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Tadashi Iwata

いわた ただし

Iwata Tadashi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1924-04-30 （Komazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan）
Died
2017-11-03 （Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan） age 93
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
tanka poet, critic, secondary school teacher
Active Years
1946-2017
Affiliations
Karin (tanka magazine)
Influenced By
Kubo­ta Ubo, Kubota Shōichirō, Watanabe Junzō

Education

Waseda University
Faculty of Letters / Japanese Literature
Country: Japan
Entered Waseda University after attending Waseda University Senior High School; became active in tanka circles while a student

Awards

Japan Tanka Poets Club Prize
2000
Work: Wain
Organization: Japan Tanka Poets Club
Result: winner
Choko Prize
2006
Work: Awa mo Ichizu
Organization: Choko Prize Committee
Result: winner
Gendai Tanka Grand Prize
2011
Work: Complete Tanka Collection of Tadashi Iwata
Organization: Gendai Tanka Grand Prize Committee
Result: winner
Tanka Reader's Prize (1st)
1974
Organization: Tanka (magazine)
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Kutsu-oto

1956 tanka

Early tanka collection showing the emergence of his poetic voice.

daily lifenaturenostalgia

Wain

2000 tanka

A 2000 collection emphasizing tonal harmony and the prosody of the Japanese language.

sound of wordstradition and modernity

Awa mo Ichizu

2005 tanka

One of his notable late collections; explores transience and single-minded devotion.

transienceagingintrospection

Complete Tanka Collection of Tadashi Iwata

2011 tanka

Collected edition compiling his works to date, covering major pieces.

life and deathtimenostalgia

Bibliography

  • Kutsu-oto: Tadashi Iwata Tanka Collection
  • The Genealogy of Resistant Nonresistance: Essays by Tadashi Iwata
  • On Shaku Choko
  • Tanka and Japanese Lyricism: The Singing Heart and the Heart of Song
  • Thoughts of Folk Customs
  • On Kubota Ubo
  • The World of Contemporary Tanka
  • Contemporary Tanka Poets
  • Song and Life: Questions of Their Sources (Critical Essays by Tadashi Iwata)
  • The Joy of Tanka
  • The Heart and Life of Song (Criticism by Tadashi Iwata)
  • The World of Contemporary Tanka Poets: Faces and Power of Works
  • Kyoshinfu: Tadashi Iwata Tanka Collection
  • Requeld: Reminiscences (Tadashi Iwata Tanka Collection)
  • Itsumo-zaka: Tadashi Iwata Tanka Collection
  • Introductory Tanka for the Mature Years
  • Contemporary Tanka: 60 Songs of Love
  • Wain: Tadashi Iwata Tanka Collection
  • Reading Contemporary Tanka: Themes Revealed and Poets' Lyricism
  • Shiya Yogiru: Tadashi Iwata Tanka Collection
  • Awa mo Ichizu: Tanka Collection
  • Kamo no Utaeru: Tadashi Iwata Tanka Collection
  • Thinking About Kunio Tsukamoto
  • The River Behind: Tanka Collection
  • Complete Tanka Collection of Tadashi Iwata
  • Kakio-zaka: Tanka Collection

Style & Themes

Literary Style
formal style emphasizing traditional tanka formscritically oriented, essayistic approach to tanka
Recurring Motifs
nostalgiaagingnaturesonority of language

Health

  • heart failure
    2017
    Suffered heart failure while bathing at home and died

Legacy

Tadashi Iwata was an influential tanka poet and critic from the late 20th to early 21st century; he co-founded the tanka magazine Karin with his wife Akiko Baba and contributed both creative works and criticism that shaped contemporary tanka.

Academic Societies

  • Japan Tanka Poets Club

Archives

  • National Diet Library, Japan (holdings)

In Popular Culture

  • Frequently featured in tanka anthologies and literature on modern tanka

Trivia

  • Co-founded the tanka magazine Karin with his wife Akiko Baba.
  • Died of heart failure while bathing at home in 2017.