His Korean acquaintances who know him well have revealed that he is a pro Korean scholar who says that “Doraijins who came to Japan from Korea had a big influence on Japanese Tanka in Manyōshū”
Professor Nakanishi is also a teacher of Son Hoyun, a Tanka poet 1923 - 2003.
Sunshine Lee, Son’s daughter as well as a poet and essayist, has been close with Professor Nakanishi for over 40 years. Lee said on the 3rd in a call with JoongAng Ilbo that “Professor Nakanishi has a big interest in cultural exchange between Korea and Japan ”
In fact, Professor Nakanishi gave a commemorative lecture of more than an hour at the book publishing party of “The Power of One line Poetry by Lee Sunshine” in Tokyo. In the lecture he said that the most important factor in the future diplomacy would be building relations of heart, wisdom and culture.
Professor Nakanishi at the symposium held in Hokkaido titled “Spirit of Manyo to the Future” he says that as Baekje and Goguryo fell at the end of the period of the Three States, a lot of Koreans came to Japan and that those who came to Japan from Korea then had a huge influence on Manyōshū. What he is saying is that poems composed in Korea had a huge influence on Japanese poems published in Manyōshū 1200 years ago.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in the press explaining the background for choosing the new era name Reiwa as follows: “Manyōshū is the oldest poetry collection of Japan, published about 1,200 years ago” “it is the national literature of Japan, with poems composed by individuals from a wide spectrum of classes such as kings, royals, aristocrats and even farmers”
