Nagatsuka Takashi

Nagatsuka Takashi

 

Born Apr. 3, 1879, in Ibaraki Prefecture, island of Honshu; died there Feb. 8, 1915. Japanese writer. Pupil of Masaoka Shiki.

Nagatsuka began his literary career as a poet in 1902, writing mainly in the classical tanka genre about nature and peasant labor. In 1906 he began writing novellas and short stories, including “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1906), “Sado Island” (1907), and “Digging Sweet Potatoes” (1908). Nagatsuka’s novel Earth (1910) was the first work in Japanese literature to give a realistic depiction of the countryside and the life of its poorest social strata.

WORKS

Nagatsuka Takashi zenshu, vols. 1–6. Tokyo, 1926–27.

REFERENCES

Istoriia sovremennoi iaponskoi literatury. Moscow, 1961.
Grigor’eva, T., and V. Logunova. Iaponskaia literatura. Moscow, 1964.

N. G. IVANENKO