I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 53 Thor's Short Song for My Little Wife
It was already 11 o'clock in the evening when Kitagawa Hide staggered back to the rental house. After opening the door, he found that my wife Yumeko was still waiting until now. He felt quite sorry and shouted quickly: "Yumeko-chan, I'm back! Haven't you rested yet?"

"Ah, Xiujun! Welcome home!" My wife Yumeko, who was writing something at the desk, quickly got up and ran over to help him get his coat and indoor shoes.

When changing shoes, I smelled the strong smell of alcohol on Kitagawa Hide, and my wife Yumeko asked worriedly: "Hide-kun, have you drunk alcohol? I'll go make some honey water for you."

"Yeah, I had a celebratory party with Saito-san and the others today, and I drank a little." As the protagonist of this party, Kitagawa Hide was naturally urged to drink in various ways. Although it was not like during social events where "If you don't drink, you're not giving me face," after a few rounds, he was still a little drunk, and after being blown by the wind on the way home, he began to have a headache.

"Please, Yumeko-chan." Kitagawa Hide sat down and looked down at the draft paper that my wife Yumeko had placed on the table. He immediately became interested, "Yumeko-chan! Can I take a look at what's on the table?"

"Eh? Of course you can~ But Xiujun, don't laugh at me!" My wife Yumeko was soaking in honey water. When she heard his words, her cheeks suddenly turned red, and even her ears felt hot.

In fact, she really didn't want Xiujun to see her "clumsy work", but when she thought that Xiujun was already a well-known writer and would definitely be able to guide her to complete her "homework" better, she did not refuse.

Kitagawa Hide realized that this should be something written by Agatsuma Yumeko herself, and he became even more interested. It seemed that the drunkenness had dissipated a little. He immediately sat up straight, opened the manuscript and started reading.

"Assignment for the 123rd after-class discussion of the Tokyo University Haiku Research Group. Please use a haiku to describe the plot of this novel."

Kitagawa Hide took a quick look at the novel excerpt in the title. It was probably one of those old-fashioned plots where a man and a woman have an affair and then plan to elope on a rainy day. Below is a haiku written by Agatsuma Yumeko herself.

"On rainy days, I hear thunder, the sound of butterflies touching each other, and your loving words."

He read it out loud and felt that it made some sense, yet seemed to be missing something.

There is a paragraph of writing behind the haiku that was erased by an eraser, but you can still vaguely see the content "秀君が大好き (I love Hidekun the most)".

"Hey hey hey?" Hearing the sound, my wife Yumeko hurriedly ran out from the inner room in panic, her little head humming like a steam oven. After she put the honey water in place, she immediately blushed and used her arms to cover the unclear confession.

She thought she had wiped it clean and it couldn't be seen! How come not only was it seen, but Xiujun also read it out in front of her!
I really want to find a hole in the ground to crawl into!

"Don't read it out loud, Xiujun, I'm so shy." My wife Yumeko buried her head in her chest like an ostrich, and her voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible.

"Is this Yumeko's confession to me? Ah, I feel like my heart is melting!" Seeing that she became shy again and didn't dare to look directly at him, Kitagawa Hide couldn't help but teased her with a smile, "I like Yumeko the most, too~"

"Stop talking, Xiujun! You're bullying me~" Agatsuma Yumeko buried her head in his chest, then gently pushed against Kitagawa Hide's chest, as if protesting his teasing, "It's not a confession~"

"Ah, so disappointed, it turns out it's not a confession. So Yumeko-chan doesn't like me?" Kitagawa Hide laughed even louder, picked up the manuscript on the table and said, "I thought this was a love letter Yumeko-chan wrote to me."

"Hidejun~I, I" My wife Yumeko stopped the "headbutt" attack, and put her little head against his chest, rubbing it up and down gently like a kitten, biting her lips and wanting to refute, wanting to say that she liked Hidejun, but the words couldn't come out when they came to her lips.

She rubbed it for a long time, and finally raised her little head softly, looking at Beichuan Xiu with her two big eyes pitifully, and said in a muffled voice: "Xiujun, please don't laugh at Mengzi anymore, okay~"

Now Kitagawa Hide's heart was truly melted.

Agatsuma Yumeko is a bit introverted and actually not very good at expressing her feelings, but she always manages to hit Kitagawa Hide's heart just right with her straightforward actions and words, making him feel the sweetness of love.

"Then give me a kiss and you won't laugh anymore, okay?" Beichuan Xiu hugged her arms, pulled her against him, then looked down at his little wife.

"Okay~" This time, my wife Yumeko did not avoid his gaze, but blinked her big watery eyes. Although her cheeks were still blushing, she closed her eyes, pouted her lips slightly, and actually moved towards him on her own initiative.

The soft and moist lips gently touched Kitagawa Hide's mouth, then quickly moved away.

After kissing him, my wife Yumeko returned to her defensive state of lowering her head and quickly changed the subject: "Hideo, what do you think of what I wrote?"

"This haiku? I think it's pretty good, but it feels like something is missing." Kitagawa Hide picked up the manuscript again and looked at it. He then carefully recalled the inventory in his mind and suddenly realized it. He said to her, "I know. What's missing is beauty."

A while ago, when he was preparing to become a plagiarist, he carefully studied the Japanese literary world in this world, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he dug deep into the ground.

