Life Seiichi Niikuni

1 life

1.1 time in sendai
1.2 moving tokyo , zero-on
1.3 founding of asa , international attention
1.4 later years

life

kawa mata wa shū (1966) displayed wall poem in leiden, netherlands


time in sendai

niikuni born on december 7, 1925 in sendai, miyagi prefecture, japan. entered sendai technical school (now sendai technical high school) , studied architecture. after graduating high school, entered tohoku gakuin university study english literature , graduated there in 1951.

in 1952 began career poet in earnest joining circle published poetry magazine hyōga (氷河, lit. glacier ). in fifth issue of magazine, published first poem called urei wo paipu ni tsumete (うれいをパイプにつめて).

in 1960 left hyōga , joined bungei tōhoku (文芸東北). motifs , audiovisual presentation later become famous for, seen in works submitted bungei tōhoku. @ same time contributor kahoku shimpo (河北新報 kahoku shinpō) newspaper. titled poet , painter @ time.

moving tokyo , zero-on

in 1962, niikuni publish magazine called tama (球) 2 other poets met while contributing bungei tōhoku. same year, in fall remarked people in sendai don t understand , decided move tokyo. worked while @ design studio, , moved on work nhk art department. married painter kiyo miura (三浦喜代 miura kiyo) same year.

in 1963 published poetry anthology zero-on (0音). limited run of 300 copies, ordinary , simplistic book of no more 48 pages. title zero-on picked wife kiyo list of several candidate names.

founding of asa , international attention

in 1964, niikuni participated in e. e. cummings study group held in yukinobu kagiya s house, , met yasuo fujitomi while there. on june 4, established association called association of study of arts or asa (芸術研究協会 geijutsu kenkyū kyōkai) fujitomi objective of exploring , experimenting concrete poetry. published namesake magazine asa , in introduced both japanese , foreign concrete poetry, , translated poems haroldo de campos japanese. fujitomi introduce brazilian concrete poetry group noigandres (es) member luis carlos vinholes niikuni, , vinholes in turn introduced french poet pierre garnier (fr) niikuni. niikuni later send zero-on garnier.

in 1966, niikuni , garnier published collective poetry work called nichifutsu shishū (日仏詩集) in france. furthermore, in 1969 asked , displayed works @ german visual poetry exhibition @ kunstsammlung nordrhein-westfalen. requests abroad display works kept increasing, , niikuni gradually started set sights on foreign exhibitions. in 1974, held one-man exhibition @ whitechapel art gallery in london.

later years

from age, niikuni had chest ailments , worried health. reportedly happy reach age of 50, succumb sudden illness 2 years later on august 23, 1977. died in home in tokyo @ age of 52 (kazoedoshi). publication of asa came end, seventh issue published in 1974 remaining last issue.