Poetry. Translated from the Japanese by William I. Elliott and Kawamura Kazuo. Revised edition of a classic that has sold over 100,000 copies in its Japanese edition. Tanikawa is the preeminent Japanese poet of his generation. These evocative hymns of childhood sung from the mouth of a child recreate first lies, first loves, first reactions to adults, playmates and secrets.
Shuntaro Tanikawa was born in 1931 in Tokyo, the son of a philosopher. His first book of poems was published in 1952. His poetry has been collected in more than sixty books and translated into fifteen languages. In addition, he has translated Mother Goose rhymes and Charles Schultz's Peanuts into Japanese. He has earned a reputation as one of Japan's most inventive masters of form and language. In 1989 he received the American Book Award for Floating the River in Melancholy.