KINOSHITA RIGEN

was the pen-name of a Japanese author noted for his ''tanka'' poetry, active in Meiji period and Taisho period Japan. His real name was Kinoshita Toshiharu.

Contents

Early life

Literary career

See also

External links

Early life

Rigen 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. Rigen would have thus been a ''daimyo'' if the Tokugawa bakufu had lasted only a few years longer. In any event, Rigen graduated from the Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University. His classmates included Shiga Naoya and Mushanokoji Saneatsu, and he was a student of the noted poet Sasaki Nobutsuna.

Literary career

Rigen was a co-founder of the ''Shirakaba'' ("White Birch") Society, along with Shiga Naoya and Mushanokoji 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 numberous anthologies of his verses, including ''Kogyoku'' ("Red Ball", 1919) and ''Ichiro'' ("One Alley", 1924).
Rigen 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.

See also

★ Japanese literature

★ List of Japanese authors

External links

★ e-texts of works at Aozora Bunko