was the

pen-name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of , a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...

'' poet and novelist active during the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Biography

Itō was born in what is now Sanmu city,

Chiba prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

, as the younger son to a farming family. He attended the ''Meiji Hōritsu gakko'' (the predecessor of

Meiji University , abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...

), but left without graduating. His interest in poetry led him to visit the famous author

Masaoka Shiki , pen-name of Masaoka Noboru (正岡升), was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry, credited with writing nearly 20,000 stanzas during ...

, who accepted him as a student. Itō established the

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

Araragi ''Araragi'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. It is a small East Asian hairstreak genus. The larvae feed on ''Juglans'' (walnut) species. Species *'' Araragi enthea'' (Janson, 1877) *'' Araragi sugiyamai'' Matsui, 1989 *'' Ar ...

'' in 1903, and served as its editor until 1908. During this time, he published his poems,

literary criticism Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

and studies on the ''

Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...

.'' He published a sentimental love story, ''Nogiku no haka'' ("The Wild Daisy", 1906) in the literary magazine '' Hototogisu.'' The story became a popular classic, and was made into movies in 1955, 1966 and in 1981. Itō came to be regarded as Masaoka Shiki's closest disciple with the posthumous publication of his ''tanka'' anthology ''Sachio kashu'' in 1920. His own disciples included Saitō Mokichi and Tsuchiya Bunmei ( :ja:土屋文明). In addition to his literary career, Itō was also an amateur master of the

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...

. He died of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

References

*Fujioka, Takeo. ''Seimei no sakebi Ito Sachio''. Shintensha (1983). *Ito, Sachio. ''Songs of a Cowherd;: Translated from the works of Sachio Ito'' (Modern Japanese poets series). Marshall Jones Company (1936). ASIN: B000861F8W

External links

* * *
e-texts of works
at

Aozora Bunko Aozora Bunko (, literally the "Blue Sky Library", also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-o ...

(in Japanese)
Sammu City Museum site
(in Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Sachio 1864 births 1913 deaths People from Sanmu Writers from Chiba Prefecture 19th-century Japanese novelists People of Meiji-period Japan 20th-century Japanese poets

Biography

See also

References

External links