ABSTRACT
To invoke alternative images and metaphors of women’s activism, we start this section with a poem by Yosano Akiko (1878-1942), who is internationally recognized as one of the leading poets and writers of early modern Japan. The poem (Reading 1) appeared in the 1911 inaugural volume of Seitō (Bluestockings), the first Japanese feminist literary journal. In this poem, Yosano compares the creativity and vitality of women to dormant volcanoes. Drawing from the natural landscape of Japan, composed of mountains that were once blazing volcanoes, Yosano uses this imagery as a metaphor to characterize the situation of women. She suggests that the creative energy of women, like fire of dormant volcanoes, has not been extinguished. It is gathering momentum to explode, and women’s inner genius will shake the entire land.
