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Takashi Okai

おかい たかし

Okai Takashi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1928-01-05 （Chikara-machi, Higashi Ward, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan）
Died
2020-07-10 （Musashino, Tokyo, Japan） age 92
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Religion
Christianity Baptized in 1949
Residence History
Chikara-machi, Higashi Ward, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan → Tokyo (mainly Musashino), Japan → Kyushu (period of retreat/hiding), Japan

Career

Occupations
tanka poet, poet, literary critic, physician (internist), university professor
Active Years
1946-2020
Affiliations
Mirai (tanka society), Kitasato Institute Hospital (served as physician), National Toyohashi Hospital / Toyohashi Medical Center (former head of internal medicine), Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Humanities (former professor)
Memberships
Mirai (tanka society), Japan Art Academy, Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Humanities (former professor), Utakai Hajime selector / Court poet, Imperial Household Agency advisory role (2007)
Influenced By
Kunio Tsukamoto, Shuji Terayama, Takaaki Yoshimoto, W. H. Auden
Influenced
Koarashi Kyuhachiro, Harumi Ikeda, Fujirō Yamada, Jirō Katō, Takahiro Ōtsuji, Kōji Eda, Tanaka Kai, Megumi Kino, Kazuko Ōtaki, Naoko Higashi, Yū Takashima, Makoto Saikachi, Naoki Saga, Kōjin Sasa, Yumiko Okazaki, Naoto Nakazawa, Shinichirō Hagiwara

Education

Aichi First Middle School (old system; now Aichi Prefectural Asahigaoka High School)
Country: Japan
Completed education under the old secondary school system
Eighth High School (old system)
Country: Japan
Completed education under the old higher school system
Keio University Faculty of Medicine / Graduate School of Medical Science
Faculty of Medicine / Internal Medicine
Degree: 医学博士 (Doctor of Medicine / PhD)
Country: Japan
Graduated from Keio University Faculty of Medicine; obtained a medical doctorate.

Awards

Aichi Prefecture Arts and Culture Award (Cultural Prize)
1980
Category: 文化賞
Organization: Aichi Prefecture
Result: recipient
Chokuu Prize
1983
Work: Taboo and Lust
Organization: Chokuu Prize Selection Committee
Result: recipient
Saitō Mokichi Tanka Literary Award
1990
Work: Affinity
Organization: Saitō Mokichi Tanka Literary Award Committee
Result: recipient
Modern Tanka Grand Prize
1995
Work: Takashi Okai Collection
Organization: Gendai Tanka Association
Result: recipient
Medal with Purple Ribbon
1996
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: recipient
Poetry Literature Museum Prize
1999
Work: Uran and the Swan
Organization: Poetry Literature Museum
Result: recipient
Mainichi Arts Award
2000
Work: Wozzeck / Sea and Land — Sketches for Voice and Memory (planning and editing)
Category: 企画編集
Organization: Mainichi Newspapers
Result: recipient
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette
2004
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: recipient
Yomiuri Literary Prize (Poetry and Haiku)
2005
Work: Are the Reindeer Coming Now?
Category: 詩歌俳句賞
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: recipient
Fujimura Memorial Rekitei Prize
2007
Work: Takashi Okai Complete Tanka Collection
Organization: Fujimura Memorial Rekitei Prize Committee
Result: recipient
Ono City Poetry and Literature Prize
2009
Work: Nefsky
Organization: Ono City
Result: recipient
Member of the Japan Art Academy
2009
Category: 会員
Organization: Japan Art Academy
Result: inducted
Takami Jun Prize
2010
Work: Annotator
Organization: Takami Jun Prize Committee
Result: recipient
Tanka Newspaper Award
2011
Work: X — I Who Recollect
Organization: Tanka Shimbun Publishing
Result: recipient
Person of Cultural Merit
2016
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs / Government of Japan
Result: selected
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star
2020
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: posthumous award

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Garan-tei

1975 tanka (poetry)

A tanka collection published in 1975 that marked his return to poetic activity and shows the shift in his style after his hiatus.

return and regenerationmemoryeveryday lifelove

Letters to the Sea (essays on tanka)

1962 criticism / essays

A collection of essays on tanka that discusses theory and modes of expression, exploring new directions for the form.

tanka theorytheory of expression

Wozzeck / Sea and Land — Sketches for Voice and Memory

1999 tanka / experimental poetry

An experimental tanka collection centered on voice and memory, attempting a new fusion of form and subject.

memoryvoiceexperimentation

Collected Tanka of Takashi Okai (complete)

1987 tanka collection (complete)

A comprehensive anthology of his tanka to date; later expanded editions and complete collections were also published.

retrospectivecompilation

Nefsky

2008 poetry / tanka collection

A later collection featuring motifs connected to Russia and overseas themes; one of his important works of the 2000s.

othernesstraveltime

Bibliography

  • Seishō (Chorus)
  • Land, Bear the Pain
  • Letters to the Sea (Essays on Tanka)
  • Asagari
  • A Journey in the Eye's Fundus
  • Introduction to Modern Tanka: An Attempt at Crisis Poetics
  • Garan-tei
  • Takashi Okai Tanka Collection
  • Notes on Mokichi's Poems
  • Taboo and Lust
  • Takashi Okai Collection
  • Uran and the Swan
  • Wozzeck / Sea and Land — Sketches for Voice and Memory
  • Are the Reindeer Coming Now?
  • Annotator (poetry collection)
  • X — I Who Recollect
  • Nefsky
  • Iron Bumblebee
  • Italia (Japanese-English-German edition)
  • Abana (posthumous tanka collection)

Translations of Works

  • Italia (Japanese-English-German trilingual edition; English translation by Horita Toki, German translation by Nakagawa Hiroko)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
avant-garde tankablend of colloquial and classical dictionintroduction of ideological themesinfluence of light verse
Recurring Motifs
seamemoryeveryday lifetimelove

Health

  • heart failure
    2020-07-10
    Died at home from heart failure on 10 July 2020

Legacy

Takashi Okai was one of the leading figures of postwar avant-garde tanka, valued for expanding the expressive range of tanka and for his contributions as a critic and educator. He received honors including Person of Cultural Merit and membership in the Japan Art Academy, and had significant influence on later poets.

Academic Societies

  • Japan Art Academy
  • Kyoto Seika University (Faculty of Humanities)

Quotes

  • Let the cherry blossoms bloom on their own; I still carry a little grudge in yesterday's dream.
    Source: Representative tanka
  • Across the sea, anxious for a sorrowful marriage — the soft parts of power are visible.
    Source: Representative tanka

Trivia

  • Began composing tanka at age 17
  • Graduated from Keio University Faculty of Medicine and worked as an internist
  • Stopped literary activity and retreated to Kyushu in 1970; returned to poetry with the 1975 collection 'Garan-tei'
  • Selected as a Person of Cultural Merit in 2016; posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star in 2020
  • Selection as a Utakai Hajime (Imperial Poetry Gathering) selector caused controversy in literary circles