Japanese Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Toshio Mitsuhashi

みつはし としお

Mitsuhashi Toshio

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1920-11-08 （Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan）
Died
2001-12-01 age 81
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Hachiōji, Tokyo → Yokosuka, Kanagawa (served with naval training unit)

Career

Occupations
Haiku poet, Ministry of Transport official (training ship administrator)
Active Years
1935-2001
Affiliations
Kaze (circle associated with Watanabe Hakusen), Hiroba, Dangai (edited by Saitō Miki), Tenrō (edited by Seishi Yamaguchi), Men, Haiku Hyoron
Memberships
Member of Hiroba, Member of Dangai, Member of Tenrō
Influenced By
Hakusen Watanabe, Sankei Saitō (Seito Sanki), Seishi Yamaguchi
Influenced
Sumiko Ikeda, Yoko Tohyama, Takako Mitsuhashi, Reiko Numajiri

Education

Jissen Gakuen Junior & Senior High School (night division)
Country: Japan
Graduated from the night division while working at a book distribution company

Awards

Gendai Haiku Association Award (14th)
1967
Organization: Gendai Haiku Association
Result: winner
Jyakotsu Prize (23rd)
1989
Work: On the Tatami
Organization: Jyakotsu Prize Committee
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Phantom Shark

1966 Haiku collection

A haiku collection containing many poems themed on war and the sea.

warseamemory

On the Tatami

1988 Haiku collection

A collection juxtaposing everyday scenes with fragments of wartime experience.

tatamiwareveryday life

Complete Haiku Collection of Toshio Mitsuhashi

1982 Collected haiku

A complete collection of his haiku; supplemented editions were later published.

collected haiku

Bibliography

  • Maboroshi no Fuka: Haiku Collection (Haiku Hyoronsha), 1966
  • Magami: Haiku Collection by Toshio Mitsuhashi (Tankei-sha), 1973
  • Aononaka: Selected Haiku (Kobe Books), 1977
  • Dando: Selected Haiku (Shinya Sōsho), 1977
  • Shijuku: Haiku Collection (Nanka Shokyoku), 1979
  • Junrei: Haiku Collection (Nanka Shokyoku), 1979
  • Taiko: Selected Haiku (Nanka Shokyoku), 1981
  • Complete Haiku Collection of Toshio Mitsuhashi (Rippu Shobo), 1982
  • On the Tatami: Haiku Collection (Rippu Shobo), 1988
  • Complete Haiku Collection (Supplemented Edition) (Rippu Shobo), 1990
  • Umi: Haiku Collection (Furansudō Bunko), 1992
  • Selected 300 Haiku by Toshio Mitsuhashi (Shunyodo), 1992
  • Choto: Haiku Collection (Chisei-sha), 1993
  • Shidaraden: Haiku Collection (Chisei-sha), 1996
  • Toshio Mitsuhashi Haiku Collection (edited by Norio Awazu, Geirin Shobo), 2002
  • Definitive Complete Haiku Collection (edited by Kei Hayashi, Kaze no Kakan Bunko), 2016

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Concise, imagistic style oriented toward non-seasonal haiku (muki haiku)Technique of expressing the heavy theme of war through everyday imagery
Recurring Motifs
warseatatamigullsburning pillars (urban conflagration)

Legacy

Regarded as a leading postwar practitioner of muki haiku, Mitsuhashi influenced later poets with his treatment of war and the sea. His collected works and supplemented editions provide materials for study.

Academic Societies

  • Gendai Haiku Association

Archives

  • National Diet Library - bibliographic records
  • Holdings at publishers (Rippu Shobo, Chisei-sha, etc.)

Quotes

  • Come gulls, each time I open the gilded book
    Source: Maboroshi no Fuka (1966)
  • War — and the uchiwa on the tatami
    Source: On the Tatami (1988)

Trivia

  • Began writing haiku after joining internal haiku gatherings while working at the book distributor Tokyo-do.
  • His 1943 conscription and service with the Yokosuka naval training unit influenced his poetry.
  • Served as supervisor of the collection "Rōmu" in 1986.