was a Japanese-born poet from the Nara Prefecture

Nara Prefecture

is a prefecture in the Kansai region on Honshū Island, Japan. The capital is the city of Nara.-History:The present-day Nara Prefecture was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture....

 of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Early in life, he began work in Dalian, China where he developed gangrene

Gangrene

Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...

and subsequently lost his arm. Anzai was one of the founding fathers of the magazine Shi To Shiron (or, Poetry and Poetics). He published several anthologies, including Gunkan Mari (The Battleship Mari) and Ajia no Kanko (The Asian Salt Lake). Other works by Anzai include: Dattan Kaikyô to Chô (Butterflies and the Mongolian Strait, 1947) and Zaseru Tôgyûshi (The Sitting Matador, 1949).