Tatsuji Miyoshi

Tatsuji Miyoshi (三好達治) was a Japanese poet, literary critic, and literary editor active during the Showa period of Japan. He is known for his rather lengthy free verse poetry, which often portray loneliness and isolation as part of contemporary life, but which are written in a complex, highly literary style reminiscent of classical Japanese poetry.

Early life
Miyoshi was born in Osaka as the eldest son in a large family of modest background. From 1915-1921 he enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Army, first undergoing training at the Osaka Army Cadet School, followed by a tour of duty in Korea (then under Japanese control). He left the army in 1921 to enroll in the Third Higher School in Kyoto, where he majored in literature. Miyoshi had been interested in literature even while still at high school, especially in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Ivan Turgenev. In 1914, he began to compose his own haiku verse.

Miyoshi went to Tokyo to study French literature at Tokyo Imperial University from 1925-1928. While a student, he made a translation of the full works of the French poet Charles Baudelaire's collection Le Spleen de Paris into Japanese, as well as translations of several French prose writers, which were published in 1929.

Literary career
Miyoshi joined with short-story writer Motojirō Kajii and Nakatani Takao in publishing the literary magazine, Aozora ("Blue Skies"), which gave him a venue to publish his poems such as Ubaguruma ("Pram") and Ishi no ue ("On Stone"), which were favorably received by literary critics, including Hagiwara Sakutaro. Hagiwara joined him in founding the critical journal, Shi to Shiron ("Poetry and Poetic Theory") in 1928.

In 1930, Miyoshi brought out his first major anthology of free verse, Sokuryo sen (The Surveying Ship). The expressions reminiscent of classical Japanese poetry combined with the intellectualism of his work established his reputation. In 1934 he brought out another anthology, serialized in the literary journal Shiki ("Four Seasons"), together with Hori Tatsuo and Maruyama Kaoru, and became a central figure in the running of the magazine.

In June 1946, published in the magazine Shinchō the first part of an essay in which he called for Emperor Showa's abdication and, in very harsh terms, accused him of being not only "primary responsible for the defeat" but "bearing responsibility for having been extremely negligent in the performance of his duties". (Herbert Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 2000, p.606, John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat, 1999, p.222)

His output was steady and varied for the rest of his long career. Aside from free verse anthologies, such as Nansoshu ("From a Southern Window") and Rakuda no kobu ni matagatte ("On a Camel's Hump"), he also wrote literary criticism of verse, Fuei junikagetsu and Takujo no hana ("Flowers on a Table"), a collection of essays, Yoru tantan, and a major critique of fellow poet, Hagiwara Sakutarō.

Legacy
In the year 2004, the city of Osaka established the Miyoshi Tasuji Award, for the best outstanding anthology of poetry published nation-wide. The prize money was set at 1 million yen.