Chuya Nakahara (1907-1937) was a master at using the 7-5 syllabic meter in the nontraditional, free-verse shi style. His birthplace, the city of Yamaguchi, has established the annual Chuya Nakahara Prize and a memorial library where his papers are collected to be preserved and available for research.
This year's Nakahara prize went to poet Arthur Binard for his "published collection of modern Japanese poetry deemed outstanding in its freshness of expression and feeling."
"Tsuriagete wa (Catch and Release)," published by Shichosha last fall, is already in its fourth printing, an amazing accomplishment for a debut volume of poems -- especially for someone who has lived in Japan only 10 years.