更新日：2010年7月5日

Miyoshi Tatsuji

Miyoshi Tatsuji, poet, was born in Osaka in 1900. While he was still at high school, he became interested in the works of Nietzsche and Turgenev, and under the influence of the poet Maruyama Kaoru, he began to compose his own verse.

While studying French literature at Tokyo Imperial University, he joined Kajii Motojiro (short-story writer) and Nakatani Takao in bringing out the coterie magazine, Aozora (Blue Skies), where he published poems such as "Ubaguruma" (Pram) and "Ishi no ue" (On Stone) to favorable acclaim. He came to the attention of Hagiwara Sakutaro, and joined him in founding the critical journal, Shi to Shiron (Poetry and Poetic Theory) in 1928. There, he published his own verse and translations, including a full translation, in 1929, of Baudelaire's collection of prose verse, Le Spleen de Paris.

In 1930, Miyoshi brought out his first volume of free verse, Sokuryo sen (The Surveying Ship). The intellectual lyricism of his work and use of expressions reminiscent of classical verse established his name as a poet. In 1934 he brought out the second series of the coterie journal Shiki (The Four Seasons) with Hori Tatsuo and Maruyama Kaoru, and became a central figure in the running of the magazine.

Besides anthologies such as Nansoshu (From a southern window) and Rakuda no kobu ni matagatte (On a camel's hump), he wrote appreciations of verse, Fuei junikagetsu and Takujo no hana (Flowers on a table), a collection of essays, Yoru tantan, and a critique of fellow poet, Hagiwara Sakutaro.
Miyoshi lived in Inamuragasaki from 1938 to 39. He died in 1964 at the age of 63.