was a poet and translator of French literature in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. He is credited with introducing French surrealism to Japanese poetry, and to translating the works of over 66 French authors into Japanese. Early life Horiguchi was born in the Hongō neighborhood of Tokyo. His father, Horiguchi Kumaichi was the son of ex-samurai from Echigo and a career diplomat with the Foreign Ministry who was the Japanese consul at Incheon during the First Sino-Japanese War. Horiguchi attended the Literature Department of Keio University, but never graduated (which is rather ironic, since his given name "Daigaku" is written with the same kanji as "university", and came from the fact that his father was still a student at Tokyo Imperial University when he was born). Even prior to entering the university, he was a member of the Shinshisha (The New Poetry Society) and contributing tanka poetry to Subaru (Pleiades) and other literary magazines, such as Mita Bungaku. Under the encouragement of Tekkan Yosano and his wife Akiko Yosano he also began to write other types of verse. In 1911, Horiguchi left school to accompany his father on overseas postings and during the next 14 years overseas he became fluent in French (assisted by his Belgian stepmother) and interested in French literature, particularly the novels and poetry of the Symbolist movement. He first spent over a year in Mexico, where he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, causing Horiguchi to abandon his father's hope that he become a diplomat, and he devoted his time to writing verse and translation of French works instead. He was in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, and it was also during this time that he was drawn to Parnassianism as a style of verse. In 1913, the family relocated to Belgium, via Siberia. While in Belgium, he studied the works of Paul Verlaine and the works of the Symbolist movement, including the works of Remy de Gourmont. He subsequently lived for brief periods in Spain, Paris, Brazil and Romania and maintained correspondence with Marie Laurencin and Thomas Mann, whose works he also translated while recuperating at a sanatorium in Switzerland. Pre-war career In 1919, Horiguchi published his first anthology of verse, Gekko to Pierrot (Moonlight and Pierrot), and a book of waka verse, Pan no fue (Pan pipes). On returning to Japan in 1925, he brought out a collection of poems Gekka no ichigun, which introduced the