Nankichi Niimi (above)

One day, I participated in a book club and read Kenji Miyazawa's "Night of the Galaxy Railway" (Night of the Galaxy Railway) again. Think again about what happiness is and how to bring happiness to others. As the lighthouse keeper said:

I don't know how to be happy. But no matter how painful it is, as long as it is a test of walking on the right path, whether it is uphill or downhill, it is a step to true happiness. [Note 1]

Some of the participants mentioned sacrifice, because there are many "sacrifice" clips in the story. The most clear is that Giovanni's good friend Campanella sacrificed himself to save a classmate who fell into the water. Another self-sacrificing fragment is the scorpion, which escapes the weasel but falls into a well. At that moment, it remembered that he had taken the lives of many small insects, and regretted that he had not surrendered himself to let the weasel live one more day, and wasted it. So it prayed to God not to let it die in such a void, leaving its body to be used next time for the real happiness of all.

The scorpion's prayer is sacrifice and carries the meaning of atonement. Miyazawa believed in the Pure Land Buddhism, and his words always had Buddhist meanings.

Recently, I read the works of another Japanese writer. His works also have the theme of "Atonement" and "Sacrifice". Coincidentally, he also writes children's literature. He is Xinmei Nanji.

When I saw the book "Xinmei Nanji's "Fox Haunted!" in the bookstore, there was a line in the book that caught my eye: "Kenji Miyazawa in the north, Nanyoshi in the new beauty in the south". It turns out that Shinmi Nanji is also a well-known children's writer in Japan. The most well-known are "Quan Fox" (ごん Fox), "Buy Gloves" (Handbags を Buy いに), "Hana Kimura and the Thieves" (花のき Village and Thieves たち), "Grandpa's Oil Lamp" (おぢいさんのランプ) and so on.

According to information, Shinmi was born in Handa City, Aichi Prefecture (about 43 kilometers from Nagoya) in 1913. Formerly known as Watanabe Masahachi, "Masachi Hachi" was originally his brother's name, because his brother died on the 18th after he was born. I believe that his parents hoped that he and his dead brother would have the wisdom and body of two people. Xinmei's childhood was not good, and his mother died when he was 4 years old. At the age of 8, because his father and stepmother divorced, he was handed over to his mother-in-law to take care of him, and changed his mother's surname to Xinmei. But he lived very lonely at his mother-in-law's house, and he went back to live with his father after less than 5 months of life. Later, his father and stepmother remarried, but Shinmei Masahachi did not change his surname back to "Watanabe", which was a blow to him.

Xinmei showed his talent at a young age. He has excellent grades in primary school. He thanked the teacher on behalf of his classmates at the graduation ceremony. It is said that he wrote the speech himself, and the teacher did not give any advice or help. His father didn't want him to continue studying in middle school, but the teacher persuaded his father to do so. The teenager did not forget how his father did not want him to continue his studies, so he studied hard and showed his talents in his middle school years. At the age of 15 he had begun to publish. After graduating from middle school, he worked as a clerk at the Handa No. 2 Ordinary Elementary School at his alma mater when he was 18 years old. This year, he published his masterpiece "Quan Fox". After that, it was published in the children's magazine "Red Bird" (Red Bird). Soon, he went to the Tokyo Foreign Language School (now Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) to study English. At the age of 21, he coughed up blood and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Fortunately, his body has been adjusted, which did not affect the smooth graduation of his studies. After graduation, he worked as a teacher at Anseong High School for Girls, teaching English, Mandarin (Japanese) and agriculture. However, by 1943, his condition deteriorated, he resigned from the teaching position in February, and died on March 22. He was 29 at the time.

Most Japanese writers at that time died when they were young, either by suicide or by serious illness. Miyazawa and Shinmi both suffered from tuberculosis. Although Xinmei only lived for 29 years, his works are numerous. According to the website of Xinmei Nanji Memorial Hall[Note 2], he wrote 123 fairy tales, 57 novels, 332 nursery rhymes, 223 poems, 452 haiku, etc.

