Utsubo Kubota
Utsubo Kubota (窪田 空穂 "Kubota Utsubo"; 1877–1967) was a Japanese "tanka" poet. He also wrote poetry in other forms, as well as prose fiction and non-fiction critical and scholarly works on Japanese classical literature. He was a lecturer at Waseda University. Biography. Utsubo Kubota was born on 8 June 1877. He was born in Wada Village, Higashichikuma District (modern-day Matsumoto City), Nagano Prefecture. His real name was Tsūji Kubota (窪田 通治 "Kubota Tsūji"). He graduated the School of Letters at the Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō (present-day Waseda University). After working as a reporter for various newspapers  and magazines, he returned to Waseda to become a lecturer on literature. He died in 12 April 1967. Writings. Kubota was a leading poet of the Japanese Naturalist school. He wrote many "tanka", as well as poems of other forms such as the "chōka". He first came to the attention of the poet Tekkan Yosano for a "tanka" he published in the magazine "Bunko" in 1900. Early in his literary career he published "shintaishi" (poetry in modern forms) and "tanka" in Tekkan's important magazine "Myōjō", but left after less than a year. In 1905 he published the anthology "Mahiruno  (まひる野). It was also around this time that he took an interest in the philosophy of Naturalism and began writing prose fiction, researching classical Japanese literature, and engaging in literary criticism. 1911 saw the publication of his short story collection Rohen" (炉辺). In 1912 he published "Utsubo Kashū" (空穂歌集), with the intention of distancing himself from "tanka", but he continued to write them throughout his career. Reception. Literary historian and critic Donald Keene wrote of Kubota that he "attained his greatest distinction as a poet relatively late in life", contrasting him in this sense to the poets associated with the  magazine "Myōjō". He went on to note that "[Kubota's] poetry often has a perfection of diction that defies translation, though his themes and imagery are less compelling compelling" than other Naturalist poets.