Highly Anticipated First Essay Collection by Poet Kon Ito, 'The Huge Star Inside Me', Exploring 'Words and Creation', Released on April 15!
Poplar Publishing Co., Ltd. released the first essay collection by popular Tanka poet Kon Ito, 'The Huge Star Inside Me', on April 15, 2026. The book explores her sincere thoughts on words and creation, receiving high praise from notable figures like Machi Tawara.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 15, 2026 at 20:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 15, 2026 at 11:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 10:35 (95h 3m after Collected)
Poplar Publishing Co., Ltd. released 'The Huge Star Inside Me' (Author: Kon Ito) on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Kon Ito has published three Tanka (Japanese short poetry) collections so far. Each has been reprinted four or more times, and her latest work, 'The Morning I Feel', has become highly popular, surpassing 10,000 copies sold. Ito's highly anticipated first essay collection is 'The Huge Star Inside Me'.
[Content Introduction]
'For me, creating Tanka is the act of writing out the "logic of my soul" into this world.'
This is the first essay collection by the acclaimed poet, earnestly writing about 'words and creation' while interweaving her own personality and experiences of not fitting in well with society. The book includes the much-talked-about short serialization, plus 20 newly written essays such as 'The Day I Started Tanka', 'The Distance Between Cannot Write and Can Write', and 'Writing the Truth'.
The content strongly encourages those who wish to create Tanka or essays, and it also contains points of deep empathy for those who feel the difficulties of living in modern society.
The book design is by Asuka Wakita. Wakita has also been in charge of the design for Ito's past three Tanka collections.
The cover and interior illustrations are by Daisuke Kondo, an artist immensely popular for his sculptures and drawings.
[Recommended by Machi Tawara and Moka Kamishiraishi!]
We received recommendation comments from Machi Tawara, who inspired Ito to start writing Tanka, and Moka Kamishiraishi, who has been an avid reader of Ito's Tanka for a long time.
'I was captivated by the words that catch the discrepancies with the world with all their might. Her stance is not glamorous at all (and I mean that as a compliment), but deeply endearing.'
— Machi Tawara
'Round, transparent, yet certainly burning—a beautifully colored spirit of rebellion. If I were words, I would want to be woven by Kon.'
— Moka Kamishiraishi
[Selected Excerpts from the Book]
When making Tanka, I sometimes mention honesty and earnestness as things I value.
Honesty means not being swallowed by the likeness of something you have seen somewhere before. It means not forcing the emotions and images that exist before words inside you into existing expressions and distorting them. It means choosing what feels right to the heart over the superficial novelty of expression.
And earnestness is the fact that you definitely and strongly hold those feelings and images. Whether you want to show them to others or not, it is the strong feeling of wanting to put them into words and bring them outside of your body. I think that is a close explanation.
I am not aiming for honest and earnest poems. I believe those two are the important keys to producing high-quality 'simplicity'. When they combine with my natural vocabulary and rhythm, a poem emerges out of nowhere, like a glass bead tumbling out—a completely unique poem that has nothing special about it, yet possesses an undeniable reality and a charm that you never tire of. (From 'What Creates Simplicity')
For the past few years, I have been thinking about the soul. Because I think my soul is deeply related to my own field. For me, the soul lies even deeper than the mind, and it has neither emotion nor intelligence. It doesn't particularly grow as I age; it just exists there and usually does nothing. However, at crucial moments, it strongly guides my life. The soul does not waver like the mind, nor does it make wrong choices.
For me, creating Tanka is the act of writing out the logic of my soul into this world. It's not so much about the content written in the Tanka itself, but rather about the worldview of the poem, which lies a little deeper. The logic of the mind can be expressed in prose, but the logic of the soul cannot. Every time I complete a Tanka, the logic accumulates little by little, truly little by little. There are many poems that I look back on and think were wrong, and conversely, there are poems whose brilliance I only realize later. Through tens, hundreds of poems, making mistakes along the way, I am struggling to write out the logic of my own soul. (From 'Logic of the Soul')
[Author Profile]
Kon Ito
Poet. Born in 1993. From Hino City, Tokyo. Started making Tanka in 2016. In 2019, she self-published the Tanka collection 'Transparent Feelings Flowing on the Skin', and in 2020, 'Filling Arms', which generated much buzz. In 2022, new editions of both works were published simultaneously by Tanka Kenkyu-sha. In 2023, she published the Tanka collection 'The Morning I Feel' (Nanaroku-sha). In addition to publishing books, she takes turns creating works in a 'relay' format...
