Literary Career
After Ikuma's return to Japan in 1910, he joined the Shirakaba literary circle and participated in production of the first issue their literary magazine. He published new-style poems and short stories in the magazine, and used it as a vehicle to introduce the works of the French impressionist painter Paul Cézanne to the Japanese public.
In 1913, he published his first short story anthology, Komori no gotoku ("Like a Bat"), in which he exhibits a harmony between his intuition as a painter and his sensitivity as a poet. In 1914, he suggested the addition of a second oil painting section to the Ministry of Education's annual Exhibition of Fine Arts, but this was turned down. Instead, he founded the Nikakai ("Second Division Society") Exhibition with Ishii Hakutei and Tsuda Seifu as a rival to the official government exhibition.
In addition to his painting, he wrote novels, including Nan-o no Hi ("Days in Southern Europe") and Uso no Hate ("The End of a Lie"). He is also noted for his essay, Bijutsu no Aki ("Autumn of Fine Arts") and for translation of the recollections of Cézanne from French to Japanese.
Ikuma lived in his father's cottage at Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture from 1893 to 1895; then took up residence in Kamakura permanently from 1920 until his death in 1974. His grave is at the Kamakura Reien Cemetery.
His house at Inamuragasaki, Kamakura has been physically moved to Shinano-Shinmachi in Nagano prefecture, where it now houses the Arishima Ikuma Memorial Museum.
Read more about this topic: Ikuma Arishima
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