Ihara Saikaku
Nosaka is well known for children's stories about war. Two of his short stories, "Grave of the Fireflies" and "American Hijiki", won the 58th Naoki Prize in 1967. He is also noted for his preference for sexually explicit material and distinctive writing style, which has been likened to the comic-prose of the seventeenth-century Japanese writer Ihara Saikaku. His novel "The Pornographers" was translated into English by Michael Gallagher and published in 1968. It was also adapted into a live-action film, "The Pornographers", directed by Shōhei Imamura. In December 1978, Nosaka was credited for giving former rugby player-turned pro wrestler Susumu Hara his ring name, Ashura Hara.