Chuya Nakahara (1907–1937) was the coddled eldest son of an army physician in western Honshu. When he was eight, the death of his brother Tsuguro spurred him to begin writing poetry. In Kyoto he encountered the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud and other French Symbolists, which he translated, and which profoundly influenced his own poetry. He soon moved to Tokyo and became active in literary circles. His first poetry collection, Goat Songs was published in 1932 but sold only fifty copies. His second collection, Songs of Bygone Days, was published in 1938, shortly after his death at age thirty from tuberculosis. His poems gained great acclaim after the war and were later published in a six-volume collection.

Christian Nagle, PhD, is a poet, musician and filmmaker. His award-winning work has appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Raritan, Subtropics, AGNI, and other leading publications. For more than two decades he has divided his time between Tokyo and Alexandria, Virginia, translating the poetry of Chuya Nakahara and co-directing The Brothers Murasaki film group, whose documentaries about Japanese culture include Carriers and Six Beats to Heaven.

Mikiro Sasaki is a poet and leading authority on Chuya Nakahara. He is the editor of Chuya's collected works and the author of Chuya Nakahara: The Music of Silence, as well as over ten volumes of poetry, essays and criticism.