KITAMURA TOKOKU

(1868–1894)

   Kitamura Tokoku, given name Montaro, was a Romantic poet and essayist. Kitamura held extreme political views that led to his expulsion from Waseda University, but he abandoned his political activities before becoming a writer. Many of Kitamura’s poems and essays broke from traditional Japanese Buddhist/Shinto thought in favor of Western philosophy, and his writing sometimes reflects his wife’s Christian views. Kitamura helped to launch the literary journal Bungakkai (Literary World) a year before he committed suicide.

   See also BUDDHIST LITERATURE; POETRY.