Complex sentence: He is said to have drowned himself in alcohol, but still worked on poetry and formed a breakfast club (i.e., a salon to critique each other's poetic works), and it was around this time that Eikichi adopted the nom de plume of Ujō.
Split into simpler sentences: He is said to have drowned himself in alcohol, but still worked on poetry and formed a salon for poets to critique each other's works. It was around this time that Eikichi adopted the nom de plume of Ujō.