Hakushū Kitahara

Kitahara Hakushu (Japanese北 原 白 秋, actually: Ryukichi Kitahara (北 原 隆吉; born January 25, 1885 in Yanagawa, † November 22, 1942 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese poet, especially the children's poetry.

Life

Kitahara published as a teenager poems in magazines and won with the poem Zento Kakusei no Fu (全都 覚 醒 赋) a competition of the magazine Gakuhō Waseda (早 稲 田 学报). From 1904, he attended a short time the Waseda University, where he among other things, Wakayama Bokusui met. He joined the writers group Shinshisha (新 诗社; 1906) and Pan no Kai (パンの会, 1908) and in 1909 published his first book of poems Jashūmon. In 1913 the Tanka Collection Kiri no Hana.

1918 Suzuki appointed him to his magazine Akai Tori Miekichi (赤い 鳥). Here he had the task to sift submitted poems and collect nursery rhymes and songs. From the work of several books of poetry and the essay collection Midori no Shokkaku emerged. Appeared in 1976 Nihon Densho doyo Shusei (日本 伝 承 童 謡 集成, " Traditional Japanese nursery rhymes " ) in six volumes.

Kitahara 1935, the tanka magazine Tama and became one of the leading exponents of the Japanese symbolism. Among the writers he promoted were Kimata Osamu and Miya Shuji.

Works (selection)

• Jashūmon (邪 宗 门), poems, 1909
• Omoide (思ひ 出), poems, 1910
• Kiri no Hana (桐 の 花), poems, 1913
• Tombo no MEDAMA (とんぼ の 眼 玉), poems for children, 1919
• Mother Goose (まざあ·ぐうす, Mazā GUSU, poem translations from English, 1921
• Usagi no Dempo (兎 の 電報), nursery rhymes, 1921
• Kodomo no Mura (子供 の 村), nursery rhymes, 1926
• Midori no Shokkaku (緑 の 触覚), essays, 1929