Contents
Abe Kōbō (March 7, 1924 - January 22, 1993)
Novelist born in Tokyo whose real name is sometimes given as Abe Kimifusa, although "Kōbō" is the reading found in the family register. Abe grew up in Shinyou (Hōten in Japanese), China, where his father was a doctor at the University of Manchuria Hospital. In 1943, he started medical school at Tokyo University, returning temporarily to Manchuria as World War II approached its end and losing his father to an outbreak of typhoid fever. This firsthand experience of the breakdown of traditional Japanese authority seems to have given rise to a feeling of skepticism out of which grew an overriding desire to find the meaning of human existence. Abe spent some time with his father’s family in Hokkaido before returning to Tokyo, ostensibly to resume his studies but also working as a peddler and forming friendships with Haniya Yutaka, Hanada Kiyoteru, and Noma Hiroshi. He published Mumei shishū (A Nameless Anthology, 1947) at his own expense while still technically a student and gave up medicine altogether as soon as he graduated in 1948, joining the group of writers affiliated with the magazine Kindai Bungaku (Modern Literature). Abe’s literary career can be said to have gotten its official start with the publication of Owarishi michi no shirube ni (The Marker at the End of the Road, 1948), which relies on surrealistic techniques to explore the reasons for human existence, as does the story Dendurokakariya (Dendrocacaria, 1949), which is about a man’s transformation into a plant. Abe gained critical attention with Akai mayu (The Red Cocoon, 1950), another story about human metamorphosis, and then won the Akutagawa Prize in 1951 for Kabe: S. Caruma-shi no hanzai (The Wall: Mr S. Carma’s Crime). Abe went on to achieve a worldwide reputation for such works as Dai-yon kanpyōki (Inter Ice Age 4, 1959), Ishi no me (Eyes of Stone, 1960), Suna no onna (The Woman in the Dunes, 1962), Tanin no kao (The Face of Another, 1964), and Moetsukita chizu (The Ruined Map, 1967). Further fictional studies of the sources of human anxiety include Hako otoko (The Box Man, 1973) and Hakobune Sakuramaru (The Ark Sakura, 1984). Abe also wrote such avant-garde plays as Tomodachi (Friends, 1967) and Doreigari (Slave Hunt, 1975), and he may perhaps be considered Japan’s first successful literary modernist, in some ways presaging the contemporary themes and attention-grabbing, non-traditionalist techniques of Murakami Haruki.
Aeba Takao (b. January 27, 1930)
Literary critic born in Shiga Prefecture. He made his debut with Sengo bungaku ron (Postwar Literature, 1966), which was based on his experiences during and after the war. This was followed by a reading of Western literature and culture entitled Ishi to hikari no shisō (The Philosophy of Stone and Light, 1971), and then such works of criticism as Hanrekishishugi no bungaku (Anti-historical Literature,1972), Zettai e no katsubō (Thirst for the Absolute, 1972) and Furansu romanesuku (French Romanesque, 1999) that continue to investigate the possibility of defining a modern Japanese epistemology.
Agawa Hiroyuki (b. December 24, 1920)
Novelist born in Hiroshima Prefecture. While a high school student, he came under the influence of Shiga Naoya. After graduating from Tokyo University in Japanese literature, he entered the navy, in which he served until the end of World War II. Agawa achieved recognition as a novelist for Nennen saisai (Years upon Years, 1946), in which he described losing his home in Hiroshima because of the atomic bomb. In 1955 he published Kumo no bohyō (Grave Marker in the Clouds), depicting students who met their deaths during the war as kamikaze pilots. Other works include Haru no shiro (Spring Castle, 1952) and Yamamoto Isoroku (1965).
Akagawa Jirō (b. February 29, 1948)
Novelist born in Fukuoka, Kyushu. After working as a businessman for ten years, he made his literary debut in 1976 with the short story Yūrei ressha (Ghost Train), which won the All Yomiuri New Mystery Writers' Prize. He gained popularity as a mystery writer because of his imagistic touch, suspenseful plot development, and unusual ideas. He has produced numerous works, most notably those in the Mike-neko (Tortoiseshell Cat) Holmes series.
