The problems of philosophical interpretation of the early works of Shinkichi Takahashi

Abstract

The paper provides a critical analysis of the interpretation of Shinkichi Takahashi (1901–1987) early intellectual views. Using the example of essays and samples of early poetry works, the unambiguous involvement of the poet’s work with the Zen philosophy is disputed. The “rebellious” spirit of Dada poetry, although it has common features with the ideas of Zen nihilism generally accepted in the academic circles, has a slightly different nature and properties. The deliberately provocative creative method of the poet of the early period is not probably the result of a conscious intellectual choice, but a derivative of a difficult biography and personality traits. Perhaps the early works and the image of the poet himself was largely mythologized by his immediate circles, and the poet himself, in numerous essays and notes, subsequently treated his early “verses” and painful spiritual searches very critically.