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11 Facts About Isamu Yoshii

1.

Yoshii Isamu was born in the elite Takanawa district Tokyo.

2.

Isamu Yoshii's grandfather, Count Yoshii Tomosane was a former samurai retainer of Satsuma Domain, and member of the House of Peers, the Privy Council and official in the Imperial Household Ministry.

3.

Isamu Yoshii's aunt was the wife of Field Marshal Oyama Iwao.

4.

Isamu Yoshii started to write short verses while attending school at Tokyo Metropolitan No 1 Junior High School and Kogyokusha Junior High School.

5.

Isamu Yoshii enrolled briefly in the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University in 1908, but dropped out the same year to join Yosano Tekkan's Tokyo Shin-shi Sha, and began contributing his tanka verses to the society's literary magazine, Myojo.

6.

Isamu Yoshii left Myojo to form a new group, Pan no Kai, together with Kitahara Hakushu due to their shared attraction of romanticism and aestheticism.

7.

In 1909, with the patronage of Mori Ogai, Isamu Yoshii brought out a new literary magazine, Subaru.

8.

In 1910, Isamu Yoshii published his first tanka anthology, Sakehogai, describing the joys and sorrows of a young poet given to wine and women.

9.

In 1948, Isamu Yoshii was appointed to be a poetry selector for the Imperial Household's New Year poetry reading ceremony.

10.

Isamu Yoshii became a member of the Japan Art Academy the same year.

11.

Isamu Yoshii's grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.