Novelist Kojima Masajiro, born in Tokyo in 1894, became acquainted with Edo period literature and European authors from an early age, and was drawn to the works of Nagai Kafu and Mori Ogai. While attending Keio University, he contributed pieces to Mita Bungaku, the journal of the literature department. After submitting his graduation thesis in 1918, he turned to children’s literature, helping to edit Suzuki Miekichi’s magazine, Akai Tori (Red Bird), and writing tales himself.

Kojima established himself in literary circles with "Ichimae Kanban," based on the life of a professional storyteller, and "Ie" (Family), the story of relatives who were forced out of their home. He later gained a reputation as a writer of popular fiction with such stories as "Midori no Kishi" (Green Knight), "Kaiso" (Seaweed), and "Hitozuma Tsubaki" (Tsubaki, a Married Woman). He also came to the attention of novelist and playwright Kikuchi Kan and Natsume Soseki with "Ganchu no Hito" (Centre of Attention). It was about the awakening to literature and also served as a history of Taisho period literary circles. After the Second World War he wrote "Taifu no Me no yo na" (Like the Eye of a Typhoon), (later retitled, Suzuki Miekichi), "Ogai, Kafu, Mantaro," about the three writers he respected, and "Encho."

Kojima first moved to Kamakura in 1930 but returned to Tokyo shortly afterwards. He came back to Kamakura in 1944, and moved to Nikaido in 1964 where he lived till his death in 1994 at the age of 100.