Chirū Yamanaka
Chirū Yamanaka | |
|---|---|
山中 散生 | |
 | |
| Born | Toshiyuki Yamanaka May 7, 1905 |
| Died | September 11, 1977 (aged 72) |
| Other name | Tiroux Yamanaka |
| Occupations | Poet, critic, translator, editor |
| Known for | Founding the poetry magazine CINÉ; promoting Surrealism in Japan; co-organizing the 1937 Kaigai Chōgenjitsushugi Sakuhinten |
| Movement | Surrealism |
Chirū Yamanaka (山中 散生, Yamanaka Chirū) (7 May 1905 – 11 September 1977), born Toshiyuki Yamanaka and also known as Tiroux Yamanaka, was a Japanese poet, critic, translator, and editor who played a central role in introducing Surrealism to Japan.[1][2][3] Working in Nagoya during the interwar years, he founded the avant-garde poetry magazine CINÉ in 1929 and established direct contacts with European Surrealists including Paul Éluard and André Breton.[4] In 1937, Yamanaka and Shūzō Takiguchi organized the touring Kaigai Chōgenjitsushugi Sakuhinten (Exhibition of Overseas Surrealist Works), with assistance from European Surrealists including Éluard, Georges Hugnet, and Roland Penrose.[5] Breton and Éluard's 1938 Dictionnaire abrégé du surréalisme listed Yamanaka as a Surrealist poet and writer and identified him as a promoter of the movement in Japan.[5][4]
Yamanaka was also active in Nagoya's avant-garde circles in the late 1930s. He helped establish the Nagoya Avant-Garde Club and the Nagoya Photo Avant-Garde, where he introduced fellow members to recent developments in Surrealism abroad.[6][7][8] He was closely involved with Yoru no Funsui (夜の噴水, The Night's Fountain), a Surrealist poetry magazine founded by the poet and photographer Kansuke Yamamoto in Nagoya in 1938, and later published a poetry collection of his own under the same title in 1963.[9][10] He continued to publish poetry and criticism after the Second World War, as well as books on the history of Surrealism and Dada.[4][9]
Life and work
[edit]Early work and CINÉ
[edit]Yamanaka began publishing poetry while still a student in Nagoya and contributed to the coterie magazine Seikishi (青騎士) in the early 1920s.[4] In 1929 he founded CINÉ, initially a magazine of poetry and film that soon turned increasingly toward Surrealism.[11]
CINÉ published translations of European Surrealist poetry and writing alongside work by Japanese contributors.[11] Yamanaka and Tokusaburō Nishiwaki translated passages from Breton and Philippe Soupault's The Magnetic Fields, and Yamanaka later published his own translations of poems by Éluard.[9]
Contacts with European Surrealists
[edit]Yamanaka began corresponding with Éluard in 1933 and subsequently exchanged letters and publications with Breton, Hugnet, Hans Bellmer, and other European Surrealists.[4][12] Much of this correspondence survives at Keio University; Munro describes Yamanaka's prewar correspondence as the best-preserved body of its kind among Japanese Surrealists.[12]
In 1936 Yamanaka published L'Échange surréaliste, copies of which circulated among European Surrealists including Éluard and Penrose.[12] The following year he worked with Takiguchi on Album Surréaliste, a special issue of the art magazine Mizue, and on the Kaigai Chōgenjitsushugi Sakuhinten.[12]
The exhibition toured Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagoya and presented hundreds of works and reproductions by European Surrealists.[13] Surrealism Beyond Borders credits Yamanaka and Takiguchi with organizing the exhibition with help from Éluard, Hugnet, Penrose, and other European contacts.[5]
Yamanaka's activities were also known in Paris. Breton and Éluard's Dictionnaire abrégé du surréalisme (1938) included him as a Surrealist poet and writer and as a promoter of Surrealism in Japan.[5][4]
Nagoya avant-garde circles
[edit]In November 1937, Yamanaka and the painter Yoshio Shimozato helped found the Nagoya Avant-Garde Club, which brought together poets, painters, and photographers.[6] In 1939, its photography section became independent as the Nagoya Photo Avant-Garde.[7] Yamanaka helped form the group with Minoru Sakata, Shimozato, and Tsugio Tajima.[8] Poet-photographer Kansuke Yamamoto was also a member.[8]
The Nagoya City Art Museum describes Yamanaka as a theoretical leader of the Nagoya Photo Avant-Garde.[8] At the group's meetings, he discussed recent developments in Surrealism abroad and showed members publications such as Minotaure and Cahiers d'Art.[8]
His work in Nagoya was part of his broader efforts to introduce Surrealism to Japan.[3] The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum describes Yamanaka as having played a central role in this process.[3]
Yoru no Funsui
