Japanese Literary Awards

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Toru Tamashiro

たまき とおる

Tamashiro Tōru

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1924-05-26 （Yonegabukuro, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan）
Died
2010-07-13 age 86
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Yonegabukuro, Sendai, Miyagi (birthplace) → Kichijoji, Musashino, Tokyo (moved)

Career

Occupations
tanka poet, literary critic, teacher
Active Years
1944-2010
Influenced By
Hakushu Kitahara, Seika Tatsumi
Influenced
Takako Hanayama, Shuko Hanayama

Education

Dai-ni High School (old system)
Period: 在学期間不明
Year of Graduation: 1944
Country: Japan
Graduated from the old-system Dai-ni High School
Tokyo Imperial University, Faculty of Letters (Aesthetics and Art History)
Faculty of Letters / Department of Aesthetics and Art History
Period: 在籍期間不明（戦時期）
Country: Japan
Experienced student mobilization during the war

Awards

Yomiuri Literature Prize (Tanka)
1972
Work: Mabuki (Kakugi / Mabuki)
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Chokuu Prize
1980
Work: Warera Chijo ni (We on Earth)
Organization: Chokuu Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Miyoko Goshima Prize (Risshun Tanka-kai)
1982
Work: Collected Works of Toru Tamashiro (and critical research achievements)
Organization: Risshun Tanka Society
Result: 受賞
Tanka Shinbunsha Award
2000
Work: Kanu (Ka-nu)
Organization: Tanka Shinbunsha
Result: 受賞
Modern Tanka Grand Prize
2000
Work: Kanu (Ka-nu)
Organization: Gendai Tanka Society
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Spring Ice and Snow

1947 poetry collection / tanka collection

An early collection of poems and tanka composed in the immediate postwar period.

postwarnaturerenewal

Mabuki (Kakugi / Mabuki)

1972 tanka collection

One of his representative tanka collections, combining traditional elements and personal lyricism; awarded the Yomiuri Literature Prize.

tradition and modernitypersonal memory

We on Earth

1980 tanka collection

A collection of tanka addressing people living on earth and fragments of daily life; awarded the Chokuu Prize.

everyday lifehuman observation

Kanu

2000 tanka collection

One of his later tanka collections; recipient of the Tanka Shinbunsha Award and the Modern Tanka Grand Prize.

old agereminiscence

Left Bank News

2010 essays / tanka

An essay and tanka collection published late in his life.

essaysretrospective

Bibliography

  • Spring Ice and Snow
  • Ishikawa Takuboku: Superb Poems
  • Hakushu Kitahara: On Poetic Beginnings
  • Contemporary Tanka Poets
  • Tracing Manyoshu: On Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
  • Saijo Mokichi's Methods
  • Room for Tanka Practice
  • Basho's Madness
  • Toward Comedy
  • Up to Showa-era Tanka: Its Formation
  • Songs of the Taisho Generation
  • Time, Itself
  • Mabuki
  • Modern Tanka and Its Origins: Up to Hakushu and Bokusui
  • Haiku Poet Kyoshi
  • Kanu
  • Shiki: The Active Spirit
  • Loquat Flowers
  • For the Revival of Tanka: Shiki's Poetics Correspondence
  • Two Pomegranates
  • Left Bank News

Style & Themes

Literary Style
A distinct stance distancing from avant-garde tankaA style that includes critical and historical reflection
Recurring Motifs
naturesense of seasonsdialogue with tanka tradition

Legacy

An important tanka poet and critic from the postwar to contemporary era. He received major prizes including the Yomiuri Literature Prize, edited and judged tanka magazines, and contributed to nurturing later generations.

Archives

  • National Diet Library (authority data available)

Trivia

  • Not to be confused with translator Tamaki Toru.
  • Founded the tanka magazine 'Uta' in 1978 and led it until 2002.