Mori Ōgai: Life and Major Works

Born in 1862 in Tsuwano, Iwami Province (now Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture); his real name was Mori Rintarō. Born into a family that had served for generations as physicians to the Tsuwano domain, he graduated from the Tokyo University School of Medicine and became an army surgeon. He studied in Germany from 1884, and soon after returning made his literary debut with "Maihime" ("The Dancing Girl"). He also rose steadily as an army surgeon, becoming Japan's highest-ranking military medical officer, Surgeon General, in 1907, while continuing a prolific career as translator, critic, and novelist across every field. In his later years he opened a distinctive territory of historical fiction and biography drawing on historical fact and legend — "Abe Ichizoku" ("The Abe Family"), "Sanshō Dayū," "Takasebune" ("The Boat on the Takase River") — and became a giant of modern Japanese literature ranked alongside Natsume Sōseki. He died in 1922 of kidney atrophy at the age of 60.