大田垣 裕子
プール学院大学研究紀要 (55) 1-10 2014年12月
Doppo Kunikida(1871-1908) walked around the places full of nature to "seek for nature's blessings" as he wrote in his essay about words for dipicting nature, "Shizen wo utsusu bunsho." He is considered to be the first to write about the experience he had while walking in Meiji era. At that time European cultures were readily received in Japan and European walking cultures and walking literature were not unusual. Modern European walking literature is said to have started with Jean-Jacques Rousseau(1712-1778),and it was handed down to European Romantic artists like William Wordsworth(1770-1850). Dopporead some of Wordsworth's poems and critical biographies, and wrote in one of his short novelsthat he walked about the beautiful countryside of Saeki "with Wordsworth's anthology inside his kimono." He also decided to write about unforgettable ordinary people or "wasureenu hitobito" like Wordsworth wrote about a solitary reaper and an old shepherd. One of his most well-known works that depict Doppo's experience of nature is "Sorachi RiverBanks". In this paper, I focus on its tactile images including auditory images such as "nature's whisper" that he heard near the banks and on its unforgettable characters that he met on the train, at the inn and under the moonlight. I attempt to make clear how Doppo tried to explore the essence of nature and the relationship between nature and man, considering the influence of European walking literature, especially of Wordsworth's works on him.