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Harukichi Shimoi

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Shimoi Harukichi

Harukichi Shimoi (下位 春吉, Shimoi Harukichi, October 20, 1883 – December 1, 1954) was a Japanese poet and writer.

Biography

Born in Fukuoka as Harukichi Inoue, he later adopted the surname of his wife when they married in 1907.[1] He finished his studies in Japan, and had the occasion to meet Bin Ueda, by whom he was profoundly influenced. Shimoi then moved to Italy to study Dante, becoming a Japanese teacher at the Naples Eastern University.

In 1917, he enlisted in the Italian army during World War I, and fought against the Central Powers. Harukichi became an Ardito, teaching his fellow soldiers some karate.

Using a diplomatic passport that granted him great freedom of movement, Shimoi acted as a liaison for secret correspondence between Gabriele D'Annunzio, then regent of Fiume, and Benito Mussolini. Shimoi was one of the first to enter the Italian Regency of Carnaro. D'Annunzio nicknamed Shimoi "comrade Samurai" and "the Samurai of Fiume". Together they organized and promoted the Rome-Tokyo flight performed by aviators Arturo Ferrarin and Guido Masiero.

Returning to Naples in 1920, he founded the Japanese literature magazine Sakura, that would be published until March of the following year for a total of five issues. In 1934 he served as an interpreter to the founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano, while he was staying in Italy. The translated interviews given by Kano were a mainspring for the development of such discipline in Italy.

Returning to his homeland, Shimoi worked with the Italian Embassy in Tokyo in an attempt to curb Pro-Ethiopian sentiments in Japan during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Shimoi was one of the best known Japanese supporters of Italian fascism, seeing similarities between fascist principles and traditional values of Japanese culture, such as Bushido. He argued that fascism was a natural manifestation of the Risorgimento, and that its role was to be a "spiritual movement" that would make Italians identify as being part of the new nation. Despite being a supporter of fascism in Italy, Shimoi did not promote Japanese fascism, considering it to be an exclusively Italian cultural phenomenon.

After the second World War, Shimoi befriended and guided Indro Montanelli during his reporting in Japan.

Literary work

Shimoi translated numerous works from Japanese into Italian and vice versa. He translated works by a number of Japanese authors like Akiko Yosano and Matsuo Bashō, while his translations into Japanese included D'Annunzio and Dante. In 1920, Shimoi even promoted the construction of a temple dedicated to Dante in Tokyo. Some of his works include Shinto Ponpeo or tou tame ni (1926), dedicated to the ruins of the Roman city of Pompeii, and The Italian war seen by a Japanese (1919).

References

  1. ^ Shimoi Harukichi and Italian fascism - On His Relations with D'Annunzio, Mussolini and Japanese Society (PDF), in Fukuokakokusaidaigaku kiyō, nº 25, 2011, pp. 53-66

Further reading

  • Reto Hofmann, Mediator of fascism: Shimoi Harukichi, 1915–1928, in The Fascist Effect: Japan and Italy, 1915–1952, Cornell University Press, 2015
  • Shimoi Harukichi and Italian fascism - On His Relations with D'Annunzio, Mussolini and Japanese Society (PDF), in Fukuokakokusaidaigaku kiyō, nº 25, 2011, pp. 53–66
  • Dai giapponesi lodi agli assalti di Cadorna, in Il Piccolo, 18 gennaio 2012
  • Mario Vattani, Con eliche di legno e ali di stoffa verso il Sol Levante, in Il Giornale d'Italia, 31 maggio 2013
  • Gabriele D'Annunzio. Un mito nel Giappone del '900, in Corriere Adriatico, 3 novembre 2013. URL consultato il 25 gennaio 2014
  • Stefano Carrer, L'Università di Tokyo celebra Gabriele D'Annunzio, ideatore del primo raid aereo Roma-Tokyo del pilota Arturo Ferrarin, in Il Sole 24 ORE, novembre 2013. URL consultato il 25 gennaio 2014
  • Ferrarin, Arturo, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
  • Storia dello Judo, in Aikidoedintorni.com. URL consultato il 25 gennaio 2014
  • Valdo Ferretti, Il Giappone e la politica estera italiana, 1935–1941, Giuffrè Editore, 1995, p. 59
  • Hofmann, The Fascist Effect
  • Giuliano Bertuccioli, Giappone, in Enciclopedia Dantesca, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia italiana, 1970

Quotations related to Harukichi Shimoi at Wikiquote

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