Gan Tanigawa

Gan Tanigawa was a Japanese poet, critic, and social activist. He is best known for his work with the poetry group.

Early life and education Tanigawa was born Iwao Tanigawa on December 25, 1923 in Minamata, Kumamoto. He was born the second of six children. His siblings include and . He entered Tokyo Imperial University in 1942. He was a student conscript in the military during World War II, but returned to the university and finished his degree in 1945. In 1947 Tanigawa joined the Japanese Communist Party. He published his first volume of poetry in 1954, then another in 1956 and 1960. In 1958 he moved to the Chikuhō region with Kazue Morisaki and and founded a poetry group and journal called .

Tanigawa left the Communist Party during the Anpo protests. Often his work focused on the local level, with hopes of that change then making an impact on a larger scale. In 1962 he tried to start a school with , , and , but it failed. His writing style has been called "magical, but highly conceptual".

Tanigawa died of lung cancer on February 2, 1995 in Kawasaki.