Part 2>>
3. The launch of Heart Mountain Bungei and its subsequent developments
The December 8, 1943 issue of the Heart Mountain Sentinel (Japanese edition) predicted that Heart Mountain Bungei would be launched in January 1944. However, based on a December 18, 1943 article in the same paper, it is believed to have been launched on December 20, 1943. Six issues were published in total, including the September 1944 issue, which was the final issue. The June and August issues were not published, and the July issue (published August 2, 1944) was not available at this time.
The magazine was founded by Iwamuro Yoshiaki and Okubo Tadashige, who were guided by Takayanagi Sasui and were the editors. Iwamuro Yoshiaki was a second generation Japanese who had a strong interest in culture and literature and who led a mandolin band at entertainment events (Okada Fumie's Tanka, April issue). Okubo Tadashige was a young Issei who was born in Tokyo, dropped out of Keio University's normal school and went to the United States. While working at a laundry, he was a member of the San Francisco Literary Society and was active in the 1930s with the Japanese newspaper Shinsekai Asahi Shimbun and the literary magazine Shouhaku. Of these two editors, Iwamuro Yoshiaki seems to have been the central figure in the editing of the first issue (Takayanagi Sasui, "Sengo no Ki," First Issue).
The Heart Mountain Bungei editorial office was located within the Japanese edition of the Heart Mountain Sentinel, and all the tools necessary for printing were borrowed from the Japanese edition.
The purpose of founding this literary magazine was made clear in the "Opening Message" published in the first issue. The author's name is not given, but it is presumed to be Iwamuro Yoshiaki. First, regarding the current state of camp life, the article analyzes that in the current global turmoil, we have witnessed and experienced the collapse of humanity's "lifestyle that glorified the supremacy of materialism," but that in living passively in the camps, we tend to neglect this valuable challenge and become indifferent to the rapid changes in "global thought." He then states, "The publication of this literary journal is intended to bring a touch of literary sentiment to the dull daily life of the center, promote the unity of thought among the literary members, cultivate artistic sentiment, and encourage the dedication to creativity, and to help them find meaning in life and cultivate the culture and character of so-called intellectuals," and that "we want to help them escape from the state of suspended animation, develop a strong spirit and far-reaching courage to face the new era, and seek knowledge in all areas." In other words, the editors' stated purpose of this magazine is to provide a literary spiciness to the dull life of the camp, to overcome materialism in life, and to encourage and provide a place for literary lovers to work together to improve themselves in order to live in the new postwar era. There is no reference to Japanese culture, which those who have been involved in creative activities in America using Japanese have always had to be aware of, to varying degrees.
Another purpose of the launch of Heart Mountain Literature was to establish the Heart Mountain Literary Society, a group that would bring together literature lovers in the camps around the magazine (Editorial Note, first issue). However, the editors soon realized that this idea was premature (Editorial Note, February issue), and the founding of the Heart Mountain Literary Society never came to fruition.
Heart Mountain Literature is a literary magazine based on poetry and essays. However, there is some confusion in the editorial policy regarding the nature of the magazine. The December 8, 1943 issue of Heart Mountain Sentinel (Japanese edition) announced that it would be a "short poem literary magazine." However, the "Editorial Afterword" of the first issue states that it is a "general literary magazine," and lists academic papers, essays, free verse, tanka, haiku, senryu, short stories, and short pieces as types of manuscripts accepted. It is clear that it is intended to be a general literary magazine. Also, in the same first issue, Takayanagi Sasui writes that it is "the general magazine of Heart Mountain Literature." However, the English title listed in the April and May issues is Heart Mountain Essay and Poetry Booklet, and when you look at the contents of the magazine, you can see that this English title well expresses the nature of this literary magazine. However, when comparing essays and poetry, poetry is more complete and fulfilling, so it would be more appropriate to say "poetry and essays" rather than "essays and poetry."
What particularly interests us about this magazine's policy is the clear content restrictions placed on the manuscripts it solicits. In the section on academic papers, there is a disclaimer stating "current affairs excluded." Since all publications in the camps were subject to WRA censorship, this can be seen as a self-censorship by the editors to avoid friction with the authorities and not to accept manuscripts that discussed current affairs that could cause friction. As a result, papers and critiques that contained critical views of the authorities and the United States were no longer published in the magazine, and it is likely that this made contributors of other genres aware of this self-censorship as well.
Looking at each issue, the first issue is notable for being dominated by tanka and haiku. This small literary magazine of 44 pages contains 108 tanka by 27 authors and 99 haiku by 23 authors. It also contains 60 senryu by 12 authors.
Contributors include well-known names such as Takayanagi Sasui, Tsuneishi Shisei, Asega Shikai (haiku), and Senzaki Nyogen (essays). In particular, Takayanagi Sasui and Tsuneishi Shisei acted as judges of the tanka and haiku entries, respectively, confirming their strong support for the magazine. (However, Fujioka Hosoe later took over as judge of the haiku entries.) Editor Iwamuro Yoshiaki also used the name Yoshiaki and published five pieces of poetry and essays, showing his efforts in publishing the first literary magazine in the camp. The first issue was well received, and a reprint was published early in the new year.
The editor-in-chief of the February and March issues was Iwamuro Yoshiaki. The contents were almost the same as the first issue, but the February issue carried two literary critiques for the first time. The March issue featured a large number of senryu poems, as well as a tribute to senryu master Kurokawa Kentotsu, which drew attention. Matsumoto Kichitaro, a member of the Shinrei Tanka Society, contributed tanka to the February and March issues from the Japanese-American exchange area where he returned to Japan during the war, and the highly acclaimed biography "Japan's first English teacher rests lonely deep in the mountains of China" began in the March issue.
From the April issue, Okubo Tadae became the sole editor. This was because Iwamuro Yoshiaki was relocating to Chicago. This issue featured a special essay collection. The four contributors were all tanka enthusiasts who published their works in the Heart Mountain Literary Tanka Circle. There were also other essays and critiques, so the weight of prose in the magazine as a whole was greater than before. Also featured were haiku sent from the Granada internment camp, essays depicting the wartime scenery of Chicago, where the magazine was relocated, and poems and paintings by Estelle Ishigo.
In the May issue, Takayanagi Sasui contributed her own work for the first time ("Saiunkyosho") in addition to the poems in the "Poetry Section" column. There is also a special article and a congratulatory poem for the "60th Birthday Celebrations of Ms. Fujioka Hosoe", and the tanka and haiku are more substantial than ever before. There are also more senryu poems than ever before. There are also three works by young women, which are rare in the "short pieces" section. Other than these, there are many essays and critiques, such as "What kind of country is Ceylon?" and "On the Significance of Economic Value".
The September issue is notable for its "page celebrating the second anniversary of the Center." For the first time, tanka poems were published there, along with essays and short stories. The timeline of events since the camp's opening, compiled by Okubo Tadae, is far more detailed than that in the Heart Mountain Sentinel (English edition, August 13, 1944), and is useful for learning about the activities and life within the camp. It is unfortunate, however, that it only covers one year. Heart Mountain Bungei ended with the September issue when Okubo Tadae left for Chicago.
*Reprinted from Research on Japanese American Literary Magazines: Focusing on Japanese Language Magazines, co-edited by Shinoda Sae and Yamamoto Iwao (Fuji Publishing, 1998).
© 1998 Fuji Shippan
