Fumio Niwa
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was a Japanese
novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
with a long list of works, the most famous in the West being his novel ''The Buddha Tree'' (Japanese ''Bodaiju'', "The Linden", or "The Bodhi Tree", 1956). He was ordained as a Shin Buddhist priest in his youth, but abandoned the priesthood two years after his ordination.


Career

Niwa was born in
Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefectur ...
, the eldest son of a
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
in the Pure Land sect of
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
. He grew up at Sōgen-ji, a temple in
Yokkaichi is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 310,259 in 142162 households and a population density of 1500 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Yokkaichi is located in north-centra ...
near
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...
. After his graduation from
Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...
, he reluctantly entered the hereditary priesthood there but quit two years later, at the age of 29, in order to become a writer, walking out of the temple grounds on 10 April 1932 and heading back to
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
. He was supported by his girlfriend until their marriage in 1935. During this time he published ''Sweetfish'' (Japanese ''Ayu''), serialised in ''
Bungeishunjū is a Japanese publishing company known for its leading monthly magazine '' Bungeishunjū''. The company was founded by Kan Kikuchi in 1923. It grants the annual Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Japan, as well as ...
'', and the novel ''Superfluous Flesh'' (Japanese ''Zeiniku''). Niwa's work was controversial and, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, two of his novels were banned for immorality. He worked as a war correspondent in China and
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
, accompanied Rear Admiral
Gunichi Mikawa was a vice-admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Mikawa was the commander of a heavy cruiser force that won a spectacular IJN victory over the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Navy at the Battle of Savo Island in I ...
's Eighth Fleet and was on board the flagship '' Chōkai'' during the
Battle of Savo Island The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the , and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as the Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks, was a naval battle of the Solomon Islands cam ...
on 9 August 1942. He was wounded at
Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1 ...
. These experiences inspired ''Naval Engagement'' (Japanese ''Kaisen'') and ''Lost Company'' (''Kaeranu Chutai''), both censored. After the war Niwa became an extremely prolific author of more than 80 novels, 100 volumes of short stories, and 10 volumes of essays. His most celebrated short story was '' The Hateful Age'' (Japanese ''Iyagarase no Nenrei'', 1947, literally "The Age of Disgust"), about a family terrorised by a senile grandmother, which enjoyed such popularity that the title became a phrase in the language, for a time. The novel '' The Buddha Tree'' uses his unhappy childhood at Sōgen-ji as a backdrop. When he was eight years old his mother eloped with an actor from a Kansai Kabuki company; an event that greatly traumatised him. In this novel the story is elaborated fictionally. Later works include, from 1969, a five-volume biography of Shinran (1173-1262), the founder of the Pure Land sect, and in 1983 an eight-volume work on
Rennyo Rennyo (, 1415–1499) was the 8th Monshu (head priest) of the Hongan-ji Temple of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, and descendant of founder Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Buddhists often referred to as the restorer of the sect ( in Japanese). He w ...
, a 15th-century
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
who died on a pilgrimage to India. In 1965 Niwa was elected a member of the Japan Art Academy, and the following year he was elected as Chairman of the Japanese Writers' Association, a position he held for many years. Niwa encouraged fellow members to play golf, organised health insurance, and bought land for a writers' cemetery. He won the 19th
Yomiuri Prize The is a literary award in Japan. The prize was founded in 1949 by the Yomiuri Shinbun Company to help form a "strong cultural nation". The winner is awarded two million Japanese yen and an inkstone. Award categories For the first two years, ...
and was awarded the
Order of Culture The is a Japanese order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, technology, or anything related to culture in general; recipient ...
in 1977. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1986. He was married twice and had one son and one daughter, Keiko Honda, who described his decline in ''Days of Care'' (Japanese ''Kaigo no hibi'', 1997). He died of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
in 2005."Pneumonia kills famed writer Niwa at age 100"
''The Japan Times'', 21 April 2005


References


« L’âge des méchancetés » de NIWA Fumio
A review of ''The Hateful Age'' in French. *Niwa, ''Collected Short Stories: Sweetfish, Mother's Day, Wife, et al.'' (''Ayu, Haha no hi, Tsuma'') Kodansha, pub. in 2006. The complete bibliography of the author is at the end of the book (in Japanese).


References


External links



(Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Niwa, Fumio 20th-century Japanese novelists Japanese centenarians 1904 births 2005 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Japan Yomiuri Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Culture Waseda University alumni Writers from Mie Prefecture Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist priests Men centenarians 20th-century Buddhist monks Presidents of the Japan Writers’ Association