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Japanese poet and translator (1931–2024) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shuntarō Tanikawa (谷川 俊太郎, Tanikawa Shuntarō, December 15, 1931 – November 13, 2024) was a Japanese poet and translator.[1] He was considered to be one of the most widely read and highly regarded Japanese poets, both in Japan and abroad.[2] The English translation of his poetry volume Floating the River in Melancholy, translated by William I. Elliott[3] and Kazuo Kawamura and illustrated by Yoko Sano, won the American Book Award in 1989.
Shuntarō Tanikawa | |
|---|---|
谷川俊太郎 | |
 Tanikawa in 2015 | |
| Born | December 15, 1931[citation needed] |
| Died | November 13, 2024 (aged 92) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, translator |
| Notable work | Two Billion Light Years of Solitude (1952) |
| Spouse |
Tomoko Okubo
(m. 1957; div. 1989) |
| Children | Kensaku Tanikawa |
| Father | Tetsuzō Tanikawa |
Tanikawa has written more than 60 books of poetry in addition to translating Charles Schulz's Peanuts and the Mother Goose rhymes into Japanese. He was nominated for the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Award for his contributions to children's literature. He was awarded Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evening in 2022. He also helped translate Swimmy by Leo Lionni into Japanese.[citation needed]
Among his contributions to less conventional art genres is Tanikawa's open video correspondence with Shūji Terayama (Video Letter, 1983). Since the 1970s, Tanikawa also provided short, onomatopoeic verses for picture books he published in collaboration with visual artist Sadamasa Motonaga, whom he had befriended during his residency in New York in 1966, offered by the Japan Society.[citation needed]
He collaborated several times with the lyricist Chris Mosdell, including creating a deck of cards created in the omikuji fortune-telling tradition of Shinto shrines, titled The Oracles of Distraction.[4] Tanikawa also co-wrote Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad and wrote the lyrics to the theme song of Howl's Moving Castle (film). Together with Jerome Rothenberg and Hiromi Itō, he has participated in collaborative renshi poetry, pioneered by Makoto Ōoka.[5]
The philosopher Tetsuzō Tanikawa was his father. The poet and translator Eriko Kishida was his first wife. The author-illustrator Yōko Sano was his third wife, and illustrated a volume of his poems: Onna Ni, translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura (Shueisha, 2012).[6]
Tanikawa died in Tokyo on November 13, 2024, at the age of 92. He was survived by his son, composer Kensaku Tanikawa, and daughter, Shino Tanikawa, and several grandchildren.[7][8][9]
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In 1982, Tanikawa declined the Minister of Education's Art Encouragement Prize.[citation needed]
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