Yasushi Inoue
Biography. Inoue was born into a family of physicians in Asahikawa, Hokkaido in 1907, and later raised in Yugashima, Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture. During his high school years, he was an active practitioner of judo. He first studied law and literature at Kyushu University and later changed to philosophy at Kyoto University, where he graduated in 1936 with a degree in aesthetics and a thesis on Paul Valéry. After winning the Chiba Kameo Prize for his early work "Ryūten", Inoue started working for the "Mainichi Shimbun". In 1937, he was drafted into the Sino-Japanese War, but soon returned  due to illness and resumed his occupation at the "Mainichi Shimbun". His military service in northern China brought forth his interest in Chinese history. After the end of the Pacific War, Inoue won critical acclaim with his 1949 novellas "The Hunting Gun" ("Ryōjū") and "The Bullfight", the latter earning him the Akutagawa Prize. In the following years, he published several novels and short stories in a variety of genres: contemporary love stories, stories addressing social and political aspects of post-war Japan like "Kuroi Ushio", historical novels set in accurately depicted settings like the 1957 "The Roof Tile of Tempyō  and the 1959 Tun-huang" ("Tonkō"), and works with an autobiographical background like the 1975 "Chronicle of My Mother" ("Waga haha no ki"), which documented his mother's deterioration into senility. Inoue was elected a member of the Japan Art Academy in 1964 and received the Order of Culture in 1976. He died in Tokyo in 1991 at the age of 83. Adaptations (selected). Inoue's works have also repeatedly been adapted for television and the stage.