Misuzu Kaneko
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- In this Japanese name, the family name is Kaneko.
Misuzu Kaneko (金子みすゞ Kaneko Misuzu?, April 11, 1903 – March 10, 1930) was a Japanese poet and songwriter. Born Kaneko Teru in Senzaki-mura, now part of Nagato, Yamaguchi prefecture, she wrote poems and songs, mainly for children. Senzaki was a fishing village, relying particularly on catches of Japanese sardine. Scenes of fishing and the sea often make appearances in her poems. Her husband contracted a venereal disease from the pleasure quarters, and she divorced him. Her husband at first agreed to let her bring up their daughter on her own, but later changed his mind and attempted to gain custody of the child. In protest, she committed suicide, writing a letter to her husband before she did so, asking him to let her mother bring up the child. She has been compared to Christina Rossetti.
