was a Japanese writer of short stories and novels.

Biography

Born in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, Umezaki studied at the 5th High School of

Kumamoto University , abbreviated to ''Kumadai'' (熊大), is a Japanese national university located in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture in the Kyushu region of Japan. It was established on May 31, 1949, at which time the following institutions were subsumed into it; ...

, later at the

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

where he majored in Japanese literature. He then worked at the same Tokyo University in the Faculty of Education Sciences (kyōiku). In 1944, he was drafted as a crypto specialist for the Imperial Japanese Navy and stationed in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

, an experience which he later dramatised in his famous novella ''

Sakurajima Sakurajima ( ja, 桜島, literally "Cherry Blossom Island") is an active stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Ōsumi Peninsul ...

'', published in 1946. He came back on this experience in his latest book, ''Genka'' (''Illusions'') published in 1965, the year of his death. After the war, he worked for the ''Sunao'' (素直) magazine, led by poet and social activist Shin'ichi Eguchi (1914–1979), in which ''Sakurajima'' and some of his short stories were published. ''Sakurajima'' established Umezaki as a representative of Japanese postwar literature along writers like Hiroshi Noma and

Rinzō Shiina Rinzō Shiina (椎名麟三 ''Shiina Rinzō''; born 大坪昇 ''Noboru Ōtsuka''; 1 October 1911 – 28 March 1973) was a Japanese writer, novelist, short story writer and playwright. Shiina's best known works were written after 1950. His writ ...

. The war theme later gave way to satirical stories like ''Boroya no shunjū'', and still later to the examination of human anxiety in modern society. Umezaki died of

liver cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

in Tokyo on 19 July 1965.

Selected works

* ''Fūen'' (風宴), 1939. * ''

'' (桜島), 1946. * ''Hi no hate'' (日の果て, ''End of the Sun''), 1947. * ''Kuroi hana'' (黒い花, ''Black Flower''), 1950. * ''Nise no kisetsu'' (''Season of forgery''), 1954. * ''Boroya no shunjū'' (ボロ家の春秋, ''Shanty Life'' or ''Occurrences of an Old Dilapidated House''), 1954. * ''Suna dokei'' (砂時計, ''The Hourglass''), 1955. * ''Tsumujikaze'' (つむじ風), 1957. * ''Kurui-dako'' (狂ひ凧), 1963. * ''Genka'' (幻化, ''Illusions''), 1965.

Awards

* 1954:

Naoki Prize The Naoki Prize, officially , is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. It was created in 1935 by Kikuchi Kan, then editor of the ''Bungeishunjū'' magazine, and named in memory of novelist Naoki Sanjugo. Sponsored by the Society for the ...

for ''Boroya no shunjū'' * 1955:

Shinchō is a Japanese literary magazine published monthly by Shinchosha. Since its launch in 1904 it has published the works of many of Japan's leading writers. Along with '' Bungakukai'', ''Gunzo'', '' Bungei'' and ''Subaru'', it is one of the five ...

Award for ''Suna dokei'' * 1963:

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community ...

Award for ''Kurui-dako'' * 1965: Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for ''Genka'' (posthumously)

Adaptations

;Films * 1954: ''Hi no hate'', directed by

Satsuo Yamamoto was a Japanese film director. Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima City. After leaving Waseda University, where he had become affiliated with left-wing groups, he joined the Shochiku film studios in 1933, where he worked as an assistant director to ...

* 1963: ''Tsumujikaze'', directed by

Noboru Nakamura was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Biography After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1936, Nakamura joined the Shochiku film studios, working as an assistant director for Torajirō Saitō and Yasujirō Shimazu. He debu ...

Biography

Selected works

Awards

Adaptations

References

Further reading