This book examines and re-imagines the turbulent and intertwined lives of Akiko Yosano (1878-1942) and Tekkan Yosano (1873-1935), two poets who sparked a revolution in the world of Japanese 'tanka' (short-verse classical poetry).

Born in provincial Sakai, in the Osaka prefecture, the young Akiko defied expectation to become a female poet, a calling through which she met Tekkan Yosano, the figurehead poet of the iconic literary journal 'Myojo' and who would eventually become her husband. The author explores the effect of their passionate and at times tormented relationship on their...