Momota Souji

Poet and children's writer. Born in Osaka City. Real name: Soji. After graduating from high school, he studied French privately. Following his collection of tanka "Bird of Love" (1911), he showed his own path with the poetry collection "Night" (1912) and the poetry collection "The First Person" (1915), and perfected his own colloquial free verse with "Muddy Highway" (1918), which was the apex of the popular poetry movement. He ran the Shiwakai poetry society as an institution for uniting the poetry world at the time, but when the society was dissolved, he founded "Shiinoki" (1926) to train new poets. From around 1932 (Showa 7), he taught children's free verse and composition education, and in 1942 he became an advisor to the Japan Young Citizens' Cultural Association. After World War II, he published "Henkyoujin" in Sapporo, where he had evacuated. He later moved to Chiba Prefecture.

[Kiyohiko Furukawa]

"Japanese Poetry 22: Modern Poetry Collection (2)" (1979, Shueisha) "Japanese Modern Literature Series 54: Modern Poetry Collection (2)" (1973, Kadokawa Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

詩人、児童文学者。大阪市の生まれ。本名宗次。高等小学校を卒業後、フランス語を個人的に学んだ。歌集『愛の鳥』（1911）に次いで詩歌集『夜』（1912）、詩集『最初の一人』（1915）で独自の道を示し、『ぬかるみの街道』（1918）によって自身の口語自由詩を完成、この詩集は民衆詩派の運動の頂点にたっている。当時の詩壇の大同団結の機関としての詩話会を運営したが、同会の解散とともに『椎(しい)の木』を創刊（1926）して新人を育成した。1932年（昭和7）ごろから児童自由詩や作文教育の指導にあたり、42年日本少国民文化協会の顧問となる。第二次世界大戦後は疎開先の札幌で『辺疆人(へんきょうじん)』を刊行。のち千葉県に移住。

［古川清彦］

『『日本の詩22　近代詩集（2）』（1979・集英社）』▽『『日本近代文学大系54　近代詩集（2）』（1973・角川書店）』

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