更新日：2010年7月5日

Osaragi Jiro

Novelist Osaragi Jiro was born in Yokohama in 1897. His real name was Nojiri Kiyohiko. His older brother was Nojiri Hoei, the English Literature scholar and astronomer.

While still at the First Higher School, Osaragi Jiro was already showing an exceptional talent, with "Ichiko Romance," a story describing life in the dormitory, and he also became absorbed in the theater. After graduating from Tokyo University, he taught for a short time at the Kamakura Higher Girls School (now Kamakura Jogakuin High School) and then became employed at the Foreign Ministry. But he gave up this job too, to devote himself full time to writing.

He opened new vistas in popular fiction with historical novels such as "Kurama Tengu," "Teru Hi Kumoru Hi" (Sunny Days Cloudy Days), and "Ako Roshi" (Loyal Retainers of Ako), which were serialized in newspapers and magazines. He also wrote contemporary fiction such as "Shiroi Ane" (White Sister), "Kiribue" (Misty Flute), and "Kikyo" (tr Homecoming), which described the author’s anger at the trivial attitudes that surfaced after the Second World War.

Osaragi was deeply influenced by French literature and culture, and wrote non-fiction pieces displaying his deep understanding of controversial events in Europe: "Doreifas jiken" (The Dreyfus Affair), "Buraunje Shogun no Higeki" (The Tragedy of General Boulanger), and "Pari wa Moyu" (Paris is Burning). When he died in 1973 at the age of 75, he was still writing "Tenno no Seiki" (Century of Emperors), a historical chronicle based on the spiritual history of the Japanese people.

The author adopted many different pen names in his younger days. "Osaragi Jiro" had its origins in the mid-1920s when he was living near the Daibutsu-Great Buddha-in Kamakura and writing the historical novel, "Hayabusa no Genji," for the magazine, Pocket. (The Chinese characters denoting "Osaragi" are usually read as "Daibutsu.) The name stuck.

From 1921, he lived in Hase and then Zaimokuza, and moved to Yukinoshita in 1973, where he spent the rest of his life. Osaragi was a central figure in Kamakura’s literary life, and he also campaigned avidly for the protection of Kamakura’s scenic beauty.