Makoto Ōoka Explained

Makoto Ōoka
Native Name:	大岡 信
Native Name Lang:	ja
Birth Date:	16 February 1931
Birth Place:	Mishima, Shizuoka
Occupation:	Poet and literary critic
Nationality:	Japanese
Genres:	-->
Subjects:	-->
Movement:	Renshi
Notableworks:	The Japanese and Mt. Fuji, Uta no saijiki, A Play of Mirrors: Eight Major Poets of Modern Japan
Spouses:	-->
Partners:	-->
Awards:	Cultural Prize of the Municipality of Tokyo, Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Japan Academy of the Arts Prize for poetry and criticism

^[1] was a Japanese poet and literary critic. He pioneered the collaborative poetic form renshi in the 1990s,^[2] in which he has collaborated with such well-known literary figures as Charles Tomlinson, James Lasdun, Joseph Stanton, Shuntarō Tanikawa and Mikirō Sasaki.^[3]

Asahi Shimbun

Ōoka's poetry column was published without a break seven days a week for more than 20 years on the front page of Asahi Shimbun, which is Japan's leading national newspaper.^[4]

Awards

• 1993: Cultural Prize of the Municipality of Tokyo
• 1993: Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)
• 1995: Japan Academy of the Arts Prize for poetry and criticism
• 1996: Asahi Prize
• 1996: Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia
• 1997: Cultural Merit Award
• 2002: Japan Foundation Award^[5]

Bibliography

• The Japanese and Mt. Fuji (Tokyo: Graphic-sha, 1984)
• Uta no saijiki (Gakushu Kenkyusha, 1985)
• A Play of Mirrors: Eight Major Poets of Modern Japan (Santa Fe: Katydid Books, 1987)
• The World of Sam Francis (Ogawa Art Foundation, 1987)
• A String Around Autumn = Aki O Tatamu Himo: Selected Poems, 1952–1980 (Santa Fe: Katydid Books, 1988)
• Gustave Moreau Caste of Dreams (Tokyo: Parco, 1988)
• Elegy and the Benediction: Selected Poems 1947–1989 (Santa Fe: Katydid Books, 1991)
• The Colors of Poetry: Essays on Classic Japanese Verse (Santa Fe: Katydid Books, 1991. Co-authors: Thomas Fitzsimmons, Donald Keene, Takako Lento, Thomas Lento)
• A Poet's Anthology: The Range of Japanese Poetry (Santa Fe: Katydid Books, 1994. Translated into English by Janine Beichman)
• What the Kite Thinks: A Linked Poem, by Makoto Ōoka, Wing Tek Lum, Joseph Stanton, and Jean Yamasaki Toyama (Manoa: University of Hawaii Press, 1994)
• Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets (Hawaii: Univ of Hawaii Press, 1995. With Tsujii Takashi)
• The Poetry and Poetics of Ancient Japan (Santa Fe: Katydid Books, 1997. Translated into English by Thomas Fitzsimmons)
• Dans l'océan du silence (Paris: Voix d'encre, 1998. Translated into French by Dominique Palmé)
• Oriori no Uta: Poems for all seasons (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2000. Translated into English by Janine Beichman)
• Love Songs from the Man'yoshu: Selections from a Japanese Classic (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2000)
• Voix d'Argile: Fance Franck (Paris: Bayle a Montelimar, 2001)

External links

• Makoto Ooka, Poetry International

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040056/http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/ Welcome to Japanese Poetry
2. http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/about/award/02/sho02_a_1.html Profile of Makoto Ooka
3. Tomlinson, Charles, Makoto Ooka, James Lasdun, Hiroshi Kawasaki and Mikiro Sasaki. An extract from Departing Swallows, in Journal of Renga & Renku, issue 2, 2012. p162
4. [William H. Honan|Honan, William H.]
5. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Innovative+Japan+poet+bags+Japan+Foundation+prize.-a094075615 Innovative Japan poet bags Japan Foundation prize