Tachihara Masaaki

Infobox Writer
name = Masaaki Tachihara


caption = Tachihara Masaaki
birthdate = birth date|1926|1|6|df=y
birthplace = Andong city, Gyeongsangbuk-do province, Korea
deathdate = death date and age|1980|8|12|1926|1|6|df=y
deathplace = Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
occupation = Writer
genre = novelist
movement =
notableworks =
influences = Kawabata Yasunari, Kobayashi Hideo, Zeami
influenced =

nihongo|Masaaki Tachihara|立原正秋| Tachihara Masaaki; (6 January 1926 - 12 August 1980) was the pen-name of a Japanese novelist of Korean descent, active during the Showa period.

Early life

Tachihara was born in Andong city, Gyeongsangbuk-do province, Korea to Korean parents, during the period when Korea was under Japanese occupation. His father was a former member of the Korean aristocracy and a military officer serving the Joseon Dynasty, who became a Zen priest after the Japanese annexation of Korea.

Four years after his father's death in 1931, Tachihara moved with his mother to Yokosuka city, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. His Korean name was Kim Yun Kyu (金胤奎: 김윤규), but he changed his name to nihongo|Nomura Shintaro|野村震太郎| when his mother married a Japanese man. Later, he registered his name as Kanai Masaaki under the "soushi-kaimei" policy, but after his own marriage (to a Japanese woman), he once again changed his name to nihongo|Yonemoto Masaaki|米本正秋|. He has been naturalized in Japan in 1947.

He was a student at Waseda University in Tokyo, and was initially enrolled in the Law Department. However, he gradually shifted over the literature department, drawn by his interest in the novels of Kawabata Yasunari and the literary criticism of Kobayashi Hideo.

Tachihara was strongly attracted to medieval Japanese culture, particularly Noh drama, ceramics, and traditional Japanese gardens, and his novels are patterned after Zeami's Noh treatise "Fushi Kaiden".

Literary career

Tachihara's first novel, "Bakushu" (Autumn Wheat) was published in the literary magazine "Bungei Kenkyukai". It was well received by literary critics, which led to his decision to become a professional writer. In 1958, he published "Tanin no Jiyu" (Other People's Freedom) in the magazine "Gunzo", followed by "Takigi Noh" and "Tsurugi-ga-saki".

He won the 55th Naoki Award for his novel "Shiroi Kesho" ("White Poppy", 1965), as well as being nominated for the Akutagawa Prize twice. One of his books, "Wind and Stone", translated into English by Stephen W. Kohl, is highly appreciated in the West.

Tachihara's interests in Japanese culture led to his becoming a collector of ceramics including many Korean Yi Dynasty works. He lived in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture from 1950 until his death of esophageal cancer. Before he died, he officially changed his name to Tachihara Masaaki. His grave is at the temple of Zuisen-ji in Kamakura.

See also

* Lee Hoesung, first Zainichi Korean winner of the Akutagawa Prize
* Japanese literature
* List of Japanese authors

References

*
* Kaneko, Masao. "Sokyu to kyosei: Tachihara Masaaki, Yamakawa Masao, Kaiko Takeshi no bungaku". Shiseido (1999).ISBN 4795279837 (Japanese)
* Tachihara, Miki. "Kaze no yo ni, hikari no yo ni: Chichi Tachihara Masaaki". Kadokawa Shoten (1985). ISBN 4048831844 (Japanese)

External links

* [http://www.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp/english/bunjin/tachihara_e.htm Literary Figures of Kamakura]