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Rumiko Kora

こうら るみこ

Kōra Rumiko

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1932-12-16 （Tokyo, Japan）
Died
2021-12-12 （Tokyo, Japan） age 88
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
poet, critic, women's history researcher, translator, editor
Active Years
1958-2021
Influenced By
Simone de Beauvoir, Itsue Takaguni

Education

Jiyu Gakuen Elementary School
Period: 1940年代-1950年代
Country: Japan
Japan Women's University Senior High School (affiliated)
Country: Japan
Tokyo University of the Arts (transferred)
Faculty of Fine Arts
Country: Japan
Transferred during studies
Keio University (left before graduation)
Faculty of Law / Law
Country: Japan
Did not complete degree (withdrew)

Awards

H Award
1963
Work: Basho (Place)
Organization: H Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Gendai Shijin Award (6th)
1988
Work: The Voice of the Mask
Organization: Gendai Shijin Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Maruyama Yutaka Memorial Contemporary Poetry Prize
2000
Work: Night of the Wind
Organization: Maruyama Yutaka Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Students and Birds

1958 poetry collection

An early poetry collection containing short poems mixing youthful sensibility and everyday imagery.

natureyoutheveryday life

Place

1962 poetry collection

One of her notable collections exploring the relationship between self and place.

memoryplacetime

The Voice of the Mask

1987 poetry collection

A collection using masks and voices as motifs to examine self and other; highly praised in criticism.

subjectivityvoicethe other

Night of the Wind

1999 poetry collection

A later collection interweaving nature, history and a female perspective; award-winning.

naturewomen's historymemory

Poems of the Gods

1999 poetry collection

A collection that incorporates mythic elements and ancient motifs.

mythfemininityculture

Bibliography

  • Students and Birds (Poetry Collection)
  • Place (Poetry Collection)
  • Words of Things: The Act of Poetry and Dreams
  • On the Invisible Ground
  • Lovers
  • The Voice of the Mask
  • Now Is the Time to Depart (Long Linked Tale)
  • Night of the Wind
  • Poems of the Gods
  • Footsteps of a Century
  • The Road Below the Cliff
  • Rumiko Kora Poetry Collections (various)
  • That Voice Still
  • The Discovered Jomon Matrilineal System and Moon Culture

Translations by Author

  • From the Sun and the Devastation of Life: Poems and Literature of African Communities (co-ed., trans.)
  • Anthology of Asian and African Poetry (ed./trans.)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
symbolic, image-focused poetryfragmentary and introspective narration
Recurring Motifs
womennaturememorythe moon

Health

  • pancreatic cancer
    2021（晩年）
    Died of pancreatic cancer

Legacy

An influential postwar poet, critic and women's history researcher. Through poetry and criticism she foregrounded women's perspectives and cultural history, established a prize for women's culture, and left archival material preserved and partially opened to the public by her daughter.

Museums

  • Rumiko Kora Reference Room Opened in 2022

Archives

  • Rumiko Kora Reference Room (opened by daughter Mihoko Takeuchi)

Trivia

  • Her husband was the writer Yasuhiro Takeuchi.
  • She edited and published posthumous writings of her sister Miseko Kora.
  • Her daughter Miho Takeuchi opened the Rumiko Kora Reference Room in 2022.