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Takusuke Shibusawa

しぶさわ たかすけ

Shibusawa Takasuke

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1930-10-22 （Nagano Prefecture, Nagamura (now Ueda)）
Died
1998-02-08 age 67
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese, French
Residence History
Ueda, Nagano (birthplace) → Tokyo (residence and work)

Career

Occupations
poet, French literature scholar, university professor, translator
Active Years
1953-1998
Affiliations
Musashi University (lecturer), Meiji University (lecturer, associate professor, professor)
Influenced By
Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Sakutarō Hagiwara

Education

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
French Department / French
Degree: 学士
Period: 1950年代前半
Year of Graduation: 1953
Country: Japan
University of Tokyo (Graduate School)
French Literature (Master's program) / French Literature
Degree: 修士
Period: 1954–1956
Year of Graduation: 1956
Country: Japan

Awards

Fujimura Memorial Rekitei Prize
1975
Work: I Am Also in Arcadia
Organization: Fujimura Memorial Committee
Result: winner
Takami Jun Prize
1979
Work: Corridor
Organization: Takami Jun Prize Committee
Result: winner
Yomiuri Literary Prize
1991
Work: The Singing Bird: Four Seasons
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: winner
Hagiwara Sakutarō Prize
1997
Work: Selections of Lost Ways
Organization: Hagiwara Sakutarō Prize Committee
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Scenes

1959 poetry collection

Early collection of poems notable for fragmentary scene sketches and symbolic imagery.

imagerymemorylandscape

A Sudden Breeze

1966 poetry collection

Mid-period poetry blending calm narration with sudden vivid metaphors.

everyday lifenaturesensation

I Am Also in Arcadia

1975 poetry collection

A set of poems fusing classical motifs with modern sensibilities. Won the Fujimura Memorial Rekitei Prize.

classicalnostalgiautopia

Corridor

1979 poetry collection

A structurally inventive, long-form collection. Awarded the Takami Jun Prize.

timecorridorinteriority

The Singing Bird: Four Seasons

1991 poetry collection

Poems weaving nature and life around a sense of the seasons. Winner of the Yomiuri Literary Prize.

seasonsnaturecycles

Selections of Lost Ways

1997 poetry collection

A late-career selection of short poems demonstrating his literary achievements. Awarded the Hagiwara Sakutarō Prize.

endingrecollectionsolitude

Winter Carnival

1999 poetry collection (posthumous)

Posthumous collection of manuscripts, including hospital diary entries written near the end of his life.

deathremembrancesickness

Bibliography

  • Scenes (1959)
  • A Sudden Breeze (1966)
  • Lacquer or Crystal Madness (1969/1971)
  • Shibusawa Takusuke Collected Poems (1971)
  • I Am Also in Arcadia (1975)
  • Wintering Poem (1977)
  • Freshwater Fish with: Night Between Trees (1979)
  • Corridor (1979)
  • Fragments of Flowers (1981)
  • Rose · Elegy (1983)
  • Slow Time (1986)
  • Poetry and Art: Starry Night, The Practitioners (1987)
  • The Singing Bird: Four Seasons (1991)
  • Caprice (1992)
  • Continued Collected Poems (1996)
  • Selections of Lost Ways (1997)
  • Star Mandala (1997)
  • Winter Carnival (1999, posthumous)
  • The Complete Poems of Takusuke Shibusawa (2006)

Translations by Author

  • Rimbaud: A Life (co-translator)
  • Complete Works of Rimbaud (contributing translator)
  • The Flame of a Candle (Gaston Bachelard, translator)
  • 19th-Century French Literature (co-translator)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
symbolistlyricalexperimental
Recurring Motifs
nightdreamsflowersseasons

Health

  • hypopharyngeal cancer
    1997–1998
    He died in 1998 after treatment. Hospital diary entries written during his illness were included in a posthumous volume.

Legacy

A poet and scholar known for his study of French poetry and his original verse. He carried on symbolist currents in modern Japanese poetry while creating a distinct poetic world.

Museums

  • Maebashi Literature Museum (exhibition) Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan

Archives

  • Holdings in the National Diet Library (related materials)

Trivia

  • Graduated from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, French Department.
  • Completed a master's degree in French literature at the University of Tokyo Graduate School.
  • Served for many years as a professor at Meiji University.
  • Hospital diary entries from his final illness were published in Winter Carnival.