[edit]In a study of Yamanaka's life and poetry, Yoshiteru Kurosawa suggests that Yamanaka was planning a second poetry collection titled Yoru no Funsui (夜の噴水) in the latter half of the 1930s.[9] The book was not published at the time; Kurosawa attributes this to the amount of time Yamanaka was devoting to presenting Surrealism through publications and exhibitions.[9]
In November 1938, the poet and photographer Kansuke Yamamoto founded a Surrealist poetry magazine in Nagoya under the same title, Yoru no Funsui, and Kurosawa describes Yamanaka as fully involved in the magazine.[9] A chronology published by the Nagoya City Art Museum likewise records Yamanaka and Yamamoto together in connection with the magazine's founding.[10] Kurosawa notes that no surviving document establishes how the magazine acquired its title.[9]
During this period, wartime censorship in Japan was becoming increasingly strict.[14] The magazine drew the attention of the Special Higher Police, and publication was not allowed to continue.[15] The fourth issue, published in October 1939, was the last.[14]
In 1963 Yamanaka published his own poetry collection under the same title, Yoru no Funsui, through Presse Bibliomane.[9][10] The volume contains eighteen four-line poems.[9]
Postwar work
[edit]Yamanaka continued to publish poetry and criticism after the Second World War.[10] In 1948 he joined Katsue Kitasono and others in publishing CENDRE, and in 1949 he published Shururearisumu shikō josetsu (シュルレアリスム史考序説).[10]
His postwar poetry collections included Tasogare no hito (黄昏の人, 1956), Yoru no Funsui (1963), and Suna no gakki (砂の楽器, 1967).[4][9] In his later years he returned to the documentary history of Surrealism, publishing Surréalisme shiryō to kaisō (シュルレアリスム資料と回想) in 1971 and Dada ronkō (ダダ論考) in 1975.[4][9]
Selected works
[edit]- Jouer au feu (山中散生詩集 火串戯, 1935), poetry collection[4][9]
- L'Échange surréaliste (1936), editor[12]
- Shururearisumu shikō josetsu (シュルレアリスム史考序説, 1949)[10]
- Tasogare no hito (黄昏の人, 1956), poetry collection[4]
- Yoru no Funsui (夜の噴水, 1963), poetry collection[9][10]
- Suna no gakki (砂の楽器, 1967), poetry collection[4]
- Surréalisme shiryō to kaisō (シュルレアリスム資料と回想, 1971)[4]
- Dada ronkō (ダダ論考, 1975)[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 "山中散生（読み）ヤマナカ チルウ". Kotobank (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun / DIGITALIO. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
- 1 2 "山中, 散生, 1905-1977". Web NDL Authorities (in Japanese). National Diet Library. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
- 1 2 3 "Avant-Garde Rising: The Photographic Vanguard in Modern Japan" (PDF). Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Collection related to YAMANAKA Chiruu in Nagoya City" (PDF). City of Nagoya (in Japanese). Retrieved 2026-08-14.
- 1 2 3 4 Stojković, Jelena (2021). "Osaka and Nagoya Photo Clubs". In D'Alessandro, Stephanie; Gale, Matthew (eds.). Surrealism Beyond Borders. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 80–87. ISBN 978-1-58839-727-0.
- 1 2 "ナゴヤアバンガルドクラブ". Art Platform Japan (in Japanese). National Center for Art Research. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
- 1 2 "ナゴヤ・フォトアバンガルド". Art Platform Japan (in Japanese). National Center for Art Research. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Nagoya City Art Museum, ed. (1989). 名古屋のフォト・アヴァンギャルド [Nagoya Photo Avant-Garde] (in Japanese). Nagoya City Art Museum. pp. 13–14.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Kurosawa, Yoshiteru (2016). "La vie et la poésie de Tiroux Yamanaka". Mélusine (in French) (36): 207–218.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nagoya City Art Museum, ed. (1990). 日本のシュールレアリスム : 1925～1945 [Surrealism in Japan, 1925–1945] (in Japanese). 日本のシュールレアリスム展実行委員会. p. 55.
- 1 2 Nagoya City Art Museum, ed. (1990). 日本のシュールレアリスム : 1925～1945 [Surrealism in Japan, 1925–1945] (in Japanese). 日本のシュールレアリスム展実行委員会. pp. 90–91.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Munro, Majella (2012). Communicating Vessels: The Surrealist Movement in Japan, 1923–70. Cambridge: Enzo Arts and Publishing. ISBN 978-1-909046-03-0.
- ↑ Adachi, Gen (2024-03-11). "海外超現実主義作品展". artscape (in Japanese). Dai Nippon Printing. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
- 1 2 Yamamoto, Toshio (2001). 山本悍右 年譜. In Yamamoto, Toshio; Inada, Takeo; Tanaka, Haruko (eds.). 写真展 シュルレアリスト 山本悍右 不可能の伝達者 (in Japanese). p. 201.
- ↑ Maddox, Amanda (2013). "Disobedient Spirit: Kansuke Yamamoto and His Engagement with Surrealism". In Keller, Judith; Maddox, Amanda (eds.). Japan's Modern Divide: The Photographs of Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. p. 199.