Cong Xinmei’s life is very similar to that of Miyazawa: both are teachers, children’s literature writers, like classical music, never married[Note 3], died young (Miyazawa was 37 years old), and became famous even after his death, so there are The saying of "Kenji Miyazawa in the north, Xinmei Nanji in the south" (by: Miyazawa was born in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture). However, they did not meet. Shinmi did read Miyazawa's work. After Miyazawa's death in 1933, his diary began to appear related to Miyazawa, expressing his appreciation and admiration for his works, and Miyazawa's famous work "No Losing to the Rain" handwritten note was published in the first "Miyazawa Kenji Friends Meeting in 1934" ' was discovered by accident at this party. Xinmei also attended the meeting at that time. According to the memorial hall, Shinmi used Miyazawa's poetry teaching materials when she was teaching at a girls' school. [Note 4]

The themes of their writing are very similar, both are common people's life and daily life. As for the outlook on life, Miyazawa's "Night on the Galaxy Railway" has clearly expressed his thoughts: people should try their best to seek the greatest happiness for others. As for Xinmei, he once wrote a poem (excerpt) called "Tombstone Inscription" in August 1935, which gives a glimpse into his outlook on life:

この石の上をを (よ)ぎる小鳥たちよ.
しばしここにwing (はね)をやすめよ.
この石の下に Sleeping っているのは,
おまえたちの中马のひとりだ.
what かのまちがいで,
The world is born,
(It's a lifetime, そ れ を regret い て い た)
Soul は お ま え た ち と ち っ と お な ら な か っ た.
なぜならは人のいるところより,
おまえたちのいる木の下を爱した.
Human world no し ゃ べ る hate,
お ま え た ち の よ ろ こ び と sorrow し み の pure 粋 な 言葉 を love し た.
human world, understanding, life, life,
おまえたちの信頼しあったつつましいLife ぶりを爱した. [Note 5]

Birds who pass by this tombstone, rest here for a while. Under this tombstone are your kind who were made human because of some mistakes (he regrets it all his life)
But his soul is exactly the same as yours, because he loves the tree where you are more than the place where man is May the ugly life of knowing each other be more loving the way you trust and respect each other (pages 25, 26)

(to be continued)

～～～～～～～～～～～
Extended information:

[Note 1] Kenji Miyazawa "Night of the Galaxy Railway"

[Note 2] Q&A on the website of the Shinmei Nanyoshi Memorial Museum "Are all Nanyoshi's works でいくつあるの?"
http://www.nankichi.gr.jp/Nankichi/QA2.html

[Note 3] There is a saying that Miyazawa is ascetic, but it is not that he has never been in love. At the age of 18, he was admitted to the hospital for surgery due to hypertrophic rhinitis, and fell in love with a nurse, but at that time he was against free love, so he had to give up. During this time, he came into contact with the Lotus Sutra, which led to his self-sacrificing fraternity and his pursuit of a "soul mate"[6]. Later, he suffered from tuberculosis, which made him unable to fall in love and get married. Xinmei had been in a relationship with three women, and the last paragraph had reached the stage of talking about marriage, but unfortunately the girl died, so she was single for life [Note 7].

[Note 4] New Beauty Nankichi Memorial Hall website Q&A "Nankichi Kanji Miyazawa?" http://www.nankichi.gr.jp/Nankichi/QA.html

[Note 5] <Tombstone Inscription> (Original)
https://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/Tombstone

[Note 6] Chihiro Omo: "On Miyazawa Kenji: The Changes of Love and Marriage and the Reflection of Fairy Tale Works (Part 1)" https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/120005767628

[Note 7] New Beauty Nankichi Memorial Hall website Q&A "Nankichi には Lover がいたの?" http://www.nankichi.gr.jp/Nankichi/QA.html

[New translation] "Fox Haunted!" by Xinmei Nanji (from blog) https://www.books.com.tw/products/00107676