Masao Kume ( 久 米 正雄 Kume Masao , November 23, 1891 - March 1, 1952) is a Japanese writer, playwright, and author of Hoku . The peak of his literary activity occurred in the 1930s.
| Masao Kume | |
|---|---|
| Japanese 久 米 正雄 ( Kume Masao ) | |
 | |
| Aliases | Santei (Hokku) |
| Date of Birth | November 23, 1891 |
| Place of Birth | Ueda , Pref. Nagano |
| Date of death | March 1, 1952 (aged 60) |
| Place of death | Kamakura , pref. Kanagawa |
| Citizenship | Japan |
| Occupation | writer, playwright, author of hokku |
| Language of Works | Japanese |
Born in the city of Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, in the family of a school teacher who committed suicide in 1897, after which the family moved to Koriyama. Hokku began writing in elementary school, in 1914 he published his first collection of poetry, but since 1916 he switched his work mainly to drama, in the same year published his first novel. He graduated from the literary faculty of Tokyo Imperial University, after which he joined the literary circle of Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Kikuchi Kana, who published the literary magazine 新 思潮 ("New Flow of Thought"). In 1923 he moved from Tokyo to Kamakura, where he lived until the end of his life.
In 1933, he was arrested along with several other writers for participating in illegal gambling. Throughout the late 1920s and 1930s he was considered one of the most famous and respected writers of Japan, but of all his work, small stories achieved the greatest success. Most of his life suffered from high blood pressure and died of cerebral hemorrhage. In Kamakura, he installed a bronze statue.