The Semantic Shift of the Poetical Word “Kamikaze” in the Work of Nakajima-Hirotari, a Kokugaku Scholar in the Late Edo Period

Abstract

This paper examines the semantic shift of the poetical word “kamikaze” in the work of Nakajima-Hirotari. Nakajima, a kokugaku scholar in the late Edo Period, was also known for his idea of coastal defense under the protection of “kamikaze” (he pronounced it “kamukaze”). In his bibliographic survey of the storms which miraculously saved Japan from the Mongol invasions, he found the description of them in the funeral song of Prince Takechi. It inspired him so much that he composed a waka poem “Mōko-shūrai-emaki-wo-mite-tsukureru-uta” to glorify the divine power of “kamikaze.” Later he sang about it again in his “emishiraga” song. Then Nakajima and Nagasawa-Tomoo argued for coastal defense to meet the increasing incursions of foreign ships. To emphasize their patriotism they made several poems with “kamikaze” as a national symbol. Through the analysis of the use of the word, here I will demonstrate how Nakajima had come to make an ideological use of poetry in his later career.