1872 – 1943

Born in Magome Village, Chikuma Prefecture（now Magome, Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture）. His real name was Haruki. In 1881, he moved to Tokyo and graduated from Meiji Gakuin. After graduation, he contributed translations to the Jogaku Zasshi magazine. While working as a teacher at Meiji Jogakkō（Christian Meiji Women’s School） and Tohoku Gakuin University, he participated in the founding of the literary magazine Bungakkai  with figures like Tōkoku Kitamura. He published dramatic poems and essays. In 1897, he made his debut on the literary scene with his first poetry collection Wakana-shū （”Collection of young herbs”）. He followed this with the poetry collections Hitoha-bune（”A Small Boat”）, Natsukusa（”Summer Grass”）., and Rakubai-shu（”Fallen Japanese Apricots”）, establishing himself as a Romantic poet. Gradually shifting to prose, in 1906, he self-published his first long novel Hakai（”The Broken Commandment”）. In 1908, he published Haru (“Spring”). He became one of the leading figures of Japan’s naturalist literature. Other works include Ie（”The Family”）, Chikuma-gawa Ryojo-no-Uta（”A poem of a Journey along the River Chikuma”）, Sakura no mi no juku suru toki（”When the cherries ripen”）, Shinsei （”New life”), Arashi (“The tempest”), and Yoake-Mae（Before the Dawn）.