Eihan Kusahara

**Eihan Kusahara** [華岭・えいはん, 3 November 1886 - 18 May 1942) was a Kantonese writer and poet. He is known for liberating Kantonese free verse from the grip of traditional rules, and is considered the 'father of modern colloquial poetry in Kanton'. He published many volumes of essays, literary and cultural criticism, and poetry anthologies over his long career. His unique style of verse expressed themes of existentialism and absurdism, and his fears, ennui and anger through the use of dark images and strong wording.

## Early life

Eihan Kusahara was born in Tōwara, Tomono Prefecture as the son of a prosperous local physician. He was interested in poetry from an early age, particularly in the *udayame* genre, and started to write poetry much against his parents' wishes, drawing on the works of Ōyama no Beiryū and Miuri Ayagano for inspiration. From his early teens, he started to submit poems to literary magazines and had his *udayame* verse published in several literary journals.

His mother bought him his first violin in the summer of 1903. After spending a futile five semesters as a freshman at two national universities, he dropped out of school, living for a period in Omiya. In 1911, when his father was still trying to persuade him to re-enter college, Kusahara began studying the violin in Daimi, with the thought of becoming a professional musician. He later established a violin orchestra in his hometown of Tōwara. His bohemian lifestyle was criticised by many who knew him. Kusahara apparently felt thwarted by the rustic nature of his native then-pre-industrialised Tōwara, and some of his early poems include spiteful remarks towards the city.

Kusahara married Risa Yamaya in 1919; they had two daughters, Senji (1920-2005), also a writer, and Shinae (b. 1922). Risa deserted her family for a younger man in June 1929 and ran off to Honnan; Kusahara formally divorced her in October of that year. He married again in 1935 to Aiyū Ōya, but after only eighteen months Kusahara's mother drove her away.

## Literary career

In 1913, Kusahara published five of his verses in *Ringobi* ('Apple Seeds'), a magazine edited by Kango Honbara, an accomplished *udayame* poet and author, who became his mentor and friend. He also contributed verse to the *Yamedzuri* magazine and *Senshū*, another journal created by Honbara. The following year, he joined two fellow poets Miyato Hitayama and Shinji Sanzu in creating the *Koryū Hanka* ('Three Dragons Poetry Group'), dedicated to the study of music, poetry, and religion. The three writers called their literary magazine *Sakari Tanbi* ('Blooming Chrysanthemum') and published the first edition in 1915.

In late 1915, Kusahara attempted suicide due to the pressure of his continued ill health and alcoholism. However, in 1916 he co-founded with Shinji Sanzu the literary magazine *Kantei* ('Sentiment'). The magazine was focused on the "new style" of modern Kantonese poetry that Kusahara was developing in contrast to the highly intellectual and more traditional poems featured in other contemporary journals. In 1917, Kusahara brought out his first free-verse collection, Danbi Nirari ('Howling at the Moon'), which had an introduction by Kango Honbara. The work was a sensation in literary circles. Kusahara rejected the symbolism and use of unusual words in favor of precise wording which appealed rhythmically or musically to the ears. The work was praised for its bleak style, which conveyed an attitude of pessimism and despair based on the modern Western concept of existential angst influenced by the philosophy of Nietzsche.

Kusahara's second anthology, *Uneko* ('Blue Cat') was published in 1923 to even greater acclaim. The poems in Uneko incorporated themes of love, loss and grief, along with concepts from Buddhism. Kusahara subsequently published a number of other cultural and literary criticisms. He was a scholar of classical verse and published *Han no Shindo* ('Principles of Poetry') in 1928. He had a great appreciation for classical Kantonese poetry.

*Korya* ('The Glacier') published in 1934 was Kusahara's last major anthology of poetry. He abandoned the use of both free verse and colloquial Kantonese, and returned to a more traditional structure. The poems are occasionally autobiographical, and exhibit a sense of despair and loneliness. The work received only mixed reviews. For most of his life, Kusahara relied on his wealthy family for financial support. However, he taught at Mizukata University from 1934 until his death from lung cancer in 1942. He is buried at