Akiko Yosano

Yosano, Akiko (ä'kē'kō yō'sä'nō), 1878-1942, Japanese poet, activist, and critic. Best known for passionately romantic verse, she infused the classic tanka poetic form with new life and a heady sensuality. Yosano and her husband Tekkan Yosano, also a poet, published the literary journal Myôjô, which introduced a number of poets of the contemporary Japanese romantic movement to the literary public. A prominent pacifist and feminist, Yosano spoke out against the Sino-Japanese war and the growing nationalistic fervor of the times. She later founded a woman's college, the Bunka Gakuin.