Kikuchi Kan: Life and Major Works

Born in 1888 in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture. Though descended from a family of Confucian scholars to the Takamatsu domain, his family was poor, and he graduated from the English literature department of Kyoto Imperial University after years of hardship. Together with his friends from First Higher School days Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Kume Masao, he began his literary career as a member of the third and fourth "Shinshichō" coteries, and established his standing as a writer with the play "Chichi Kaeru" ("Father Returns") and the story "On to no Kanata ni" ("Beyond Forgiveness and Enmity"). The sensational popularity of his 1920 potboiler novel "Shinju Fujin" ("Madame Pearl") made him a bestselling author. In 1923 he founded the magazine "Bungei Shunjū," proving himself a capable publisher as well and launching the careers of many new writers, including Yokomitsu Riichi. In 1935, in memory of Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Naoki Sanjūgo, both of whom had died young, he established the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes, leaving a lasting mark on the subsequent history of Japanese literature. He died suddenly of heart failure in 1948 at the age of 59.