CHETACHONCHET CHETACHONCHET

CHETACHONCHETA CONCHA

PODRIDA, CHETA CONCHETA, PUTA COGIDA

Initially, Chūya favored poetry in the Japanese traditional tanka format, but he was later (in his teens)
attracted to the modern free verse styles advocated by Dadaist poet Takahashi Shinkichi and by
Tominaga Tarō.
After he moved to Tokyo, he met Kawakami Tetsutaro and Ooka Shohei, with whom he began
publishing a poetry journal, Hakuchigun (Idiots). He was befriended by the influential literary critic
Kobayashi Hideo, who introduced him to the French symbolist poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul
Verlaine, whose poems he translated into Japanese. The influence of Rimbaud went beyond just his
poetry, and Nakahara came to be known for his "bohemian" lifestyle.
Chūya adapted the traditional counts of five and seven used in Japanese haiku and tanka, but frequently
tripped these counts with variations, in order to obtain a rhythmical, musical effect. Several of his
poems were used as lyrics in songs, so this musical effect may have been carefully calculated from the
start.
Chūya's works were rejected by many publishers, and he found acceptance primarily with the smaller
literary magazines, including Yamamayu, which he launched together with Kobayashi Hideo, (although
on occasion Shiki and Bungakukai would condescend to publish one of his works). He remained close
friends with Kobayashi all of his life, despite the fact that in November 1925, Yasuko Hasegawa left
Chūya and began living with Kobayashi Hideo instead.
In December 1927, he met composer Saburō Moroi, who later adapted a number of his verses to music.
Only one of his poetry anthologies, Yagi no Uta ("Goat Songs", 1934) appeared while he was alive (in
a self-financed edition of two hundred copies). He had edited a second collection, Arishi Hi no Uta
("Songs of Bygone Days") just before his death. During his lifetime, Nakahara was not counted among
the mainstream of poets, but his verses have a wide and increasing following even to this day.
Nakahara is now a subject of classroom study in Japanese schools, and his portrait in a hat with a
vacant stare is well known. Kobayashi Hideo, to whom Nakahara entrusted the manuscript for Arishi
Hi no Uta on his deathbed was responsible for the posthumous promotion of his works, and Ooka
Shohei for collecting and editing The Complete Works of Nakahara Chūya, a collection containing the
poet's uncollected poems, his journals, and many letters.

 A literary award, the Nakahara Chūya Prize, was established in 1996 by Yamaguchi city (with
the support of publishers Seidosha and Kadokawa Shoten) in Chūya's memory. The award is
presented annually to an outstanding collection of contemporary poetry characterized by a
"fresh sensibility" (shinsen na kankaku). The winner receives a cash award of 1 million yen, and
 for several years, the winning collection was also published in an English language translation,
but in recent years, the administrations of the award have stopped translating the winner.
 The acid-folk singer Kazuki Tomokawa recorded two albums entitled Ore no Uchide
Nariymanai Uta and Nakahara Chuya Sakuhinnshu, using Nakahara's poems as lyrics.
 In the anime production Space Battleship Yamato 2199, science officer Shiro Sanada is often
seen with a collection of Nakahara's poems.
 Chūya inspired the character of the same name in Japanese anime 'Bungo Stray Dogs'