Takamura Kotaro

Born Mar. 13, 1883, in Tokyo; died there Apr. 2, 1956. Japanese poet and sculptor. Member of the Japanese Academy of the Arts.

Takamura studied at the College of the Arts in Tokyo from 1897 to 1902 and pursued advanced studies in New York, London, and Paris from 1906 to 1909. His sculpture was influenced by the impressionists, particularly Rodin. While in Europe, Takamura read Baudelaire, G. Apollinaire, and other poets and translated a number of their works into Japanese.

Takamura began publishing in 1910. His first poetry collection, The Distance of the Road (1913; final version, 1924), was influenced by the French symbolists. In the 1920’s he published the collection Wild Beasts, many of whose poems expressed social motifs. Takamura’s best-known work is the lyric cycle Poems About Chieko (1941), in which the poet tells of his love for his deceased wife. Takamura’s mature poems are realistic and formally innovative. Takamura helped to establish vers libre in Japanese poetry.