Kikuoka Kuri

Kikuoka Kuri (菊岡 久利,, March 8, 1909 – April 22, 1970) was the pen-name of a Japanese author of poetry and novels active in Showa period Japan. His real name was Takagi Michinokuo.

Biography

Kiukoka was born in Hirosaki city, Aomori prefecture. His grandfather was from the samurai class and was an official in the Tsugaru Domain. Interested in literature from an early age, he dropped out of high school (where he was studying the Russian language, and became a disciple of Ozaki Kihachi. Politically, he was also drawn to the anarchist movement.

In the post-World War II era, he worked for Radio Tokyo, and later at Daiei Movie Studios as a producer, and cooperated extensively with noted author Yokomitsu Riichi. In 1947, he also joined Takami Jun's literary criticism circle, Nihon Miraiha ("Japan's Future Society"). He also began writing novels. His novel, Osurubeki Kodomotachi ("Frightening Children") was nominated for the prestigious Naoki Award in 1949.