Shinkichi Ito, a prize-winning poet and critic known for his writing on his mentor Sakutaro Hagiwara (1886-1942), died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital on Saturday, his family said. He was 95.
Ito, a native of Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, began writing poetry at 18 under the direction of Hagiwara, and later published the poetry journal "School," along with other writers, including Shimpei Kusano (1903-1988).
Ito participated in the proletarian literature movement and concentrated on poetry studies after World War II while working as a reporter for the Jomo Shimbun newspaper in Gunma Prefecture. He received numerous literary prizes.
Ito took a humorous view of growing old in a book of poetry published late last year and received a prize for the work.
He was head of the Japan Poet Association and first director of the Gunma Prefectural Museum of Literature in Commemoration of Bummei Tsuchiya (1890-1990).