yutaka matsuzawa was born february 2, 1922 and grew up in shimosuwa, nagano in mountainous central japan. he studied architecture from 1943–1946 at waseda university in tokyo, but gave it up to return home and focus on poetry and art. from 1955 to 1957, he stayed in the united states on a fulbright fellowship as well as a japan society fellowship, where he studied philosophy and religion at columbia university in new york.