Inoue Kenkabō

Infobox Writer
name = Kenkabō Inoue


caption = Inoue Kenkabō
birthdate = 1870
birthplace = Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan
deathdate = 1934
deathplace = Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
occupation = writer and journalist
genre = poetry. essays
movement =
notableworks =
influences = Romain Rolland, Henri Barbusse
influenced = nihongo|Kenkabō Inoue|井上剣花坊|Inoue Kenkabō|extra=1870 – 1934 was the pen-name of a journalist and writer of "senryu" (short, humorous verse) in late Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan. His real name was Inoue Koichi.

Early life

Kenkabo was born in Hagi city, Yamaguchi prefecture, as the son of an ex-samurai of the Choshu domain. He was largely self-educated.

After working part time as an elementary school teacher and a reporter for a local newspaper, he moved to Tokyo in 1900 and began writing the arts column for the literary magazine, "Myogi". Three years later, he joined the "Nihon Shimbun" newspaper as a reporter. Using the pen name, "Kenkabō", he began a column called "Shindai yanagidaru", which advocated a new style of "senryu" poetry.

Literary career

In 1905, Kenkabō founded a poetry group called "Ryusonji Senryu Kai", which brought out its own short-lived literary magazine called "Senryu". After retiring from working as an employee of the "Nihon Shimbun" newspaper, Kenkabō continued to manage the senryu columns of the "Kokumin Shimbun" and "Yomiuri Shimbun" newspapers and later resurrected "Senryu" in 1912, renaming it "Taishō Senryu", to mark the beginning of the new Taishō period.

With the arrival of the Shōwa period in 1926, he again changed the name of the magazine, this time to "Senryujin".

He also wrote the essays, "Proletariat Literature and Bourgeois Literature", and "Senryu odo ron" ("Royal Way of Senryu"), and contributed pieces to the magazines, "Nihon oyobi Nihonjin" (Japan and the Japanese) and "Kaizo" ("Reconstruction").

Kenkabō's "senryu" are characterized by their grandeur and generosity. Kenkabō had disciples all around Japan, including Kawakami Santaro, Murata Shugyo and "Kijiro" (novelist Yoshikawa Eiji's "senryu" pen name). His works include "Shin senryu rokusen ku" ("Six Thousand New Senryu"), "Senryu o tsukuru hito ni" ("For Senryu Poets") and "Ko senryu shinzui" ("The Essence of Classical Senryu").

ee also

*Japanese literature
*List of Japanese authors

External links

* [http://www.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp/english/bunjin/inoue_e.htm Literary Figures from Kamakura]