A Letter Requesting a Manuscript from On Watanabe to Sakutaro Hagiwara

Dear Sakutaro Hagiwara,
It has been a very long time.
I hope you are doing well in this heat.

I am very sorry for the sudden request, but
would you be willing to write another
prose poem of the same kind as the one you gave us before
for the October issue of Shinseinen?
I humbly ask for your favor.
The deadline is August 3rd.
Please excuse this request.
July 21st

Shinseinen, On Watanabe

Written on Hakubunkan manuscript paper, one can feel that the handwriting is exceptionally polite for On.

Also, the text itself seems to have been written with great care.

This sentence, for instance, brings to mind how nervous he must have been about how to make the request to Sakutaro, and it is quite charming.

“Would you be willing to write...”I think that normally, this would be phrased as “Could you please write...” or “Would you be interested in writing...” or “We would be very grateful if you could write...”

Interpreting this text through my own sensibilities, it feels something like this.

• “Please write” → I want a manuscript.

• “Please do” → I really, truly ask for your favor.

• “Would you be willing to write?” → If it is alright with you, Mr. Sakutaro, I am not saying you absolutely must write it, so...

• “Would you be willing to...” → Ending with just “Would you” feels too strong, and no, we are not such great editors, and we are not in a position to speak to Mr. Sakutaro in such a way... but we would be very happy if you could cooperate with our magazine-making just a little.

I personally feel that such sentiments seeped through, resulting in that “Would you be willing to write?”

On, who appears in people's recollections, was very shy, and it is charming to see that aspect of him in his letters as well.

According to his older brother, Keisuke, both On and Keisuke were avid readers of Sakutaro Hagiwara during their time at Mito First Middle School (which would correspond to junior high and high school today).

Sakutaro's modern sense, his rebellious spirit against the countryside, the romanticism that also connects to elements of detective fiction, and his delicacy... these are things that also resonate with On Watanabe, and I personally think it is highly likely that On had a deeper attachment to Sakutaro than just being an avid reader.

Even setting aside the commonalities between Sakutaro and On, requesting a manuscript from a poet he had loved since his teens must have been quite nerve-wracking.

Even so, isn't a deadline of August 3rd for a letter written on July 21st a bit too soon? Counting from the day it was written, that is only 13 days later. Perhaps this letter wasn't sent by post, but delivered the same day by a messenger from Hakubunkan, but even then, isn't the deadline still quite tight?

Yokomizo looks back on this editorial era as a time when "the two of them knew no fear," and perhaps this atmosphere is reflected in details like this.

He also writes that it has been "a very long time," but since the publication in Shinseinen was in April or May, the previous request was likely in February or March. This would be four to five months later. Since Sakutaro Hagiwara was not a regular contributor to Shinseinen, I feel that "a very long time" might be an exaggeration, but perhaps that was just their sense of time. Or perhaps it was an expression of the editorial department's desire to maintain a closer relationship with Sakutaro, or an appeal saying, "We haven't forgotten you!" If I could understand the editorial circumstances of that time, I might be able to better grasp the sentiment behind Atsushi's "a very long time."

I find it extremely fascinating that even from a letter like this, one can get a sense of the editorial department during the Yokomizo and Watanabe era, as well as Atsushi's emotions and personality.

The end.