Chapter 4. New-Style Poetry & the Romaji Movement

One of the first ambitious efforts Yatabe undertook as a new-age intellectual outside of his regular duties at the university was a movement to reform the Japanese language and writing system via the publication of shintaishi (“new-style poetry”) and the use of romaji, or romanization (writing the Japanese language with Latin script).

Shintaishi-sho (“A Selection of New-Style Poetry”), which he published along with Masakazu Toyama and Tetsujiro Inoue, aimed to establish a new form of verse distinct from traditional Chinese and Japanese styles by translating and imitating Western poetry. The inspiration for this new style is said to have been Yatabe’s translation of a passage of Hamlet. Yatabe also served as secretary for the Romaji-kai (Romaji Association), an organization advocating for the romaji movement, which called for the kanji and kana writing systems to be abolished and for the Roman alphabet to be adopted in their place. He was also involved in editing Romaji Zasshi, a bulletin issued by the association.