The critic and novelist Yoshida Kenichi was born in Tokyo in 1912, the son of the diplomat and, later, prime minister Yoshida Shigeru. He spent his childhood abroad, accompanying his father to postings in China, France and the United Kingdom. After attending Gyosei Gakuen Middle School, he went on to study English literature at Cambridge University, but returned to Japan after just one year. From this time he decided to make a living as a writer and made his debut in 1935 with a translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Oboegaki (Memorandum). In 1939, with two other critics Nakamura Mitsuo and Yamamoto Kenkichi, he founded the coterie magazine Hihyo, which published critiques of modern French and British authors. From the late 1940s, Yoshida established himself as a prolific writer with authoritative works on English literature and Shakespeare. He also showed a flair for fiction, with short stories like Shuen (The dinner) and Zanko (Last light), and the mature novel, Gareki no naka (In the midst of debris). Not all his essays were literary criticism; he revealed a lighter touch with works like Saisho onzoshi hinkyusu (Prime minister’s son falls on hard times) and Amazuppai aji (Sweet-sour taste).

Yoshida lived in Kamakura between 1946 and 1953, first at Nikaido and then at Nishimikado. He died in 1977 at the age of 65.