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Description
The poem is entitled Ame Nimo Makezu “not losing to the rain”. It is one of the most famous and influential pieces. This simple poem inspires hundreds and thousands of people to this day. The poem depicts the ideal person in a listing manner – leading simple but healthy life, cultivating fields when it’s sunny and read when raining, eat and live humbly yet feels content in life. Kenji Miyazawa also depicts the ideal people as selfless, persistent, passionate and full of empathy for others. Kenji ends his poem adding “I want to be a person like that”. Unfortunately, when he wrote the poem, he was deadly ill and far from the strong and healthy person that was described by the poem. However, the poem has been giving hope and encouraging countless people in Japanese culture and beyond
Approximate Publication Year
c. 1933
Geographical region for language spoken
Japan
Disciplines
Japanese Studies
Recommended Citation
Miyazawa, Kenji and Kojima, Chisato, "Japanese: Ame Nimo Makezu" (1933). IWU Global Storytelling Project. 1.
https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/globalstorytelling/1
Comments
IWU Assistant Professor of Japanese Chisato Kojima reads this poem by Kenji Miyazawa, a novelist and poet of children’s literature. He wrote books and poems in late 1920s to early 1930s. He is known as a devout Buddhist and an agricultural teacher. Thus, his literary works are influenced by Buddhism and are written by a famer’s perspectives such as admiration of life and the nature.