KANEKO MITSUHARU

Kaneko Mitsuharu was a poet from Aichi Prefecture. After being educated at the Akeboshi Gakuen private school, he published his first poetry magazine, Kozu, at the age of 21. Three years later he published his first anthology of poems, Akatsuchi no ie (House of Clay, 1916). At age 62 Kaneko wrote his autobiography, Shijin (1957; tr. Shijin, 1988). Known for his rebellious spirit embodied in the famous line “to oppose is to live,” Kaneko was critical of the Meiji Restoration and even kept his son sick during World War II in order to evade conscription.