Yosano Akiko

(1878-1942). Poet and feminist writer. Maiden name Hō Shō. Born in Sakai in Osaka Prefecture, she graduated from the Sakai Girls' School in 1894. Married poet Yosano Tekkan in 1901 and with him founded the free coeducational school Bunka Gakuin in 1921. Her first volume of poems, Midaregami (1901, tr Tangled Hair, 1971) contained nearly 400 poems of passion and sensuality and was enthusiastically received. Other noted works include Shin Man’yōshū (1937-39), a collection of 22,783 poems by 6,675 contributors which she compiled with nine other leading poets. (adapted from Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993)