更新日：2010年7月5日

Nishiwaki Junzaburo

The poet Nishiwaki Junzaburo was born in Niigata in 1894. After graduating from junior high school, he came up to Tokyo intending to become a painter but had to give up the idea because of family reasons. At about this time, he became interested in poetry and contributed verses to SHONEN SEKAI (Boys’ world), and also began to write poetry in English .

Nishiwaki graduated from Keio University and began to teach there in 1920. He contributed English verses to the journals, English Literature and Mita Literature. In 1922, he went to study in Britain where he received the baptism of modernist literature from his close association with writers, painters, and journalists. His collection of English poems, "Spectrum," which he published at his own expense, was given a warm response.

After returning to Japan, Nishiwaki became a professor at Keio University and taught the history of English Literature. In 1927, he published Japan’s first surrealist poetry magazine, FUKUIKI TARU KAFU YO (Fragrant stoker) with Takiguchi Shuzo. The next year, Nishiwaki brought out another new magazine, SHI TO SHI-RON (Poetry and poetic theory) and became a leader of the new poetry movement. In 1933, Nishiwaki published "Ambarvalia," his first collection of Japanese poems, but stopped writing two years later. After the war, Nishiwaki renewed his literary activity with great enthusiasm and became know for his scholarly verses. The collection titled "Ushinawareta Toki" (Lost time) represented the zenith of his poetry. He passed away in 1982 at the age of 88.

Nishiwaki Junzaburo lived in Omachi, Kamakura from 1942 to 1944.