Ozaki Kihachi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Ozaki Kihachi |
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| Born: | 31 January 1892 Tokyo, Japan |
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| Died: | 4 February 1974 Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan |
| Occupation: | Japanese poet |
| Genres: | poetry |
Kihachi Ozaki (尾崎喜八 Ozaki Kihachi?) (31 January 1892 – 4 February 1974 was a Japanese poet active in Showa period Japan.
[edit] Early life
Ozaki was born in Tokyo. He attending the Keika Shogyo School, where he learned the English language and developed an interest in anthologies of English poetry. In 1911, he came to the notice of poet and sculptor, Takamura Kotaro, who encouraged his fledgling literary efforts.
While working as an employee of a company, Ozaki translated English poetry as a hobby, and submitted these translations together with his own original works to the literary magazine, Shirakaba ("White Birch"). In 1922, he published his first anthology, Sora to Jumoku ("Sky and Trees"). As a follower of the Shirakaba philosophy of humanism, he became close friends with Mushanokoji Saneatsu and Senge Motomaro. He was also fond of travel and mountaineering.
Ozaki later taught himself French and German, and was greatly influenced by writers such as Romain Rolland and Herman Hesse.
His later works include Takamura Shisho ("Takamura Anthology") and Hana Sakeru Kodoku ("Flowering Loneliness"). Ozaki also published Yama no Ehon ("Mountain Picture Book") a collection of miscellaneous thoughts, and many translations of Romain Rolland, Herman Hesse and Georges Duhamel.
From 1946 to 1954, he lived in a cottage in the mountains of Fujimi Kogen, and left numerous works in which he praised the beauty of nature and rural life.
Ozaki died in 1974 at the age of 82. His grave is at the temple of Meigetsu-in in Kamakura, Kanagawa, the town where he lived from 1966 to his death.
