Togawa Shūkotsu

Togawa Shūkotsu

Togawa Shūkotsu ( Japanese 戸 川 秋 骨 ; * February 7, 1871 in Iwasaki , Tamana-gun (today: Tamana ), Kumamoto Prefecture ; † July 9, 1939 ); actually Togawa Meizō ( 戸 川 明 三 ) was a Japanese literary critic, English scholar and essayist.

biography

Togawa Shūkotsu was born in Iwasaki Village, Tamana County, Kumamoto Prefecture. He graduated from Meiji Gakuin University in 1891 and became a teacher at the girls' school at the same school. In 1893 he founded the literary magazine Bungakukai together with Shimazaki Tōson , Kitamura Tōkoku and others whom he had met at university . He was also associated with Higuchi Ichiyō .

After further studies at the Faculty of English of the Imperial University of Tōkyō, he spent study visits to Europe and America and after his return to Japan in 1910 he was finally professor at the Keiō Private University in Tōkyō.

He published numerous reviews and essays and had extensive knowledge of the Nō and the Kabuki . In 1917, in collaboration with Hirata Tokuboku, he published a complete edition of the works of Emerson ( エ マ ー ソ ン 全集 , Emāson zenshū ) and produced an illustrated translation of the collection of the work of the same author ( エ マ ー ソ ン 論文集 , Emāson rombunshū ). Apparently in adoration of Emerson, he named his daughter Ema.

Togawa Shūkotsu worked as a translator from an early age. In addition to the works mentioned above, the frequently read translations Tōka Monogatari ( 十 日 物語 , German “ Decamerone ”) and Aishi ( 哀 史 , German “ The wretched ”) come from him, among others.

Web links

• digitized works including personal details at Aozora Bunko (Japanese)

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Togawa is the family name, Shūkotsu the first name.