Taku Miki
Tomita Miki, known by his pen name Taku Miki, was a Japanese poet and novelist during the Showa and Heisei era.
Biography
Miki was born in Tokyo, and grew up in Manchukuo. He returned to Japan in 1946 and graduated in 1959 from Waseda University where he majored in Russian literature. During college he wrote poems and reviews for literary magazine Bungaku soshiki, and after graduation formed part of the poetry circle around Han.Miki's principal works include the poetry collection Tokyo gozen sanji, the fairy tale Horobita kuni no tabi ; and Hogeki no ato de, which contains the Akutagawa Prize-winning story Hiwa.
His novels include Furueru shita, Karera ga hashirinuketa hi, Gyosha no aki, and Koguma-za no otoko. He has also written literary criticism, essays, and a work of juvenile fiction,.
The poem "Genealogy," translated from the Japanese by Whang Insu, appears in the text One World of Literature by Shirley Geok-lin Lim and Norman A. Spencer.
In 2007, he was selected as a member of the Japan Art Academy.
Miki died on November 18, 2023, at the age of 88.
Major prizes
- 1967 H-Shi Prize, for Tokyo gozen sanji
- 1970 Takami Jun Prize, for Waga kidi rando
- 1973 Akutagawa Prize, for Hiwa
- 1984 Noma Jido Bungei Prize, for Potapota
- 1986 Hirabayashi Taiko Prize, for Gyosha no aki
- 1997 Tanizaki Prize for Roji
- Geijutsu Sensho Monbu Daijin Prize