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Tetsuzo Tsuburai

つぶらい てつぞう

Tsuburai Tetsuzō

Pen Names: Yumizuki Kō（Pen name used during his involvement with the literary magazine 'Rikutei' (Rikutei)）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1928-01-05 （Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan）
Died
2017-06-02 age 89
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
poet, teacher, university professor
Active Years
1952-2017
Affiliations
Rikutei (literary magazine, member), Shobi Gakuen Junior College (professor), Hakuoh University (professor)
Memberships
Fujimura Memorial Rikutei Prize (selection committee member), Rikutei (literary magazine, member)

Education

Fukushima Normal School
Period: 〜1952（卒業）
Year of Graduation: 1952
Country: Japan
Graduated and worked as an elementary school teacher before moving to Tokyo and joining the literary magazine 'Rikutei'.

Awards

Bansui Prize
1960
Work: Tongued Landscapes (poetry collection)
Result: winner
H-shi Prize
1972
Work: Record of a Solitary Island (poetry collection)
Result: winner
Takami Jun Prize
1977
Work: Watchtower (poetry collection)
Result: winner
Contemporary Poets Prize
2002
Work: Island Phantasm (poetry collection)
Result: winner
Yomiuri Literature Prize (Poetry, Songs & Haiku)
2012
Work: Spitting Moths (poetry collection)
Category: 詩歌俳句賞
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Tongued Landscapes

1960 poetry collection

A collection exploring the intersection of language, the body, and landscape. One of Tsuburai's early notable works.

landscapethe bodylanguage

Record of a Solitary Island

1971 poetry collection

A collection of poems themed on solitude and isolation. Awarded the H-shi Prize in 1972.

solitudeislandsalienation

Watchtower

1977 poetry collection

Poems where observation, memory, and historical consciousness intersect. Winner of the Takami Jun Prize.

memoryhistoryobservation

Island Phantasm

2001 poetry collection

Contains lyrical and symbolic poems revolving around islands and phantoms. Winner of the Contemporary Poets Prize.

islandsphantomlyricism

Spitting Moths

2011 poetry collection

A late-career collection questioning the limits of language and corporeality; recipient of the Yomiuri Literature Prize (Poetry, Songs & Haiku).

limits of languagethe bodytransformation

Bibliography

  • Kyozo (poetry collection). Chikyusha, 1956.
  • Tongued Landscapes. Rikutei-sha, 1960.
  • Kei (poetry collection). Rikutei-sha, 1964.
  • Record of a Solitary Island. Yasaka Shobo, 1971.
  • Ritual. Bungakushorin, 1975.
  • Watchtower. Kasinsha, 1977.
  • Collected Poems of Tetsuzo Tsuburai. Shicho-sha, 1978.
  • From the Wasteland. Yatate Publishing, 1979.
  • Studies for Crouching Shadows. Kasinsha, 1981.
  • Record of Adultery. Ei Shobo, 1985.
  • Projections of Those Falling Over. Shicho-sha, 1990.
  • Laughing Moon. Shoshi Yamada, 1994.
  • Island Phantasm. Shoshi Yamada, 2001.
  • The Hole. Shoshi Yamada, 2006.
  • Spitting Moths. Kasinsha, 2011.
  • Age of Contempt (poetry collection). Kasinsha, 2014.

Style & Themes

Literary Style
avant-garde poetic stylesymbolic, image-driven expressionfragmentary and experimental use of language
Recurring Motifs
islandssolitudethe bodyritualmemory

Legacy

A poet active from the mid-20th to early 21st century. Known for symbolic and experimental language, he left an influence on contemporary Japanese poetry and received multiple literary awards.

Trivia

  • He used the pen name '弓月煌' (Yumizuki Kō).
  • His maternal cousin was the poet Eiji Kasuya (Kasuga? Kasuya Eichi) — referenced in sources as 粕谷栄市.