Eiji Yoshikawa (1892–1962)

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, August 11, 1892. Hidetsugu Yoshikawa received only a primary school education. At the age of 18 he became interested in Haiku. In 1914 he released the novel "Tale of Enoshima" winning his first award. He was sponsored by Kodansha and in 1921 he joined Maiyu Shimbum newspaper and he published serializations. In 1923 he married Yasu Akazawa and in the following years he wrote various stories which were published by Kodansha. He had a total of 19 psuedonyms before settling on Eiji Yoshikawa and after writing the "Road of Naruto" his name became more well known. His writing styles changed over the years, in 1930 his style become more personal but in 1935 he wrote "Musashi" which settled his style of historical adventures. In 1937 when the war the China began he was sent in as a reporter of the war. During this he remarried to Fumiko Ikedo and continued writing novels with more inspiration from Chinese culture. When the war ended he retired to Yoshino and lived a quiet life. His last work was "A Private Record of the Pacific Was" in 1958. He died from cancer complications on September 7, 1962.