KÅtarÅ Takamura
Takamura Kotaro (Japanese高 村 光 太郎, born March 13, 1883 in Tokyo, † April 2, 1956 ) was a Japanese sculptor, poet and essayist.
Life
Takamura was initially trained by his father later Koun Takamura in his studio, at art school in Tokyo for the sculptor. In 1906 he traveled to the U.S., where he met his lifelong friend Ogiwara Morie, later to London to Paris. Here he read the poems Charles Baudelaire and Émile Verhaeren and was an enthusiastic supporter of the sculpture of Auguste Rodin.
With the essay Midoriiro no Taiyo (緑色 の 太陽, "Green Sun" ), which he published after his return to Japan in 1910, he became the first advocate of Impressionism in Japan. In 1914 he married the painter and poet Takamura Chieko. In the same year the book of poems Dotei (道 程) appeared. It was the first of six collections of poetry, which revolved around his wife Chieko, when in 1928 the first signs of schizophrenia showed and died ten years later. 1929 broke up their marriage. A selection of poems appeared in 1941 in the Chieko shō Collection (智 恵 子 抄).
During the Second World War, Takamura engaged in the Patriotic Literary Association and therefore was after 1945, inter alia, attacked by the critic Odagiri Hideo as a war criminal. He retired several years then returned to northern Japan. In 1950 he published the collection of poems as a summary Tenkei (典型), after which consists of twenty autobiographical poetry collection Angu Shoden (暗 愚 小 伝). After seven years he returned to Tokyo to create a bronze statue of his wife on the shores of Lake Howada in the north of Honshu, which he completed in 1954.
Besides his work as a poet and sculptor Takamura also emerged as a translator of Rodin's writings and poems of Verhaeren, Walt Whitman and others or as an essayist. Among the essays which he published first in English, are particularly The Latter Half of Chieko 's Life on the lyrical work of his wife and A Last Glance at the Third Ministry of Education Art Exhibition, a sharp-tongued settlement with the modern art world, to call.
In his honor, the Takamura Kotaro - Prize will be awarded in two categories: sculpture and poetry since 1958.