|
is one of the most prominent and prolific male poets, essayists, and writers of contemporary Japan, with more than three dozen collections of poetry, several works of prose, dozens books of essays, and several major literary prizes to his name. He is especially well known for his open writing about male homoeroticism. He currently lives in the seaside town of Zushi, several kilometers south of Yokohama, Japan. ==Early life== Born in 1937 in the rural southern island of Kyushu, Takahashi spent his early years living in the countryside of Japan. As Takahashi describes in his memoirs published in 1970, his father, a factory worker in a metal plant, died of pneumonia when Takahashi was one hundred and five days old, leaving his mother to fend for herself in the world.〔Takahashi Mutsuo, ''Jū-ni no enkei'' (Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 1970). Translated by Jeffrey Angles as ''Twelve Views from the Distance'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012).〕 Taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the expanding Japanese empire, she left Takahashi and his sisters with their grandparents in the rural town of Nōgata and went to Tientsin in mainland China to be with a lover.〔Takahashi Mutsuo, "The Snow of Memory," trans. Jeffrey Angles, ''Japan: A Traveler’s Literary Companion'' (Berkeley: Whereabouts Press, 2006), pp.190-203.〕 Due to his grandparents’ poverty, Takahashi spent much time with extended family and other neighbors. Especially important to him during this time was an uncle that served a pivotal figure in Takahashi’s development, serving as a masculine role model. Again, however, historical fate intervened, and the uncle, whom Takahashi later described in many early poems, was sent to the Burma Campaign, where he died of illness.〔 After Takahashi’s mother returned from the mainland,〔 they went to live in the port of Moji, just as the air raids by the Allied powers intensified. Takahashi’s memoirs describe that although he hated the war, World War II provided a chaotic and frightening circus for his classmates, who would gawk at the wreckage of crashed B-29s and to watch ships blow up at sea, destroyed by naval mines. Takahashi writes that when the war came to an end, he felt a great sense of relief.〔 In his memoirs〔 and interviews,〔Takahashi Mutsuo and Jeffrey Angles, "Interview with Takahashi Mutsuo," June 9, 2005, trans. Katsuhiko Sugunuma, ''Intersections: Gender, History, and Culture in the Asian Context'' ().〕 Takahashi has mentioned that in the time he spent with his schoolmates, he became increasingly aware of his own sexual attraction towards men. This became a common subject in the first book of poetry he published in 1959.〔(Jeffrey Angles, "Penisism and the Eternal Hole: (Homo)Eroticism and Existential Exploration in the Early Poetry of Takahashi Mutsuo," ) ''Intersections: Gender, History, and Culture in the Asian Context''〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mutsuo Takahashi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|