Kinoshita Mokutarō passed away shortly after the end of the war in 1945 (Shōwa 20). Even in his final years, he continued writing and drawing, and among the works he pursued until the very end were Hyakkafu (Album of a Hundred Flowers) and “Skampo.” I have written previously about Hyakkafu, but it was only this time that I first learned about “Skampo.”
A copy of what is said to be Mokutarō’s final manuscript was on display, and it gave a poignant sense of how, even while bedridden, he devoted extraordinary care to the subject of “eating wild plants.” Amid the deepening shadow of defeat, he must have been aware that his own life would not be long. Yet he entrusted his thoughts to his diary, giving voice—albeit not loudly—to his feelings about the times: one catches glimpses, between accounts of the war situation, of criticism toward the military that led the country into a reckless war, and also criticism of the American forces for killing civilians, even in wartime. In this way, he may have sought some measure of consolation.
At the same time, this exhibition made me realize that he was driven by a strong desire to find ways to cope with the severe food shortages of the wartime period.
Mokutarō had been familiar with “skampo” (a wild sorrel) since childhood. There are episodes of him nibbling it and finding it sour, or eating it with miso from a rice ball as his father had taught him. Come to think of it, there is the children’s song by Kitahara Hakushū that begins, “Skampo on the riverbank, jawasarasa…,” and one wonders whether it might have been inspired, perhaps, by something he heard from Mokutarō.
After Mokutarō’s death, the bulletin of the Mokutarō Memorial Museum was named “Skampo,” and it is said to continue today as the newsletter of the Mokutarō Society.
“As the manuscript in the photograph is in Japanese, please see the Japanese version for reference.”
English version prepared with AI assistance
(Originally written in Japanese)
Japanese version: