Influential Japanese avant-garde haiku poet Tota Kaneko dies at 98

Tota Kaneko, who led Japan's postwar haiku poetry reform movement with his avant-garde style, died Tuesday night due to respiratory failure at a hospital in Saitama Prefecture, his family said. He was 98.A graduate of the University of Tokyo, Kaneko studied under poet Shuson Kato (1905-1993) and continued composing haiku while working at the Bank of Japan. As a war veteran, he actively advocated peace in later life, talking about his tragic wartime experiences.Kaneko gained the attention of his literary peers at age 18 when he wrote his first haiku, having become fascinated with the poetic …READ FULL ARTICLE