Poet Chuya Nakahara died relatively unknown in 1937 at only 30 years old. His first poetry collection was self-sponsored and sold just 50 copies. He did not live to see his second collection appear in print.
Today, the poet is a fixture in Japanese literary circles. In fact, just like Basho or Hokusai, he is often referred to simply by his given name — Chuya.
Many schools include one or two of his poems in their curriculum, and contemporary Japanese poets have credited their first encounter with his work in the classroom with awakening them to the possibilities of language.
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