In 1909, he became one of the founding members of the literary magazine, "Subaru" (The Pleiades), where he published his first collection of verses, "Jashumon" (Heretics), which took the poetic world by storm. Through the use of its rich imagery and innovative structure, it (along with Yosano Akiko's "Midaregami"), is credited by critics with having set a new baseline for modern Japanese poetry. Kitahara's initial success was followed by "Omoide" (Memories, 1912), in which he evokes memories of the world from a child's perspective.