Kenji Miyazawa

Kenji Miyazawa was a poet and farmer born in Iwate Prefecture. He studied geology at Morioka Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, moved to Tokyo, and began writing poetry, short stories, and children’s books. He self-published his first book, a work for children, in 1924. Three of his books from the 1930s—Night on the Galactic Railroad, Matasaburo of the Wind, and Be not Defeated by the Rain—were published posthumously. Miyazawa’s fiction, poetry, and children’s stories sketch an ecological vision well ahead of its time. Drawing on his training as a scientist and a practitioner of Buddhism, Miyazawa developed a vision of interdependence among all forms of life at all times. His poetry and fiction for children and teens are popular in Japan today.