2011 年 54 巻 p. 38-51
Saito Mokichi is one of the distinctive figures of modern tanka poetry and his career has been the focus of a great deal of academic research. The tanka theory shasei-setsu, which Mokichi developed in the 9th year of Taishô (1920) has been repeatedly discussed by researchers. However, the sources of the concept of shasei-setsu are still yet to be fully explored.
The concept of the traditional sketch theory simply involved portraying "nature" as it was. However, rather than portraying "nature" as separated from the poet’s self, Mokichi tried to express a unification of "nature" and the poet's self. Although it was certainly Mokichi's idea to adapt this notion to the tanka, it seems that Nietzsche's artistic view provided some inspiration for the emergence of this way of thinking.
This paper discusses two points: Nietzsche's view of the lyric poet and the technical term Rausch [rapture]. Nietzsche thought that lyric poets had the ability of "unification" and "fusion." This paper also confirms that, as if in response to Nietzsche's view, the capability of "unification" came to be demanded within Mokichi's theory. Moreover, as concerns the term Rausch [rapture], it is confirmed that Mokichi used it in almost the same way as did Nietzsche.
Therefore, I conclude that Mokichi’s principle of tanka creation shasei-setsu, including the idea of "unification of nature and the poet’s self", was influenced by Nietzsche's artistic view.