Akashi Kaijin

Kaijin Akashi was the pen name of Shōtarō Noda (, 5 July 1901 – 9 June 1939), a Japanese poet whose writing was inspired by his diagnosis of leprosy and confinement to a leper colony.

Early life Akashi was born in Numazu, Shizuoka prefecture on 5 July 1901. He was the third son of a farmer. At the age of twenty, he graduated from Shizuoka Normal School with a license to teach elementary school. He worked as a teacher until 1926. which stood in what is now Nishi-ku, Kobe. When this facility closed in 1932, he was moved to the leper colony Nagashima Aiseien Sanatorium.

Akashi's health deteriorated as a result of his condition, and in autumn of 1936, he went blind. On 11 November 1938, he underwent a tracheotomy as a result of difficulty in breathing. It sold over 250,000 copies and drew significant attention to the plight of leprosy patients in Japan. Hakubyō was a bittersweet work, exploring Akashi's grief over his condition and the loneliness that stemmed from his lengthy mandated isolation, as well as his eventual view that his condition was a gift enabling him to experience beauty and insight beyond the physical world. Four monuments honoring Akashi were erected in his home town of Numazu in 2001. (Akaishi Kaijin zenshū). 2 vols. Tokyo: Kaizōsha, 1941.. New edition. , et al, eds. (Kaijin zenshū). 3 vols. Tokyo: Koseisha, 1993.. Hiroto Uchida, ed. (Akaishi Kaijin zenkashū). Tokyo: Tanka-shinbun-sha, 1978.. , ed. (Akashi Kaijin kashū). Tokyo: Iwanami, 2012. .