2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
A Study on Short Poetic Literary Activities and Transnational Narratives among Japanese Immigrants in Canada
| Project/Area Number |
22K00331
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| Research Institution | Suzuka University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
天野 剛至 鈴鹿大学, 国際人間科学部, 教授 (30744338)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-04-01 – 2025-03-31
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| Keywords | Transnational / Nikkei in Canada / Internment camps / Haiku |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During the academic year of 2022/23 the following research was completed by Jean-Pierre Antonio and Tsuyoshi Amano. Two other members of our research group also contributed; Jacqueline Pearce and Michiko Kihira. Our translation work
We have translated close to 70 haiku from a collection called Akebono, 1949, that was put together by Torao Takeda, after he moved to Quebec. Again, we only have pen names for these haiku. Sometimes the city where the poet resides is given. This collection is from Julie Tamiko Manning.
Jacquie Pearce presented our research and translation work at the Seabeck Haiku conference (2022) and Jean-Pierre Antonio gave a presentation for the Public Lecture Series at Suzuka University, on November 19, 2022.
We were able to interview two descendants of Canadian Nikkei haiku poets, Denbei Kobayashi and Kinori Oka. Denbei Kobayashi's granddaughter is Sharon Hope. She is one of the last living relatives who had contact with Denbei Kobayashi. He died in 1968. Sharon shared her collection of materials that belonged to Denbei Koabyashi and his wife, who was also a haiku writer. We were able to pice together a clearer picture of their lives in the Interior of British Columbia between the years 1922 - 1968.
Masako Stillwell is the daughter of Kinori Oka, a well know haiku writer. Through interviews with Masako Stillwell, and by looking at material kept in the archives of Nikkei Place, the national Japanese cultural center in Burnaby B.C., we found examples of Kinori Oka's haiku in several collections form different internment camp haiku collections.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
during the 2022/23 academic year we were able to find new information about two major Nikkei haiku poet in Canada. They are Denbei Kobayashi and Kinori Oka. Denbei Kobayashi is already a known historical figure in Canada. We discovered that he was heavily involved in the organization and support of haiku clubs in at least 4 of the internment camps during WWII. This information came from interviews with one of his grandchildren, Sharon Hope. We also discovered that he had two pen names. One was not known before.
We interviewed the daughter of Kinori Oka, Masako Stillwell and discovered that her haiku were printed in several copies of haiku collections in different internment camps. This was also new information.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The goal for the 2023/24 academic year is to interview more descendants of well known Nikkei haiku writers in Canada to try and uncover more information about the writers' lives and also translate more haiku that have not been translated yet. I will travel to Montreal in September to meet with Julie Tamiko Manning, the granddaughter of Torao Takeda, who was a respected haiku sensei, especially in the post-war years.
In addition, I hope to write an article that focuses on Denbei Kobayashi since we have gathered a lot of information about him and his haiku group, Aoba, that existed between 1922 - 1968.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The amount of remaining money is very small. The reason for this amount remaining is due to a small miscalculation in our expectations of travel costs.
I plan to return to Canada in late August, 2023, and February 2024, to continue interviews with descendants of the haiku poets. This will require travel expenses such as airplane tickets and hotel stays. Also, there are two payments to be made for translation of the haiku documents.
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