Anzai Fuyue (March 9, 1898 - August 24, 1965)
Poet from Nara Prefecture. Lost his right arm to gangrene while working in Dalian, China. He subsequently became a member of the coterie that produced the magazine Shi to shiron (Poetry and Poetics), and published anthologies titled Gunkan Mari (The Battleship Mari, 1929) and Ajia no kanko (The Asian Salt Lake, 1933). Both works are characterized by a structure based on a nonrealistic associative process; Anzai liked to refer to himself as a man who "tamed the demon of analogy." He returned to Japan in 1934 and published Dattan kaikyō to chō (Butterflies and the Mongolian Strait, 1947) and Zaseru tōgyūshi (The Sitting Matador, 1949).
Ariyoshi Sawako (January 26, 1931 - August 30, 1984)
Novelist from Wakayama Prefecture. Made her debut with Jiuta (Song) in 1956 when she, along with other female authors like Sono Ayako, won a reputation as a saijo (woman of talent). Ariyoshi always broke new ground in her writing, producing a highly regarded series of novels on social themes beginning with Ki no kawa (The Ki River, 1959), portraying the complex relationship between past and present, Hanaoka Seishū no tsuma (The Wife of Hanaoka Seishū, 1966), an incisive study of female psychology, Kōkotsu no hito (Senility, 1972), and Fukugō osen (Compound Pollution, 1977).
Ayukawa Nobuo (August 23, 1920 - October 7, 1986)
Poet born as Kamimura Ryūichi in Tokyo, who along with Tamura Ryūichi, Kuroda Saburō and others founded the important magazine Arechi (The Wasteland) in 1947. His poetry and criticism are characterized by thematic diversity and a wide-ranging sensibility. His works include Ayukawa Nobuo shishū (Collected Poetry of Ayukawa Nobuo, 1955), Gendaishi to wa nani ka (What Is Modern Poetry?, 1949), and Ayukawa Nobuo shiron shū (Collected Essays on Poetry, 1964).
Dazai Osamu (June 19, 1909 - June 13, 1948)
Endō Shūsaku (March 27, 1923 - September 29, 1996)
Novelist born in Tokyo; raised from 1926-33 in Dalien, China. Endo's aunt had him baptized as a Catholic when he was 10 years old, and the experience became the main impulse behind his writing throughout his life. He entered the French department of Keio University, where he wrote critical works like Kattorittuku sakka no mondai (On Being a Catholic Writer, 1947), turning to the writing of fiction after a three-year period of study abroad in France from 1950-53. His Shiroi hito (White Man) received the 33rd Akutagawa Prize in 1955. Endō explored the relationship between Christianity and the Japanese in such subsequent works as Umi to dokuyaku (The Sea and Poison, 1957), Chinmoku (Silence, 1966), and Fukai kawa (Deep River, 1993). Under the pen name Korian Sanjin, he wrote a series of playful works with the word gūtara (idle, lazy) in the title that are assumed to have functioned as a kind of mask for his serious inner side. Other works include Shikai no hotori (By the Dead Sea, 1973), Iesu no shōgai (The Life of Jesus, 1973), Samurai (1983), Skyandaru (Scandal, 1986), and Onna (A Woman, 1995).
Etō Jun (December 25, 1933 - July 21, 1999)
Real name, Egashira Atsuo. Literary critic born in Tokyo. Attended Keio University, where as a student in 1955 he published the first volume of his lifelong critical study of Natsume Sōseki. Much admired for bringing the idolized Sōseki down to human level, Etō also wrote biographies of Kobayashi Hideo and Katsu Kaishū, and produced a large volume of essays on current topics, written mostly from a conservative, nationalistic standpoint.
Fujino Chiya (b. February 27, 1962)
Novelist from Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu. Graduated from Chiba University and worked for a publishing company until 1995, when her Gogo no jikanwari (Afternoon Schedule) won the 14th Kaien Prize for New Writers. Oshaberi kaidan (A Chatty Ghost Story) received the 20th Noma Literary Prize for New Writers, and the 1999 story Natsu no yakusoku (Summer Promise) received the 122nd Akutagawa Prize.
Fujisawa Shū (b. January 10, 1959)
Native of Niigata City. Graduate of the Department of Japanese Literature, Hōsei University. Debuted in 1993 with Zōnu o hidari ni magare (Turn Left at the Zone). Worked until January 1996 as an editor at Tosho Shimbun. Lives in Kamakura.
Futabatei Shimei (February 28, 1864 - May 10, 1909)
Novelist born in Tokyo (some say in 1862) whose real name was Hasegawa Tatsunosuke. He entered the Russian language department at the Tokyo School of Foreign Languages in 1881. The strong political cast of Russian literature appealed to him, and Futabatei became absorbed in reading the criticism of Vissarion Belinsky. In 1886, soon after reading Tsubouchi Shōyō's Shōsetsu shinzui (The Essence of the Novel), he visited Shōyō and published his own theoretical work, Shōsetsu sōron (The Theory of the Novel, 1886), in which he argued that the truth behind visible phenomena can be revealed through imitation. His famous novel Ukigumo (The Drifting Cloud, 1887-89) was built upon this theory and is often called the first modern Japanese novel on the basis of its (comparatively) colloquial style and psychological realism. Futabatei, lacking confidence in his ability to write fiction, turned instead to translation, producing such admired versions of Turgenev's stories as Aibiki (The Rendezvous, from Sportsman's Sketches; 1888). Futabatei returned to fiction with the novel Sono omokage (In His Image) in 1906, and in 1907 began serialization of the autobiographically based Heibon (Mediocrity). Futabatei fell ill in 1908 while on assignment as a foreign correspondent in Russia with the Asahi Shinbun, and died the next year while returning to Japan. His grave is located in the Japanese graveyard in Singapore.
Gen Getsu (b. February 10, 1965)
Real name, Gen Minehide. Born in the city of Osaka. Self-employed after graduating from high school, won a minor literary award in 1998 for Ikyō no otoshigo (Born Out of Wedlock in a Foreign Land), and the same year was shortlisted for the Akutagawa Prize for Oppai (Breasts). His 1999 Kage no sumika (A Dwelling in the Shade) received the 122nd Akutagawa Prize.
Hanamura Mangetsu (b. February 5, 1955)
Real name, Yoshikawa Ichirō. Tokyo-born novelist who, after graduating from junior high school, traveled around Japan by motorcycle working at various jobs. Debuted in 1989 with Goddu bureisu monogatari (God Bless), which won the Shōsetsu Subaru Award for New Writers. Lives in Mitaka, Tokyo.
Hidaka Toshitaka (b. February 1930)
Tokyo-born critic who graduated from the Department of Engineering at Tokyo University. As a boy, he was fascinated by insects and animals, which eventually led to a lifelong career in the study of animal behavior. He was instrumental in founding the Japan Ethological Society in 1982. His many works include such titles as Chō wa naze tobu ka (Why Do Butterflies Fly?, 1998) and Dōbutsu wa nani o mezasu no ka (What Are Animals Aiming At?), which, based on his research into "systems of autonomous dispersion," have important implications for understanding human nature.
Higuchi Ichiyō (May 2, 1872 - November 25, 1896)
Novelist born in Tokyo whose real first name was Natsu. As a girl, Ichiyō enjoyed reading kusazōshi illustrated storybooks and, at the age of 14, she became a pupil at the Haginoya, a small school run by the tanka poet Nakajima Utako. Ichiyō’s father, Noriyoshi, died in 1889, leaving the family destitute. The following year, the Higuchis moved to Kikuzaka-chō in Tokyo’s Hongō district, although Ichiyō remained a boarder at Nakamura’s private school and took in laundry and sewing to help support her mother and younger sister. When Miyake Kahō, a fellow pupil at the Haginoya, published a successful novel entitled Yabu no uguisu (The Bush Warbler in the Thicket), Ichiyō decided that she, too, would try her hand at fiction and in 1891 apprenticed herself to the popular novelist Nakarai Tōsui. This led in 1892 to the publication of Ichiyō’s first story, Yamizakura (Cherry Blossoms at Dusk). The story was not well received, however, and Ichiyō soon broke off with Tōsui. She then published Umoregi (In Obscuirity, 1892) in the magazine Miyako no hana (Flower of the Capital), consciously imitating the style of Kōda Rohan in an attempt to break free of Nakarai’s influence. In 1893 Ichiyō wrote Yuki no hi (A Snowy Day) for the magazine Bungakukai (The Literary World) and moved to Ryūsenji-machi in the Shitaya district of Tokyo, just outside of the Yoshiwara licensed quarters. There she opened a sundries shop that soon failed, but her experience there provided her with an invaluable source of literary material. Ichiyō moved to Maruyama-Fukuyama-chō in 1894, where she wrote Otsugomori (On the Last Day of the Year). This novel marked a turning point in her career and was followed in 1895 by Yuku kumo (Trailing Clouds), Takekurabe (Growing Up), Nigorie (Troubled Waters), and Jūsanya (The Thirteenth Night). Takekurabe especially won the admiration of many readers, including that of Mori Ōgai. Ichiyō seemed to have just established herself as the leading woman writer of the day when she succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 24.
Hino Ashihei (January 25, 1907 - January 24, 1960)
Novelist born in Fukuoka Prefecture. Hino was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for Fun'nyō-tan (A Tale of Excrement, 1937) after being summoned for duty as a soldier in China. He was subsequently transferred to the military-press division and published "soldier stories" such as Mugi to heitai (Wheat and Soldiers, 1938). After World War II, Hino was "purged" for a while but continued writing sympathetically about the vitality of ordinary people's lives. Major works include Seishun to deinei (Youth and Mud, 1949), Sekidō-sai (The Equator Festival, 1951), Hana to ryū (Flowers and the Dragon, 1953), and Kakumei zengo (Around the Time of the Revolution, 1959).
Hirano Keiichirō (b. June 22, 1975)
Novelist born in Kamagōri City, Aichi Prefecture; moved to Kita-Kyushu City in 1977. Received the 120th Akutagawa Prize for Nisshoku (Solar Eclipse, 1998), which was written while Hirano was enrolled in the law department of Kyoto University, making him only the fifth college student ever to have won this prestigious award (the others were Ishihara Shintarō, Ōe Kenzaburō, Murakami Ryū, and I Yanji).
Hirotsu Kazuo (December 5, 1891 - September 21, 1968)
Novelist born in Tokyo; son of Meiji novelist Hirotsu Ryūrō. He made his debut as a writer withShinkeibyō jidai (A Case of Nerves, 1917), about a nervous breakdown. Major fictional works are Fūu tsuyokarubeshi (Strong Wind, Heavy Rain, 1934), incorporating a radical criticism of reality, Aomugi (Green Wheat, 1936), and Rekishi to rekishi no aida (History and In-between, 1941). Horotsu’s criticism includes Sanbungeijutsu no ichi (The Status of Prose, 1942), Sakusha no kansō (A Writer’s Impressions, 1920), and Matsukawa saiban (The Matsukawa Trial, 1958).
Ichikawa Hiroshi (b. 1931)
Philosopher and critic born in Kyoto; a graduate of Kyoto University and the graduate school of Tokyo University. In opposition to the idea that human nature is controlled by reason, Ichikawa takes the position (influenced by French philosophy) that human existence can best be understood by using the concept of shintai (body). Works elaborating this theory include Seishin toshite no shintai (Body as Soul, 1975), Mi no kozō (The Structure of the Body, 1975), and Gendai geijutsu no chihei (The Horizons of Modern Art, 1985). Ichikawa's Bergson was published in 1991.
Iida Dakotsu (April 26, 1885 - October 3, 1962)
Haiku poet born in Yamanashi Prefecture. A pupil of Takahama Kyoshi, Dakotsu was an important contributor to the haiku journal Hototogisu and also helped found the journal Unmo (The Mother of Clouds) , of which he was the chief editor. His haiku are sonorous and clearly delineated expressions of solitary pride. Collections include Sanro shū (The Mountain Hat Collection, 1932), Reishi (The Ten-Thousand-Year Mushroom, 1940), Shinzō (The Mind’s Eye, 1947), Sekkyō (Snow Gorge, 1951), and Kakyō no kiri (Fog and My Native Land, 1956).
Ijūin Shizuka (b. February 9, 1950)
Novelist born in Yamaguchi Prefecture. He graduated from Rikkyō University. A second-generation Korean resident of Japan, he was naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 1974. After working as a freelance director of TV commercials, he devoted himself to writing beginning in 1988. He won the 12th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers in 1991 for Chibusa (Breasts), and in 1992 received the 107th Naoki Prize for Ukezuki (The Crescent Moon). He married the actress Natsume Masako, and after her untimely death he married a second time to the actress Shino Hiroko. He has written a large number of novels and essays, including the autobiographical Kaikyō (The Strait, 1991) and Goro-goro (Rolling Away, 2002), winner of the 36th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature.
Ishigaki Rin (b. February 21, 1920)
Poet born in Tokyo to who at the age of 14 joined the Industrial Bank of Japan as an office apprentice and continued working for the bank until her retirement in 1975. Interested in poetry since childhood, Ishigaki contributed poems to the bank’s various in-house publications. In 1938 she and several like-minded colleagues created the coterie magazine Dansō (Cross-Section). After the Second World War she continued to publish in the bank union’s poetry pamphlets, and these works formed the core of her first anthology, Watakushi no mae ni aru nabe to okama to moeru hi to (The Pot, Kettle, and Fire in Front of Me, 1959). Her poetry, written from the concrete standpoint of a working woman, expands in theme to include the problem of human existence itself. Major works include Hyōsatsu (Nameplate, 1968), which won the Mr. H Prize, and, after her retirement, Ryakureki (A Short Personal History, 1979).
Ishikawa Jun (March 7, 1899 - December 29, 1987)
Novelist from Tokyo. Made his literary debut with the idealistic short story Fugen (The Bodhisattva Fugen, 1936), which won the second Akutagawa Prize. After World War II, Ishikawa came to be regarded as one of the Shin Gesaku (New Frivolous Writing) school of writers. Other representative works are Yake-ato no Iesu (Jesus in the Cinders, 1946), ōgon densetsu (The Legend of Gold, 1946), Taka (The Hawk, 1953), Shifuku sennen (A Thousand Years of Happiness, 1966), and Kyōfūki (Account of the Wild Wind).
Ishikawa Tatsuzō (July 2, 1905 - January 31, 1985)
Novelist from Akita prefecture. He was the first writer to win the Akutagawa Prize, with Sōbō (The People, 1935). Military authorities banned his Ikite iru heitai (Living Soldiers, 1938). He dealt in powerfully direct fashion with Japanese social problems, producing masterpieces such as "Kaze ni soyogu ashi" (Reeds Bending in the Wind, 1951), Ningen no kabe (Wall of Humanity, 1957-59), and Kinkanshoku (Annular Eclipse, 1966).
Itsuki Hiroyuki (b. September 30, 1932)
Novelist from Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu. Real name Matsunobu Hiroyuki. Raised largely in Korea, Itsuki returned to Japan with his parents after the war and entered Waseda University in 1947, majoring in Russian literature. Working at various writing jobs to support himself, he was eventually expelled for failing to keep up his tuition payments. Itsuki traveled to northern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1965, and after his return made his literary debut with Saraba Mosukuwa gurentai (Farewell to the Blockheads in the Moscow Regiment, 1966), taking the Naoki Prize in 1967 for Aozameta uma o miyo (The Spooked Horse, 1966). Succeeding novels won him widespread popularity, especially those in the Seishun no mon (The Gate of Youth, 1970-80) series. Itsuki is also highly regarded as an essayist, having published such collections as Kaze ni fukarete (Blowing in the Wind, 1968) and Gokiburi no uta (Song of the Cockroach, 1971).
Iwai Katsuhito (b. March 2, 1947)
Economist and critic who graduated in economics from the University of Tokyo and received a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been a professor at Tokyo University since 1989. He attracted attention for his collection of essays titled Benisu no Shōnin no shihonron (Capitalism in The Merchant of Venice, 1985), which called into question the fundamental framework of economics. Other works include Fukin-shōdōgaku no riron (The Theory of Disproportionate Impulses, 1987), Kahei ron (The Theory of Money, 1983), and Owari Naki Sekai (World Without End, 1990).
Izumi Kyōka (November 4, 1873 - September 7, 1939)
Novelist born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. A disciple of Ozaki Kōyō, Kyōka made his debut as a writer of the socially oriented "problem novels" (kannen shōsetsu) Gekashitsu (The Operating Room, 1895) and Yakō junsa (Night Patrolman, 1895), but his true forte was the creation of a romantic (and melodramatic) world of fantasy described in a richly imagistic style. Works in this vein include Teriha kyōgen (The Teriha Troupe, 1896), Kōya hijiri (The Kōya Saint, 1900), Uta andon (Song of the Troubadour, 1910), and Mayukakushi no rei (The Ghost with Hidden Eyebrows, 1924).