Kon Ito has published three Tanka (Japanese short poetry) collections so far. Each has been reprinted four or more times, and her latest work, 'The Morning I Feel', has become highly popular, surpassing 10,000 copies sold. Ito's highly anticipated first essay collection is 'The Huge Star Inside Me'.
[Content Introduction]
'For me, creating Tanka is the act of writing out the "logic of my soul" into this world.'
This is the first essay collection by the acclaimed poet, earnestly writing about 'words and creation' while interweaving her own personality and experiences of not fitting in well with society. The book includes the much-talked-about short serialization, plus 20 newly written essays such as 'The Day I Started Tanka', 'The Distance Between Cannot Write and Can Write', and 'Writing the Truth'.
The content strongly encourages those who wish to create Tanka or essays, and it also contains points of deep empathy for those who feel the difficulties of living in modern society.
The book design is by Asuka Wakita. Wakita has also been in charge of the design for Ito's past three Tanka collections.
The cover and interior illustrations are by Daisuke Kondo, an artist immensely popular for his sculptures and drawings.
[Recommended by Machi Tawara and Moka Kamishiraishi!]
We received recommendation comments from Machi Tawara, who inspired Ito to start writing Tanka, and Moka Kamishiraishi, who has been an avid reader of Ito's Tanka for a long time.
'I was captivated by the words that catch the discrepancies with the world with all their might. Her stance is not glamorous at all (and I mean that as a compliment), but deeply endearing.'
— Machi Tawara
'Round, transparent, yet certainly burning—a beautifully colored spirit of rebellion. If I were words, I would want to be woven by Kon.'
— Moka Kamishiraishi
[Selected Excerpts from the Book]
When making Tanka, I sometimes mention honesty and earnestness as things I value.
Honesty means not being swallowed by the likeness of something you have seen somewhere before. It means not forcing the emotions and images that exist before words inside you into existing expressions and distorting them. It means choosing what feels right to the heart over the superficial novelty of expression.
And earnestness is the fact that you definitely and strongly hold those feelings and images. Whether you want to show them to others or not, it is the strong feeling of wanting to put them into words and bring them outside of your body. I think that is a close explanation.
I am not aiming for honest and earnest poems. I believe those two are the important keys to producing high-quality 'simplicity'. When they combine with my natural vocabulary and rhythm, a poem emerges out of nowhere, like a glass bead tumbling out—a completely unique poem that has nothing special about it, yet possesses an undeniable reality and a charm that you never tire of. (From 'What Creates Simplicity')
For the past few years, I have been thinking about the soul. Because I think my soul is deeply related to my own field. For me, the soul lies even deeper than the mind, and it has neither emotion nor intelligence. It doesn't particularly grow as I age; it just exists there and usually does nothing. However, at crucial moments, it strongly guides my life. The soul does not waver like the mind, nor does it make wrong choices.
For me, creating Tanka is the act of writing out the logic of my soul into this world. It's not so much about the content written in the Tanka itself, but rather about the worldview of the poem, which lies a little deeper. The logic of the mind can be expressed in prose, but the logic of the soul cannot. Every time I complete a Tanka, the logic accumulates little by little, truly little by little. There are many poems that I look back on and think were wrong, and conversely, there are poems whose brilliance I only realize later. Through tens, hundreds of poems, making mistakes along the way, I am struggling to write out the logic of my own soul. (From 'Logic of the Soul')
[Author Profile]
Kon Ito
Poet. Born in 1993. From Hino City, Tokyo. Started making Tanka in 2016. In 2019, she self-published the Tanka collection 'Transparent Feelings Flowing on the Skin', and in 2020, 'Filling Arms', which generated much buzz. In 2022, new editions of both works were published simultaneously by Tanka Kenkyu-sha. In 2023, she published the Tanka collection 'The Morning I Feel' (Nanaroku-sha). In addition to publishing books, she takes turns creating works in a 'relay' format...