Born the son of a wealthy engineer in Fukushima Prefecture, Sugiyama studied art history at the University of Tokyo, and it was at that time that he was discovered by the poet Tatsuji Miyoshi.
[2] After graduating, he founded the literary journal Osaka bungaku with Sakunosuke Oda.
[2] His father's factory, however, burned down during World War II and Sugiyama had to give up his creative activities in order to rebuild the family business, an endeavor that ended in failure in 1956 when the company had to declare bankruptcy after a series of labor conflicts and natural disasters.
[3] His poetry has been termed "short and crisp, witty, more visual than musical, philosophical and even metaphysical – without losing touch with day-to-day reality.
"[3] He won the Gendai Shijin Award at age 97 in March 2012,[4] two months before his death of pneumonia.