Isamu Yoshii Born in the Shiba Takanawa area in Tokyo. As a talented songwriter, Yoshii began his career when he took part in the making of the song "Myojo" for the newspaper, Shinshisha, after dropping out of Waseda University. He was also involved in the production of Mori Ogai's "Subaru" and with Hakushu Kitahara, he formed "Pan no Kai," a group which based themselves on ideas of the aesthetic school, Tanbiha. In 1909, Yoshi put out the first edition of "Subaru" with Takuboku Ishikawa. He also wrote poem collections such as "Sake Hogahi" (1910), Gion Jishu (1915) and Gion Soshi (1917). His style vivdly depicted the ambience of Gion and the joys of sorrows of life. Yoshi was also a writer of short novels, an essayist and a modern translator of stories in classical Japanese. In 1955, a commemorative monument with an inscription of one of his poems was erected for his 70th birthday. Today, many gather each year on November 8th in a carnival-like fashion in the Gion area in memory of Yoshii. BACK