   was a japanese poet and author of children's literature in the early shÅwa period. he was also known as a devout buddhist, vegetarian,world vegetarian congress - edinburgh, scotland, summer 2002 - souvenirs and social activist. ==early life== miyazawa was born in what is now the city of hanamaki, iwate prefecture as the eldest son of a wealthy pawnbroker. from an early age, he was disturbed by what he perceived to be the social inequity between his well-to-do family and the impoverished farmers in the area from whom his family profited by lending them money. compared to his contemporaries, he demonstrated little interest in romantic love or sex, both in his private life and in his literary work. in 1918, he graduated from morioka agriculture and forestry college (modern iwate university). he was a bright student, so his academic advisor wanted him as an assistant professor. however, differences with his father over religion (he converted to the modern incarnation of nichiren buddhism termed nichirenism or nichirenshugi (æ¥è®ä¸»ç¾©), becoming a follower of the radical nationalist leader of the nichirenshugi movement, tanaka chigaku, and joining tanaka's kokuchÅ«kai organization in 1920), and his repugnance for the family pawnshop business (he yielded his inheritance to his younger brother), created much unhappiness in his early life, and in 1921, he departed hanamaki for tokyo.on uneven ground, miyazawa kenji and the making of place in modern japan, stanford university press, note 69, isbn 978-0-8047-7686-8 ==literary career== in tokyo, while staying with a friend, he was introduced to the works of poet sakutarÅ hagiwara, and was encouraged to start writing. after eight months in tokyo, when he be
1896_births 1933_deaths Deaths_from_pneumonia Japanese_Buddhists Japanese_Esperantists Japanese_children\'s_writers Japanese_novelists Japanese_poets Nichiren_Buddhists People_from_Iwate_Prefecture