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Hirato Renkichi

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Hirato Renkichi (平戸 廉吉, 9 December 1893 – 20 July 1922[1]) was a Japanese avant-garde poet, art critic, and translator who was active during the Taishō period of Japan. He was associated with Japanese futurism.

Biography

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Hirato Renkichi is the pen name of Kawahata Seiichi. He was born in what is now Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan, in 1893. His father was a military sniper who left the family, leaving Hirato and his mother in poverty.[2] He attended Sophia University in Tokyo for three years before dropping out of school. He later studied at Gyosei Gakkō, a Catholic language school.

His first publication was in Bansō (Accompaniment), a literary journal that was edited by the poet and literary critic Ryuko Kawaji.[3] Kawaji was his mentor, and occasionally also helped Hirato financially.[2] Hirato wrote poems and art criticism for coterie journals, including Gendai Shiika (Modern Poetry), Taimatsu (Torchlight), and the proletariat journal Tane maku hito (Sower).[4] His translations of Paul Fort, Arthur Symons, and Jean Cocteau appeared in various literary magazines.[4] In 1921, 10 years after Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism", he created flyers of "Nihon miraiha undo dai ikkai no sengen" (First Manifesto of Japanese Futurism) and handed them out in several locations across Tokyo.[5][6][7] In the same year, he was a part of the editing team for a East Asian mixed-media Futurist anthology alongside Chu Chinagi, Ng Gaa Hiem, and Angus “Gus” Stafford.[8] While academic works from Mr Chu, Ng and Gus cite this anthology in their works, a copy of the anthology is no longer extant.

Hirato died of complications from a pulmonary disease on July 20, 1922.[9] A posthumous collection of his poems was published in 1931 by Kawaji Ryūkō, Kanbara Tai, Hagiwara Kyōjiro, and Yamazaki Yasuo.

Selected works

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  • Hirato Renkichi shishū (Selected Poems of Hirato Renkichi), Hirato Renkichi shuppan kankōkai, 1931.
  • Spiral Staircase: collected poems, translated by Sho Sugita, 2017[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Hirato Renkichi". Kotobank (in Japanese). Asahi Shinbun. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b "In Conversation: Sho Sugita on Translating Hirato Renkichi & the Japanese Avant-Garde by Corina Copp". Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. 2018-04-14. Retrieved 2018-04-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Hirato Renkichi (1955). Momota, Sōji (ed.). Zenshishū taisei, gendai Nihon shijin zenshū. Tokyo: Sōgensha. p. 364.
  4. ^ a b Hattori, Tetsuya (1990). "Hirato Renkichi sakuhin mokuroku". Seikei Kokubun. 23: 87–102.
  5. ^ Solt, John (1999). Shredding the Tapestry of Meaning: The Poetry and Poetics of Kitasono Katue (1902-1978). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center. p. 23. ISBN 9780674807334.
  6. ^ Masahiko, Ōishi (2009). Higa tōi : Nihon modanizumu, Roshia avangyarudo (Dai 1-han. ed.). Tōkyō: Suiseisha. p. 20. ISBN 9784891767228.
  7. ^ Sas, Miryam. "Scent from the Future". Cabinet Magazine. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  8. ^ Hirato Renkichi (1962). 嘉謙, 吳 (ed.). 平戸廉吉:時代與分析. Hong Kong: 東亞出版社. p. 127.
  9. ^ "Hirato Renkichi: The Black Shadow-Man Illuminated". Hyperallergic. 2017-04-16. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
  10. ^ Hirato, Renkichi (2017). Spiral staircase. Sugita, Sho,, Selland, Eric,, Pourian, Pareesa., Bogden, Katherine,, Ugly Duckling Presse,, McNaughton & Gunn (First ed.). Brooklyn, New York. ISBN 9781937027667. OCLC 968686662.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)