Kyoshi Takahama 高浜 虚子 |
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Kyoshi Takahama
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Born |
Matsuyama, Japan |
22 February 1874
Died | 8 April 1959 Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan |
(aged 85)
Occupation | Writer |
Genre | Literary occupation |
Kyoshi Takahama (高浜 虚子 Takahama Kyoshi?, 22 February 1874 – 8 April 1959) was a Japanese poet active during the Shōwa period of Japan. His given name was Takahama Kiyoshi (高浜清?); Kyoshi was a pen name given to him by his mentor, Masaoka Shiki.
Kyoshi was born in what is now the city of Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture; his father, Ikenouchi Masatada, was a former samurai and fencing master and was also a fan of the traditional noh drama. However, with the Meiji Restoration, 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 to study Edo period Japanese literature. In 1895, he enrolled in the Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō (present-day Waseda University), but soon left the university for a job as an editor and literary criticism for the literary magazine Nihonjin. While working, he also submitted variants on haiku poetry, experimenting with irregular numbers of syllables. He married in 1897.