Gōzō Yoshimasu


Gōzō Yoshimasu is a prolific Japanese poet, photographer, artist and filmmaker active since the 1960s. He has received a number of literary and cultural awards, including the Takami Jun Prize, the Rekitei Prize, the Purple Ribbon Medal in 2003, the 50th Mainichi Art Award for Poetry, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays in 2013.
Major influences include Shinobu Orikuchi, Paul Klee, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, William Blake, John Cage, Patrick Chamoiseau. Many of his poems are multilingual, blending elements of French, English, Chinese, Korean, Gaelic, and more, and feature cross-linguistic and typographic wordplay. His poems rely on intimate experiences with geography and history, layering encounters in the present with a keen awareness of the past. Drawing on multiple translators whose detailed notes appear opposite the translations, helping to elucidate them, Alice Iris Red Horse: Selected Poems of Yoshimasu Gozo, a Book in and on Translation is the most extensive and adventurous attempt at an English translation of Yoshimasu's complex poetry. Yoshimasu's performances often include film, the display of fetish objects, chanting, ritual procedures, and the collaboration of musicians and other artists.
In a 2014 interview by Aki Onda on the MoMA blog "Post," Yoshimasu described the relationship of his poetry to performance by remarking, "My quest is to reclaim the poetry that lies at the root of performing arts."
His visual art has been gaining increased recognition, with the Japan Art Academy awarding him the Imperial Prize and the Japan Art Academy Prize in 2015.

Publications

Poetry anthologies

Departure Anthology of Golden Age Poetry Tower of the Mind Kingdom Exorcising My Demons River Written in Cursive Hot Wind: a thousand steps Blue Sky Letter to the Tree Towering next to the Big Hospital Osiris, God of Stone Helix Songs At the Entrance to the House of Fireworks “The Island of Snow,” or “The Ghost of Emily” The Other Voice Extended Poem: Goro-Goro Snake of Heaven, Bloom of Violet Nowhere Tree Naked Memo Dear Monster
  • ''Voix''

Exclusive anthologies

A number of major poetry publishers in Japan have published books and issues of journals anthologizing Yoshimasu's works. These include:Yoshimasu Gōzō Anthology Yoshimasu Gōzō Anthology 1-5 August Sunset, Unicorn
  • 『続・吉増剛造詩集』
  • 『続続・吉増剛造詩集』
  • 『吉増剛造詩集』

Others

Morning Letters I Am a Flaming Mirage River of the Sun A Quiet Place Imagine a Helix The Tram that Flew to the Sky Green City, Bright Silver Time Goes Trembling On Tōkoku Notes Scotland Travels Death’s Ship The Homelands of Words A Lifetime’s Path through Dreams: Walking with Orikuchi Shinobu Hometown of Words, Hometown Fussa The Flaming Movie House The Bared Wildflower: From Poetry to the World Brazil Diaries Put a Poem in Your Pocket: Journey to My Beloved Poets In Between 11: Yoshimasu Gōzō’s Ireland 表紙 omote‐gami gozoCiné KI-SE-KI Quiet America Garden of Gold Gone Blind Mokpo Correspondence Poetics Lecture: Infinite Echoes Poetic Autobiography: Grab the Flame with Bare Hands! Like Tattooing My Heart Gozo Notes, 1-3 Ecriture of the Moment
  • '' La Broderie de feu: Gozo Yoshimasu, 2008-2017''

Co-authored works

Bones of the Tree with Kido Shuri Sea of Melted Snow: Tampopo and Tampupu Dolce/Sweetly: A New Encounter with Image and Word Words that Quake to the Loom Across the Naked Common: Japanese and American Poets' Response to Emerson with Forrest Gander and Masaki Horiuchi

Interviews/Dialogues

Yoshimasu has often had dialogues with creators from Japan and around the world. These include:Ocean in a Boardgame, Cosmos in a Poem Conversations with Yoshiharu Habu At the Edge of this Era On the Shores of "Asia" Dialogue with / co-authored by Korean poet Ko Un To the World as Archipelago Dialogue / epistolary exchange with Ryūta Imafuku, Professor of Anthropology and Communication at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Translations into French

Osiris: dieu de pierre. Tr. Claude Mouchard and Makiko Ueda. Circé, May 1999. Antique observatoire, translated by Claude Mouchard and Masatsugu Ono, illustrations by Daniel Pommereulle, Collection R / Avant post, 2001.The Other Voice, translated by Ryoko Sekiguchi, preface by Michel Deguy Éditions Caedere 2002.Ex-Voto, a thousand steps and more, translated by Ryoko Sekiguchi, October 2009.

Translations into English

Devil’s Wind: A Thousand Steps or More. Ed./trans. Brenda Barrows, Thomas Fitzsimmons. Oakland University Press, 1980.Osiris: The God of Stone. Tr. Hiroaki Satō. St. Andrew's Press, 1989.