Craft: Shuntarō Tanikawa
People who write poetry were born to write poetry.—Shuntarō Tanikawa
Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川 俊太郎, 1931-2024) began his journey as a poet when he was just a teenager and published his first book, Two-Billion Light-Years of Solitude when he was just 21. He eventually published 60 books of poetry. Tanikawa was also known in Japan for having translated the “Peanuts” comic strip and Mother Goose rhymes into Japanese.
Tanikawa said of his own writing: “My poetry is the expression of a moment rather than of history. I often say this: The novel captures events within a certain time frame, but poetry, I believe, cuts through life to reveal a cross section of experience.”
