更新日：2010年7月5日

Hirotsu Kazuo

Hirotsu Kazuo, novelist and critic, was born in Tokyo in 1891. A graduate of Waseda University. His father was the writer of Kenyu sya, Hirotsu Ryuro, and his daughter Hirotsu Momoko was also a novelist.

From his early teens, Hirotsu was already submitting pieces to magazines such as Manchoho and Joshi Bundan, and is accepted frequently. In 1912, he joined Funaki Shigeo and Kasai Zenzo in founding a new coterie, Kiseki (Miracle), and contributed short stories and translated works to their magazine. The following year Hirotsu published a translation of Guy de Maupassant’s "Une Vie," which marked the beginning of a career of literary criticism and translating European writers. In 1916, Hirotsu became the literary critic of Kozui Igo (After the Deluge), a magazine presided over by Kayahara Kazan, and was recognized by the noted critic, Morita Sohei.

Hirotsu made his debut as a novelist in 1917 with the publication of "Shinkeibyo Jidai" (The Neurotic Age). This was followed by "Futari no Fukomono" (Two Unfortunate People) and "Shiji o Daite" (Embracing a Dead Child), both objective stories, and "Yamori" (Gecko) and "Nami no Ue" (On the Waves), which belonged to the "watakushi-shosetsu" (I-novel) genre. After the Second World War, he wrote about his fellow writers in "Ano Jidai" (Those Times), and "Nengetsu no Ashiato" (The Footsteps of Time), an autobiographical story. He devoted the 10 years from 1953 on a detailed defence of the accused saboteurs in the controversial Matsukawa incident. He died in 1968 at the age of 76.

Hirotsu lived in Kamakura from 1916, first making his home at Sakanoshita, and later moving to Yamanouchi and Omachi.