Born Kawahata Shōichi on December 9, 1893 in Osaka, Hirato Renkichi attended Sophia University in Tokyo for three years before dropping out and attending Gyosei Gakkō to study Italian. He started writing poetry in 1912, first publishing in Bansō (Accompaniment) under the guidance of Kawaji Ryūkō. His Japanese Futurist poems and manifestos appeared in numerous coterie journals in Japan, including Gendaishiika (Modern Poetry), Taimatsu (Torchlight), Nihonshijin (Japanese Poet), among others. Although he worked at Hōchi Shimbun News and Chūō Geijutsu Art Publishing, he suffered from tuberculosis, often failing to make ends meet for his common-law wife and child due to medical expenses. He passed away on July 20, 1922 in Tokyo.


All loanwords are italicized to reflect the use of katakana in the original. —Sho Sugita