MURO SAISEI

(1889–1962)

   Muro Saisei, given name Terumichi, was a novelist and poet. Born an illegitimate child in Kanazawa Prefecture, Muro was adopted and raised by Muro Shinjo, a Buddhist priest. He dropped out of elementary school in 1902 and got a job at the local district court in Kanazawa as an office boy. Noticed by his superiors for his skill in writing, he then took a job at a newspaper and began to write tanka and other poems. He published his first novel, Yonen jidai (1919; tr. Childhood, 1985), in 1919 in the magazine Chuo Koron (Central Review). He was friends with Akutagawa Ryunosuke, published over eight poetry anthologies, and won the Yomiuri Prize and the Noma Prize. In his later years, he served on the selection committees for the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize and the Kikuchi Kan Prize. He died of lung cancer.

   See also HAGIWARA SAKUTARO.