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Akiwo Kakurai

かくらい あきを

Kakurai Akiwo

Pen Names: Akiwo（Haiku pen name used in submissions (initially "あきを", later "秋を")）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1909-08-26 （Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan）
Died
1988-06-02 age 78
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
haiku poet, architect, university professor, writer
Active Years
1936-1988
Influenced By
Fūsei Tomiyasu

Education

Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō (now Tokyo University of the Arts)
Architecture Department / Architecture
Country: Japan

Awards

Haiku Poets Association Prize
1984
Work: Kazahafuri
Organization: Haiku Poets Association (Japan)
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Walnut

1948 Haiku collection

An early haiku collection capturing quotidian details and observations.

everyday lifenaturefamily

The Afternoon Window

1955 Haiku collection

A mid-career collection showing a colloquial haiku style rooted in everyday sensibility.

daily lifetimeinterior scenes

Eno (Boat Song)

1974 Haiku collection

A 1970s collection that includes works from a period of expanded expressive range.

journeynaturemelancholy

Nabihashi (Hidden Affection)

1979 Haiku collection

Works from the late period showing a turn toward classical beauty in style.

solituderecollectionnature

Kazahafuri (Wind Prayer)

1984 Haiku collection

A late-career collection containing many representative poems that deepen autobiographical lyricism.

life境涯 (personal state)natureaging

Musashino Notes: Thinking about Haiku

1974 Haiku criticism / essays

An essay and critical collection discussing haiku theory and composition, including perspectives from art history.

haiku theoryart historyexpression

Bibliography

  • Walnut (Shirasuna Shobō, 1948)
  • The Afternoon Window (Rōkandō, 1955)
  • Eno (Boat Song) (Utakayama Bunko, 1974)
  • Nabihashi (Hidden Affection) (Utakayama Bunko, 1979)
  • Kazahafuri (Wind Prayer) (Utakayama Bunko, 1984)
  • Musashino Notes: Thinking about Haiku (Utakayama Bunko, 1974)
  • The Interior Spaces of Japan (as Akio Kakurai, Shufu to Seikatsu-sha, 1968)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Colloquial haiku stylePursuit of classical beauty (late period)Original and inventive imagery
Recurring Motifs
small everyday scenesnature imageryfamily scenesautobiographical lyricism

Legacy

A 20th-century Japanese haiku poet noted for a colloquial and original poetic sensibility. In later years he moved toward classical beauty and deeper autobiographical lyricism. He was recognized with the Haiku Poets Association Prize and also had a career as an architect and art historian.

Academic Societies

  • Haiku Poets Association (Japan)

Quotes

  • On the flower mat, my mother's glasses lie.
    Source: From his haiku (exact original publication source unspecified)

Trivia

  • Real name: Akio Kakurai.
  • Younger brother is the Nihonga painter Kazuo Kakurai.
  • Buried at Tama Reien cemetery.