Akiko and Tomiko wanted to share Tekkan, developing what could have been a polyamorous relationship.
““That secret
We sealed in a jar,
The three of us,
My husband, myself,
And the dead one.””
Unfortunately, they were not given the opportunity to fully pursue this relationship. Tekkan had a reputation and Tomiko’s father arranged for her to marry another man. Akiko and Tekkan married, encouraged by Tomiko.
It was at this point in 1901 that Akiko published her poetry collection Tangled Hair, a revolutionary work containing 400 poems. Akiko became the first poet to discuss breasts explicitly through tanka. Her work was far ahead of its time, showing women in charge of their own sexuality, and building a base for much of the feminist work that would follow it.
Her work was said to “corrupt public morals” and was not received well by critics, but placed her firmly in the literary elite in Japan. Her writing on tangled hair and the bodies of women would shape Japan’s discussion around sexuality to this day.
When Tomiko's husband died in 1902, she returned to the group, but things were different. Akiko was clear that she wanted her marriage with Tekkan to be monogamous even as he was clear he did not believe monogamy was something he wanted to strive for. Akiko’s relationship with Tomiko became strained.
While they remained friends, when Tomiko and Tekkan’s sexual relationship started up again Akiko was deeply hurt. Though she expressed no anger towards either participant she was deeply unhappy with the situation.
Tomiko and Akiko would still write together, publishing Lover’s Clothes, a collection of poetry that got both of them suspended from their college. From all sources, it seems like Akiko firmly refused to hate almost any of Tekkan’s other lovers, even as she tried to maintain a monogamous relationship with her husband. She befriended many of the women he cheated on her with.
When Tomiko died in 1909, Akiko mourned her but did not do so in the same public way Tekkan did. Later she would right enigmatic poetry about the situation of the three:
“That secret
We sealed in a jar,
The three of us,
My husband, myself,
And the dead one.”
Tekkan would go on to become more attached to the idea of Tomiko. He wrote often and openly about her and his other lovers, continuing to hurt Akiko.
Tekkan was also a poet, and while his wife became more and more successful his career stayed mostly in the same place. He would support his wife in her work, but it was clear in his work he felt upset by the situation.
Akiko was the breadwinner of the family. When they had two children, she cared deeply for them and she often discussed the feminist politics around motherhood in her work. Her writing became more political over time, endorsing pacifism, feminism, and sex positivity. She would write about the lives and sexuality of women society tended to try and forget: mothers, sex workers, and lesbians. It is because of this that her work has become very important to the lesbian community, and many of her poems are used in queer art.
She would go on to found a school for girls, becoming the school's chief lecturer and its first dean, before dying at the age of 63 in 1942.
[Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material]
"Yosano, Akiko ." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/yosano-akiko
Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures. (1999). United Kingdom: Garland.
Shinoda, S., Goldstein, S., Yosano, A. (2002). みだれ髪. United States: Cheng & Tsui Company.
The Forgotten Feminist: Akiko Yosano’s Influence On Modern Japan. (2019, January 5). Voyapon. Retrieved from https://voyapon.com/akiko-yosano-japanese-poet/
Yosano Akiko. (2018, May 17). Poetry Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/yosano-akiko