SHIBATA SHO

(1935–)

   Shibata Sho is a novelist and scholar from Tokyo. He originally enrolled at Tokyo University to study engineering but switched to German literature. After completing his doctorate, he traveled to Germany to study. Upon his return to Japan, he published Saredo warera ga hibi (Anyway, That Was Our Time, 1964), which won the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize. He wrote novels for the next decade while serving as a German literature professor at Tokyo University. From 1970 to 1972, Shibata formed the literary journal Ningen Toshite (As Humans) with the help of Takahashi Kazumi, Oda Makoto (1932–2007), Kaiko Takeshi, and Matsugi Nobuhiko (1932–). Takahashi’s sudden death led the journal to fold, and Shibata left his novel Non-chan no boken (Little Non’s Adventure) unfinished. Although his focus is on teaching, he has published two subsequent novels. He currently serves on the review board for the Dazai Osamu Prize.