It is a consensus in the current literary world that haiku is dead.

The reason is also very simple.

First, there hasn't been a decent haiku poet in the literary world for nearly fifty years. Haiku, because of its poetic form, has always been at the top of the literary contempt chain. If you create a good haiku, it will inevitably resonate with a large audience, and it cannot be faked like a novel.

The bigwigs in the literary world generally like to write serious, classical, obscure pure literary works, because you can't say whether they are good or bad. Works of hundreds of thousands or even millions of words are too long, and you can't understand the meaning of them even if you analyze them one by one like a bookworm.

There are many literary schools, and the masters have their own opinions. Although you don't agree with me and I don't agree with you, everyone agrees on one thing: it's not the vulgar sales that count, that's what pure popular literature values. But haiku is different. It's just a few lines, simple and clear, and even elementary school students and kindergarten children can read it. It's clear at a glance whether it's good or not.

For example, a certain emperor of the Qing Dynasty next door, who had no literary talent, insisted on writing poetry, "one piece after another, three pieces, four pieces, five pieces, six pieces."

There is also a poem about shit and piss by the daughter of a literary giant: "We went to pee together, you peed in a line, I peed in a pit!"

You can't blow this thing even if you try hard.

Over time, haiku fell into decline in Japanese literary circles.

Second, the poor write poetry, the rich write prose. A haiku, racking your brains, a few lines of words, put together not much royalties, famous poets basically starved to death, people would rather write erotic novels, and never touch haiku.

Third, the pace of society was slow in ancient times, and people in such an environment were more likely to calm down and look at the world with a poetic eye. Since the bubble era, the whole of Japan has been filled with lights and wine, and who would still pursue this kind of "little style" and "little happiness"?

To sum up, the current haiku is dead. Most of the modern haiku that can be found are just like the one written by Myeko Myeko, which has form but no soul, and no meaning or beauty.

"Aesthetics?" When talking about her favorite literature, Yumeko Agatsuma immediately came out of her ostrich defense state and looked at Kitagawa Hide curiously, "Can haiku also embody the beauty of words like prose?"

In her opinion, the simple characteristics of haiku are naturally contrary to beauty.

Earlier, haiku was called haikai, which is a kind of short song "mainly humorous and with some playful elements". It is more like the allegorical sayings and proverbs, and has a completely different aesthetic.

"Of course you can. Haiku originated from Chinese quatrains. Their poems are famous for the beauty of words and artistic conception, which has nothing to do with length. Of course, because Chinese is profound and extensive, there are nearly 100,000 different words. Japanese cannot compare with it, but haiku can still be used to express the beauty of artistic conception."

As a graduate student in the Faculty of Literature at the University of Tokyo in his previous life, he has done in-depth research on this topic.

This is because the Japanese people have a deep-seated admiration for the writing and history of their neighboring country. For example, they love many ancient poets, and their love for the Three Kingdoms is well-known worldwide. Therefore, even in the literature department of Japanese universities, students will often take time to study Chinese language and history.

Agatsuma Yumeko was not displeased by his comment that Chinese was relatively superior to Japanese. Instead, she agreed with him. When she heard him say that Japanese could also use haiku to express the same artistic conception and beauty, she found it a little hard to believe.

Seeing her puzzled and unbelieving eyes, Kitagawa Hide suddenly felt the desire, picked up the pen and said, "Look at this haiku I wrote."

The God of Thunder is the son of the god of thunder.
The God of Thunder is the son of the God of Thunder.

——Song of the God of Thunder.

"There is faint thunder, and the sky is gloomy, but I hope the wind and rain will come, so that you can stay here. There is faint thunder, and the sky is gloomy, even if there is no rain, I will stay here." My wife Mengzi recited it softly, and then her eyes suddenly lit up.

I felt like my heart was suddenly being tightened, with an indescribable feeling of suffocation and pleasure.

What a beautiful haiku!
Although there are only two short sentences, they explain the love and expectations of each other from the perspectives of men and women respectively.

Storms are coming, and I hope when they come they can keep you here.

The storms are coming, but even if they don’t, I’m willing to stay here.

The subtle emotions and beautiful artistic conception deeply touched Agatsuma Yumeko, and this haiku can be freely interpreted depending on the reader's mood.

Whether you are a man or a woman, whether you "want to keep the other person" or "are willing to stay", you can put yourself in this!
"So beautiful, so beautiful." As Agatsuma Yumeko read on, her eyes became moist. She was the girl who hoped that even when the wind and rain came, she would be able to keep Hidejun by her side forever.

Is Xiujun also a young man “willing to stay”?

Why are you crying?

Kitagawa Hide was shocked. Originally, he had no interest in haiku at all. After finding out that he couldn't make money from it, he was too lazy to care about it. This time, he happened to meet my wife Yumeko handing in her homework, so he took the opportunity to show off in front of his little wife.

Why did you make people cry?
Beichuan Xiu quickly pulled up a tissue to wipe her tears and comforted her: "Silly, why are you crying? Stop crying, dear."

"Wow, wow, wow~ I..." My wife Yumeko wiped her eyes, suddenly hugged Kitagawa Hide, and whispered, "I, I love Hide-kun the most!"

(End of this chapter)