Takahama Kyoshi
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was a Japanese poet active during the
Shōwa period Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...
of Japan. His real name was ; Kyoshi was a
pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
given to him by his mentor,
Masaoka Shiki , pen-name of Masaoka Noboru (正岡 升), was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry, credited with writing nearly 20,000 stanzas during ...
.


Early life

Kyoshi was born in what is now the city of
Matsuyama 270px, Matsuyama City Hall 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, in Japan and is also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243,541 h ...
,
Ehime Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...
; his father, Ikenouchi Masatada, was a former
samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
and fencing master and was also a fan of the traditional noh drama. However, with the
Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...
, he lost his official posts and retired as a farmer. Kyoshi grew up in this rural environment, which influenced his affinity with nature. At age nine he inherited from his grandmother's family, and took her surname of Takahama. He became acquainted with Masaoka Shiki via a classmate, Kawahigashi Hekigoto. Ignoring Shiki's advice, Kyoshi quit school in 1894, and went to
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
to study
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japa ...
. In 1895, he enrolled in the Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō (present-day
Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...
), but soon left the university for a job as an editor and
literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...
ism for the literary magazine ''Nihonjin''. While working, he also submitted variants on
haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...
poetry, experimenting with irregular numbers of syllables. He married in 1897. His descendants include his son, the composer, Tomojiro Ikenouchi and great-granddaughter and cellist, Kristina Reiko Cooper.


Literary career

In 1898, Kyoshi came to manage the haiku magazine '' Hototogisu,'' which had been previously edited by Shiki, and moved the headquarters of the magazine from Matsuyama to Tokyo. In ''Hototogisu'', he kept with the traditional style of haiku, as opposed to the new trend having been developed in the Hekigo school, which did not follow the traditional pattern of 17 syllables. Kyoshi attached importance to the symbolic function of the ''
kigo A is a word or phrase associated with a particular season, used in traditional forms of Japanese poetry. Kigo are used in the collaborative linked-verse forms renga and renku, as well as in haiku, to indicate the season referred to in the stan ...
'' (season word), and he tried to exclude the more modern trend towards season-less haiku completely. While editing ''Hototogisu'', he also expanded its scope to include '' waka poems'' and prose, so that it became a general literary magazine. This was where
Natsume Sōseki , born , was a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his novels ''Kokoro'', ''Botchan'', ''I Am a Cat'', ''Kusamakura (novel), Kusamakura'' and his unfinished work ''Light and Darkness (novel), Light and Darkness''. He was also a scholar of Br ...
's ''Wagahai wa Neko de aru'' (" I Am a Cat") was first published, and Kyoshi contributed his own verses and short stories. These stories were collected into an anthology ''Keito'' ("Cockscomb", 1908), with a foreword by Natsume Sōseki, who described the contents as "leisurely tales". In 1908, Kyoshi began a full-length novel, ''Haikaishi'' ("The Haiku Master"), which appeared in newspapers in serialized form. This was followed by ''Bonjin'' ("An Ordinary Person", 1909), and ''Chōsen'' ("Korea", 1912). After 1912, he renewed his interest in haiku, and published a commentary on haiku composition, ''Susumubeki haiku no michi'' ("The Path Haiku Ought to Take", 1915–1917). However, he continued to write short stories, edit ''Hototogisu'', and wrote another novel, ''Futatsu Kaki'' ("Two Persimmons", 1915). In addition, he began to show an interest in traditional Noh theatre, writing some new plays himself. Kyoshi wrote 40,000 to 50,000 haiku in his lifetime, which appeared in anthologies such as ''Kyoshi-kushū'' and ''Gohyaku-ku''. His major postwar novel was ''Niji'' ("Rainbow", 1947). In 1954, he was awarded the
Order of Culture The is a Japanese Order (decoration), order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japanese Art, Japan's art, Japanese Literature, literature, science, technolog ...
by the
Japanese government The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary state, containing forty- ...
. As editor of ''Hototogisu'', Kyoshi was instrumental in bringing many new writers and poets into the literary world, including Mizuhara Shuoshi, Yamaguchi Seishi and Takano Suju. He also encouraged his second daughter Hoshino Tatsuko to publish her own haiku magazine, ''Tamamo''. Kyoshi moved to
Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...
in 1910 for his children's health and a fresh start for himself, and lived there for nearly 50 years until his death. His grave is at the temple of Jufuku-ji in Kamakura. He was posthumously awarded the
Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...
, 1st class, by the Japanese government.


See also

*
Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japa ...
*
List of Japanese authors This is an alphabetical list of writers who are Japanese, or are famous for having written in the Japanese language. Writers are listed by the native order of Japanese names—family name followed by given name—to ensure consistency, although ...


External links


Ehime Prefectural Library Site

Takahama Kyoshi Memorial Museum in Ashiya
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takahama, Kyoshi 20th-century Japanese novelists Japanese literary critics Japanese male short story writers People from Matsuyama, Ehime Waseda University alumni 1874 births 1959 deaths Recipients of the Order of Culture 19th-century Japanese poets 20th-century Japanese poets 19th-century Japanese short story writers 20th-century Japanese short story writers 20th-century Japanese male writers Japanese haiku poets