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Leza Lowitz

リーザ・ロウィッツ

Rīza Rouwittsu

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1962-12-29 （San Francisco, California, USA）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English, Japanese
Religion
Vajrayana Buddhism
Residence History
San Francisco / Berkeley, USA → Tokyo, Japan → American Southwest, USA

Career

Occupations
Writer, Poet, Translator, Editor, Yoga teacher, Mindfulness teacher, Lecturer
Active Years
1984-
Affiliations
Sun and Moon Yoga (owner), Kyoto Journal (Contributing Editor)
Influenced By
Stan Rice, Robert Hass, Donald Richie

Education

Berkeley High School
Degree: High School Diploma
Period: 〜1980
Year of Graduation: 1980
Country: United States
New York University (attended)
School of Dramatic Writing
Period: 在籍（およそ2年間）
Country: United States
Attended for two years before transferring to U.C. Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
English Literature
Degree: B.A.
Period: 〜1984
Year of Graduation: 1984
Country: United States
Received B.A. in English Literature
San Francisco State University
Creative Writing
Degree: M.A.
Period: 〜1988
Year of Graduation: 1988
Country: United States
M.A. in creative writing; taught briefly after graduation

Awards

APALA Award in Young Adult Literature
Work: Jet Black and the Ninja Wind
Category: ヤングアダルト
Organization: Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA)
Result: 受賞
Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature
2003
Work: America and Other Poems (as translator)
Category: 翻訳
Organization: Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Columbia University
Result: 受賞
International PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Best Book of Poetry
Category: 詩
Organization: International PEN Oakland
Result: 受賞
Bay Area Independent Publisher's Association Award
Organization: Bay Area Independent Publisher's Association
Result: 受賞
Benjamin Franklin Award for Editorial Excellence
Work: A Long Rainy Season (editor)
Organization: Independent Book Publishers
Result: 受賞
PEN Syndicated Fiction Award
Organization: PEN
Result: 受賞
Translation Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts
Category: 翻訳フェローシップ
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: 受領
California Arts Council Individual Fellowship
Organization: California Arts Council
Result: 受領
National Endowment for the Humanities Independent Scholar Fellowship
Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities
Result: 受領
Copperfield's Dickens Fiction Award
Organization: Copperfield's
Result: 受賞
Barbara Deming Memorial Award in the Novel
Organization: Barbara Deming Memorial Fund
Result: 受賞
Japanophile Fiction Award
Organization: Japanophile
Result: 受賞
Tokyo Journal Fiction Translation Award
Work: Leipzig of Light and Color (by Tawada Yoko; co-translator)
Category: 翻訳
Organization: Tokyo Journal
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By

2001 Poetry / Spiritual

A collection of poems structured around the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, blending personal spiritual inquiry with yogic practice; lyrical and meditative.

SpiritualityYogaPersonal inquiryHealing
Translations
  • French edition
  • Japanese edition
  • Persian edition

America and Other Poems (translation)

2008 Poetry (translation)

Co-translation of modern Japanese poet Ayukawa Nobuo's war poems, addressing war and personal memory.

WarMemoryTranslation

A Long Rainy Season: Contemporary Japanese Women's Poetry

1994 Poetry (anthology / editor)

A groundbreaking anthology translating contemporary Japanese women poets into English, introducing haiku, tanka and free verse to Western readers.

WomenGenderTranslationCultural introduction

Other Side River: Free Verse

1995 Poetry (anthology / editor)

Volume II focusing on contemporary Japanese women free-verse poets, presenting a diverse and politically/socially aware collection in English.

WomenFree verseSocial awareness

The Japan Journals 1947-2004 (editor)

2004 Journals / Editor

Edited collection of Donald Richie's journals spanning postwar Japan, containing encounters with major cultural figures and essays on film and literature.

Postwar JapanCultural historyMemoir

Bibliography

  • Jet Black and the Winds of Darkness (co-authored)
  • Awakened Heart: The Prince Who Became The Light
  • Virtuous Heart: Twelve Buddhist Stories to Awaken and Inspire
  • Manoa Journal: Mountain/Home (editor)
  • Up from the Sea
  • Here Comes the Sun: A Journey to Adoption in 8 Chakras
  • Jet Black and the Ninja Wind (co-authored)
  • Yoga Heart: Lines on the Six Perfections
  • America and Other Poems (translation)
  • Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By
  • Sacred Sanskrit Words: For Yoga, Chant and Meditation
  • The Japan Journals 1947-2004 (editor)
  • Designing with Kanji: Japanese Character Motifs for Surface, Skin & Spirit
  • Violet Obsession (co-translation)
  • A Long Rainy Season: Contemporary Japanese Women's Poetry (editor)
  • Other Side River: Contemporary Japanese Women's Poetry (editor)
  • Manoa Journal: Silence to Light: Japan and the Shadows of War (editor)
  • Manoa Journal: Towards A Literature of the Periphery (editor)
  • Japan: Spirit and Form (co-translation)
  • Beautiful Japan: A Souvenir
  • Green Tea to Go: Short Stories from Tokyo
  • 100 Aspects of the Moon: Poems
  • Old Ways to Fold New Paper

Adaptations

  • From A Silk Cocoon (documentary; featured translated haiku)

Translations by Author

  • Co-translator of Ayukawa Nobuo's America and Other Poems (with Shogo Oketani)
  • Co-translator of Yayoi Kusama's Violet Obsession
  • Co-translation of tanka collections (e.g., Akitsu Ei)

Translations of Works

  • Yoga Poems: French, Japanese and Persian editions

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Lyrical, meditative styleBalancing translational fidelity with poetic freedomCross-cultural (Japan–U.S.) perspective
Recurring Motifs
Place and displacementConcept of homeWar and reconciliationWomen's voices and experiencesSpiritual quest and yoga

Legacy

Lowitz has played a key role in bringing contemporary Japanese literature to English-speaking audiences as an editor and translator, and uniquely bridges poetry with yoga and mindfulness teaching. Her papers are archived at the University of Chicago Special Collections.

Academic Societies

  • APALA (Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association)
  • International PEN Oakland

Archives

  • University of Chicago Special Collections (Guide to the Leza Lowitz Papers 1982-2005)

In Popular Culture

  • Contributions to numerous international literary and mainstream outlets (The Huffington Post, The New York Times online, Yoga Journal, etc.)

Quotes

  • My writing explores the idea of place, displacement and what 'home' means.
    Source: Interview / author profile

Trivia

  • Longtime owner of the Sun and Moon Yoga studio in Tokyo.
  • Married to writer/translator Shogo Oketani.
  • Studied with poets Stan Rice and Robert Hass.
  • Completed a seven-year intensive Vajrayana Buddhist program in 2013.