Kaionji Chōgorō

Kaionji Chōgorō

Kaionji Chōgorō ( Japanese 海 音 寺 潮 五郎 , actually: Suetomi Tōsaku ( 末 富 東 作 ), born November 5, 1901 in Ōkuchi , Isa-gun (today: Isa ), Kagoshima Prefecture ; † December 1, 1977 ) was a Japanese writer.

Kaionji studied at Kokugakuin University and then worked as a teacher. At the same time he emerged as the author of fantastic novels, with which he won competitions of the weekly magazine Sunday Mainichi in 1929 with Utakata Zōshi and in 1931 with Fūun . In 1936 he was awarded the Naoki Prize for Tenshō Onna Gassen and Budō Denraiki .

After World War II, he wrote historical and biographical stories that were adapted for television and were very popular. He devoted the last years of his life to his main work, a biography of Saigō Takamori , one of the main actors in the Meiji Restoration . In 1973 he was honored as Bunka Kōrōsha, a person with special cultural merits . In 1976 he received the Japanese Academy of Fine Arts Prize.

Works (selection)

• Utakata Zōshi ( う た か た 草 子 )
• Fuun ( 風雲 )
• Tenshō Onna alleys ( 天正 女 合 戦 )
• Budō Denraiki ( 武 道 伝 来 記 )
• Mōko Kitaru ( 蒙古 来 る )
• Taira no Masakado ( 平 将 門 )
• Ten to Chi to ( 天 と 地 と )
• Bushō Retsuden ( 武将 列 伝 )
• Akunin Retsuden ( 悪 人 列 伝 )
• Ni-hon no Ginnan ( 二 本 の 銀杏 )
• Hi no Yama ( 火 の 山 )
• Kaze ni Naru Ki ( 風 に 鳴 る 樹 )
• Saigō Takamori ( 西 郷 隆盛 )

swell

• Kamakura City, Kamakura´s Literary Figures - Biography
• Louis Frédéric : Japan Encyclopedia . Harvard University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-674-00770-0 , pp. 452 (English, limited preview in the Google book search - French: Japon, dictionnaire et civilization . Translated by Käthe Roth).
• Biography at Shinchōsha (Japanese)

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Kaionji is the family name, Chōgorō the first name.