How Takuboku Ishikawa’s Works have been Received around the World

Donald Keene has praised Takuboku’s diary for its commitment to telling the truth. However, only Takuboku’s poems and Tankas have been introduced to a wide audience, having been translated into 19 languages. In particular, his poem “End of Endless Discussion”, which has a social dimension, and his Tankas, which are nostalgic and deal with conventional topics, were among the first of his works to be translated. As Keene points out, Takuboku’s work has been positively received across time periods, ethnicities, and borders because of its commitment to “truth over beauty.”