Jusaburo Ono: A Critical Poet Who Chased Innovation in Poetry and the Social Upheavals of the 1920s and 1960s

Jusaburo Ono: A Critical Poet Who Chased Innovation in Poetry and the Social Upheavals of the 1920s and 1960s
Jusaburo Ono (1903-1996) was a poet and critic who emerged on the world of poetry amid the social upheaval of the 1920s and developed a unique style of poetry that was both social and experimental. In an era when the proletarian literary movement gained momentum as the labor movement and class conflict intensified while the Taisho democracy lingered, Ono sought a multilayered style of poetry that was not reduced to mere political slogans while focusing on the contradictions of society.

In his early poems, Ono's acute sensitivity to the alienation and insecurity brought about by urbanization and the contradictions of the classes were expressed through a combination of observation and linguistic experimentation, and he depicted the shadows of society. Ono also engaged in the revolutionary movement of tanka and haiku. Ono's attempts to shake up conventions and infuse a sense of modern language into his work greatly expanded the possibilities of the Japanese poetic form.

After the war, he became a full-fledged critic, and continued to question the reconstruction of culture and the restructuring of language expression. He reconsidered the role of literature with a calm analytical mind, and during the period of rapid economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s, he responded sharply to the alienation and changing values that emerged in the shadow of affluence, and responded with poetry. Jusaburo Ono's value lies in the consistent combination of his eye on society and his will to renew language, which has become an important foundation for the revolutionary movement in contemporary poetry.