Poetry Kanto journal's origins can be traced back to the founding of the Kanto Poetry Center in 1968 by Professor Emeritus William I. Elliott, when he proposed a four-fold center to be housed at Kanto Gakuin University—the first of its kind and scope in Japan, to include a library of contemporary poetry, a poetry journal, regular poetry readings in the university, and an annual poetry conference. The Center, modeled after American counterparts, was originally directed by Kanto Gakuin's Prof. Naoyuki Yagyū and his colleagues, Kazuo Kawamura and William I. Elliott, and has over the years sought, in Elliott's words, "to promote the
1923 Great Kantō earthquake committed In the wake of the earthquake against thousands of ethnic Korean civilians (Zainichi) and Japanese socialists. The murders were carried out by right-wing groups such as elements of the Imperial Japanese Army, police and vigilantes in Tokyo and Yokohama. This earthquake devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, and the surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region. The earthquake's force was so great that in Kamakura, over from the epicenter, it moved the Great Buddha statue, which weighs about , almost two feet. Estimated casualties totaled about 142,800 deaths, including about