Nanao Sakaki
Encyclopedia
Nanao Sakaki was a Japan
ese poet
, author of Bellyfulls and leading personality of the Tribe
. He was born to a large family in the Kagoshima Prefecture
, and raised by parents who ran an indigo dye-house.
After completing compulsory education to age twelve, he worked as an office boy in Kagoshima. He was a draftee radar specialist stationed in Kyushu in the Japanese Air Force or Navy, and surreptitiously read Nietzsche
, Schopenhauer
, Kropotkin
, Marx
, and Engels
as time allowed. After the war, he went to Tokyo
, living in an underpass near Ueno Station
, working for a short time at a foundry in Amagasaki, then as a turner, and then for some two and a half years running errands for Sanehiko Yamamoto
's office.
Around 1952-3 he moved to the San'ya
district and lived off the generosity of his neighbors, spending all his time studying English and reading. After two years there, he moved to Shinjuku, became interested in primitive art, and collaborated with a wood sculptor. They visited forests all over Japan for some three years. During this time, Sakaki began to write poems expressing a deep relationship with the forests. This led to exhibitions combining poetry and sculpture in Kagoshima in 1955 and in Ikebukuro
in 1959.
Sakaki and the sculptor then went separate ways, Sakaki returning to Shinkuju and becoming friends with Neale Hunter. The two of them made a practice of never sleeping in the same place twice. They co-translated some of his poems into English and published them in Tokyo 1961 as the book Bellyfulls. Gary Snyder
sought out Sakaki after Hunter introduced him to this book in India.. Snyder and Sakaki shared many interests, including linguistics, Bushman
ethnology, Sanskrit, Japanese archeology, Marx, Jung
, Nagarjuna, and revolution.
It was also around this time that Sakaki helped create and lead "the Tribe"
, and led these friends to Suwanosejima
to build the Banyan Ashram.
Bellyfulls was reprinted in the US in 1966, and starting in 1969, Sakaki made several trips to the United States, exploring the wilderness, writing, and reading poetry. He spent about ten years in the United States, primarily in San Francisco and Taos, New Mexico, but also walking widely.
Sakaki was married twice and had two sons in Hokkaido, Yuki and Mizu Araki; another in New Mexico, Issa Sakaki Merrill; and a daughter, Maggie Tai Sakaki Tucker. At the time of his death in 2008, he was living with friends in the mountains of Nagano prefecture.
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...
ese poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, author of Bellyfulls and leading personality of the Tribe
The Tribe (Buzoku)
The Tribe was the best known name of a loose-knit countercultural group in Japan in the 1960s and 70s.Central figures of the group's beginnings in Shinjuku and leadership included Nanao Sakaki, Tetsuo Nagasawa, Sansei Yamao, Mamoru Kato, and Kenji Akiba, who shared an interest in an alternative...
. He was born to a large family in the Kagoshima Prefecture
Kagoshima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Kagoshima.- Geography :Kagoshima Prefecture is located at the southwest tip of Kyushu and includes a chain of islands stretching further to the southwest for a few hundred kilometers...
, and raised by parents who ran an indigo dye-house.
After completing compulsory education to age twelve, he worked as an office boy in Kagoshima. He was a draftee radar specialist stationed in Kyushu in the Japanese Air Force or Navy, and surreptitiously read Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal...
, Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin
Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between...
, Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, and Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
as time allowed. After the war, he went to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, living in an underpass near Ueno Station
Ueno Station
is a major railway station inTokyo's Taitō ward. It is the station used to reach the Ueno district and Ueno Park -- which contains Tokyo National Museum, The National Museum of Western Art, Ueno Zoo, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and other famous cultural facilities...
, working for a short time at a foundry in Amagasaki, then as a turner, and then for some two and a half years running errands for Sanehiko Yamamoto
Kaizo (magazine)
Kaizō was a Japanese general-interest magazine that started publication during the Taishō period and printed many articles of socialist content...
's office.
Around 1952-3 he moved to the San'ya
San'ya
is a place in Taitō, which is one of the special wards of Tokyo in Japan. It is a region with a distinct culture, an area of crowded, cheap rooming houses where day laborers live....
district and lived off the generosity of his neighbors, spending all his time studying English and reading. After two years there, he moved to Shinjuku, became interested in primitive art, and collaborated with a wood sculptor. They visited forests all over Japan for some three years. During this time, Sakaki began to write poems expressing a deep relationship with the forests. This led to exhibitions combining poetry and sculpture in Kagoshima in 1955 and in Ikebukuro
Ikebukuro
is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits....
in 1959.
Sakaki and the sculptor then went separate ways, Sakaki returning to Shinkuju and becoming friends with Neale Hunter. The two of them made a practice of never sleeping in the same place twice. They co-translated some of his poems into English and published them in Tokyo 1961 as the book Bellyfulls. Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
sought out Sakaki after Hunter introduced him to this book in India.. Snyder and Sakaki shared many interests, including linguistics, Bushman
Bushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...
ethnology, Sanskrit, Japanese archeology, Marx, Jung
Jung
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology.Jung may also refer to:* Jung * JUNG, Java Universal Network/Graph Framework-See also:...
, Nagarjuna, and revolution.
It was also around this time that Sakaki helped create and lead "the Tribe"
The Tribe (Buzoku)
The Tribe was the best known name of a loose-knit countercultural group in Japan in the 1960s and 70s.Central figures of the group's beginnings in Shinjuku and leadership included Nanao Sakaki, Tetsuo Nagasawa, Sansei Yamao, Mamoru Kato, and Kenji Akiba, who shared an interest in an alternative...
, and led these friends to Suwanosejima
Suwanosejima
is a volcanic island with a population of about fifty located in the Tokara Islands, part of the Nansei Islands, Japan. It is 8 km long and is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan. It belongs to the village of Toshima in Kagoshima District, Kagoshima, Japan...
to build the Banyan Ashram.
Bellyfulls was reprinted in the US in 1966, and starting in 1969, Sakaki made several trips to the United States, exploring the wilderness, writing, and reading poetry. He spent about ten years in the United States, primarily in San Francisco and Taos, New Mexico, but also walking widely.
Sakaki was married twice and had two sons in Hokkaido, Yuki and Mizu Araki; another in New Mexico, Issa Sakaki Merrill; and a daughter, Maggie Tai Sakaki Tucker. At the time of his death in 2008, he was living with friends in the mountains of Nagano prefecture.