Hirato Renkichi
Four Poems
Translated by Sho Sugita
Hirato Renkichi
Four Poems
Translated by Sho Sugita
Born Kawahata Shōichi on December 9th, 1893 in Osaka, Hirato Renkichi attended Sophia University in Tokyo for three years before dropping out and attending Gyosei Gakkō to study Italian. He started writing poetry in 1912, first publishing in Bansō (Accompaniment) under the guidance of Kawaji Ryūkō. His later works appeared in numerous coterie journals in Japan, including Gendaishiika (Modern Poetry), Taimatsu (Torchlight), Nihonshijin (Japanese Poet), among others. Although he worked at Hōchi Shimbun News and Chūō Geijutsu Art Publishing, he suffered from tuberculosis, often failing to make ends meet for his common-law wife and child. He passed away on July 20, 1922 in Tokyo. He was 29 years old.
Sho Sugita lives in Yokote, Japan. His recent poems and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in VOLT, Poems by Sunday, Chicago Review, 6x6, Lana Turner, Paperbag, and Asymptote. A translation booklet of Hirato Renkichi is available through DIEZ press, and the Collected Works of Hirato Renkichi is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse.