1886 – 1965

Born in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, he entered the University of Tokyo’s Department of Japanese Literature but left before graduating. While still a student, he co-founded the literary magazine Shinshichō and published works such as the play Tanjō and the short story Shisei, which earned high praise from Nagai Kafū and marked his debut as a promising new writer. Following the Great Kantō Earthquake, he moved to the Kansai region and, in 1924, published Chijin no Ai（“Naomi”）. In 1943, he began serializing Sasameyuki（“The Makioka Sisters”）in Chūō Kōron, but the military authorities censored the work. Despite this, he continued writing it in secret and published it after the war. While depicting an aesthetic and refined world, he also explored traditional Japanese beauty in works such as Manji（“Quicksand”）, Tade kuu mushi （“Some Prefer Nettles”）, Shunkinshō （“A Portrait of Shunkin”）, In’ei Raisan （“In Praise of Shadows”）, and Kagi （“The Key”）.