Howling at the Moon

Born into a wealthy family, Hagiwara Sakutaro (1886-1942) was able as a young man to devote himself to poetry. Although he did not finish college, he read Western authors, including Poe, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Dostoevsky. His major works of poetry, written in 1917 and 1923, were Howling at the Moon and Blue, both collected in this volume, along with a substantial selection of poems from other books and a complete translation of Cat Town, a prose-poem roman. These works transformed modern Japanese poetry, and changed forever the face of the future poetic landscape in Japan.

Noted translator Hiroaki Sato has beautifully revealed Hagiwaras's major contribution to 20th century poetry. Among the other Japanese poets he has translated are Miyazawa Kenji, Yoshioka Minoru and Takahashi Mutsuo.

See the PIP Biography of this author