Kinoshita Rigen
Kinoshita Rigen | |
|---|---|
 Kinoshita Rigen | |
| Born | 1 January 1886 Okayama, Japan |
| Died | 15 February 1925 (aged 39) Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genre | tanka poetry |
Template:Japanese name Kinoshita Rigen (木下 利玄, 1 January 1886 - 15 February 1925) was the pen-name of Japanese author Viscount Kinoshita Toshiharu, noted for his tanka poetry, active in Meiji period and Taishō period Japan.
Early life
Kinoshita was born in what is now part of Okayana city, Okayama prefecture, and is a direct lineal descendent of a brother-in-law of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His uncle, Kinoshita Toshiyasu, was the 13th and last daimyo of Ashimori han (25,000 koku). After the Meiji Restoration, he was given the title of viscount (shishaku) under the kazoku peerage system. When he died, his nephew Kinoshita Rigen, only 5 years old, succeeded to the main family as Viscount Kinoshita. Kinoshita would have thus been a daimyo if the Tokugawa shogunate had lasted only a few years longer. In any event, Kinoshita graduated from the Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University. His classmates included Shiga Naoya and Mushanokōji Saneatsu, and he was a student of the noted poet Sasaki Nobutsuna.
Literary career
Kinoshita was a co-founder of the Shirakaba ("White Birch") Society, along with Shiga Naoya and Mushanokōji Saneatsu in 1910. He contributed extensively to the society's literary magazine, with elegant tanka verses, written in an easy-to-understand colloquial language. He published numerous anthologies of his verses, including Kogyoku ("Red Ball", 1919) and Ichiro ("One Alley", 1924).
Kinoshita moved to Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture in 1919, as the sea air had a reputation for being good for lung disorders. However, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died a few years later.
