Kazuo Okamatsu
Kazuo Okamatsu (Japanese冈松 和 夫, Okamatsu Kazuo, born June 23, 1931 in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, † 21 January 2012) was a Japanese writer and philologist.
Life
Kazuo lost in childhood, both parents, attended the high school of his native city of Fukuoka and then studied at the University of Tokyo, from which he graduated in French literature in the art. In 1954 he began to study again at the Todai, this time Japanese literature. In 1955 he joined with Yuri no kioku (百合 の 記憶) in a national writing contest for students in part and published his work under the pseudonym Kazuo Aoki (青木 和 夫) in the literary magazine Bungei. In 1957 he married the niece of the translator to Marketers Hirai Teiichi ( 1902-1976 ) and began to work at the high school Yokohama. In 1959, he was honored for Kabe the Literature Prize of the journal Bungakukai for debutants.
In 1964 he participated together with Otohiko Kaga, Shuichi Sae, Meisei Gotō and Yuichi Takai at the literary group Sai (犀) and at the literary magazine, which was directed by Masaaki Tachihara. Two years later he went to the Kanto Women's short-term university to a position as lecturer in Japanese literature. In 1968 he was promoted to assistant professor in 1973 to full professor. After Okamatsu was first nominated in the 1970s, three times unsuccessfully for the Akutagawa Prize, he received it in 1976 for Shikinoshima.
In the 1980s he spent as a researcher on in São Paulo. He worked as a research scholar in particular about the poet and Zen master Ikkyu Sojun. In 1986 another award with the Nitta Jiro Prize for Literature (新 田 次郎 文学 赏) for Ikyō no uta (異郷 の 歌), 1998 Kiyama - Shohei Literature Prize for Tōge no sumika (峠 の 棲家). Okamatsu was a member of the Japanese PEN Club.
In January 2012 Okamatsu died of pneumonia at the age of 80 years.