was the title of a monthly literary magazine

Literary magazine

A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...

 first published in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 between February 1900 and November 1908.

The name Myōjō can be translates as either Bright Star or Morning Star. It was the organ of a poetry circle called Shinshisha (New Poetry Society) which had been founded by Yosano Tekkan in 1899. Myōjō was initially known for its development and promotion of a modernized version of the 31-syllable tanka

Waka (poetry)

Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

poetry. Famous contributors such as Yosano Akiko

Yosano Akiko

was the pen-name of a Japanese author, poet, pioneering feminist, pacifist, and social reformer, active in the late Meiji period as well as the Taishō and early Showa periods of Japan. Her name at birth was Otori Shô. She is one of the most famous, and most controversial, post-classical woman poets...

 transformed the traditional poetry with a sensual style in the romantic movement

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

.

Other important contributors included Hagiwara Sakutaro, Ishikawa Takuboku

Ishikawa Takuboku

was a Japanese poet. He died of tuberculosis. Well known as both a tanka and 'modern-style' or 'free-style' poet, he began as a member of the Myōjō group of naturalist poets but later joined the "socialistic" group of Japanese poets and renounced naturalism.-Major works:His major works were two...

, Iwano Homei, Kitahara Hakushu

Kitahara Hakushu

is the pen-name of ', a Japanese tanka poet active during the Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. He is regarded as one of the most popular and important poets in modern Japanese literature.-Early life:...

, Noguchi Yonejiro, Kinoshita Rigen

Kinoshita Rigen

Viscount was the pen-name of Japanese author Kinoshita Toshiharu, noted for his tanka poetry, active in Meiji period and Taishō period Japan.-Early life:...

, and Sato Haruo. The magazine was advised by Mori Ōgai

Mori Ogai

was a Japanese physician, translator, novelist and poet. is considered his major work.- Early life :Mori was born as Mori Rintarō in Tsuwano, Iwami province . His family were hereditary physicians to the daimyō of the Tsuwano Domain...

, Ueda Bin

Ueda Bin

was a Japanese author.Born in Tsukiji, Tokyo, he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University. His major work is Kaichoon 海潮音, a collection of translations from Western Poets by Ueda himself.- External links :* at Aozora bunko...

 and Baba Kocho, with Yosano Tekkan remaining as editor-in-chief of the publication.

Myōjō gradually transformed itself from purely tanka poetry, to a sophisticated journal promoting the visual arts and western style poetry as well. It is regarded as having a crucial influence on the development of Japanese poetry and literature in the early 20th century.

Myōjō was short lived, as internal dissention dissolved the Shinshisha literary circle. Many of its original members helped create a successor literary journal, Subaru (The Pleiades).

Myōjō was revived from 1921-1927 by Tekkan, and again from 1947-1949.