Hiroyuki Itsuki (, born September 30, 1932) is 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 aspire to ...

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

and

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

, best known in Japan by his

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

''The Gate of Youth'' and in the English-speaking world by ''Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace''.

Career

Hiroyuki Matsunobu () was born in Yame District,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

, in 1932. He spent his early childhood in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and returned to Fukuoka at the end of

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 opposin ...

. In his middle and high school days, he loved reading the novels by the Russian authors, such as Gogol, Chekhov, Turgenev and Dostoyevsky. In 1952, he enrolled himself in the Russian Literature Department of

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

, but did not complete college education due to financial difficulty. After working in Tokyo as a coordinator and a lyricist for the radio programs about ten years, he married Reiko Oka, his college sweetheart and a medical doctor, in 1965, and moved to his wife's town of

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...

. He assumed his last name of Itsuki, as one of her wife's uncles did not have children. In 1965, Itsuki traveled with his wife to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

and published his novel ''Good-bye to Moscow Hoodlums'' (), for which he was awarded ''Shosetu Gendai'' magazine's new author prize. In 1967 he received the 56th

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 ...

(1966下) for '. His 1968 novel, ''The Young Ones Will Aim to Walk in the Wilderness'' (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 青年は荒野をめざす), about a Japanese trumpeter's adventure of jazz, sex, and alcohol in Nakhotka, Moscow, Helsinki, Paris and Madrid, and its movie with the theme song by

The Folk Crusaders , also known as simply , was a Japanese Folk music, folk group, popular in Japan in the later half of the 1960s. Career The band was formed in 1965 by the five university students Kazuhiko Katō, Osamu Kitayama, Yoshio Hiranuma, Mikio Imura and ...

(its lyrics by Itsuki) were a big hit among those who spend their youth in the late 1960s. In 1970, he moved to

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. In 1973, ''The Tomb of a Toki'' (), another novel on the Russian theme, was published. In 1974, Itsuki translated

Richard Bach Richard David Bach (born June 23, 1936) is an American writer. He has written numerous works of fiction and also non-fiction flight-related titles. His works include ''Jonathan Livingston Seagull'' (1970) and '' Illusions: The Adventures of a R ...

's ''

Jonathan Livingston Seagull ''Jonathan Livingston Seagull'', written by American author Richard Bach and illustrated with black-and-white photographs shot by Russell Munson, is a fable in novella form about a seagull who is trying to learn about life and flight, and a homi ...

'' into Japanese, which became a best seller. From 1969-93, he wrote a novel series titled ''The Gate of Youth'' (

: 青春の門) about the life of Shinsuke Ibuki in eight volumes, for the first of which he received the

Eiji Yoshikawa was a Japanese historical novelist. Among his best-known novels are revisions of older classics. He was mainly influenced by classics such as ''The Tale of the Heike'', ''Tale of Genji'', ''Water Margin'' and ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', m ...

Prize in 1976. Starting in 1981, he studied the history of Buddhism as a special student at

Ryukoku University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as a school for Buddhist priests of the Nishi Hongan-ji denomination in 1639, and became a secularized university in 1876. The university's professors and students founded the literary m ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, and in 2001 he published '' Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace'' in English, which was awarded the Book of the Year prize in the spiritual department.Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace
/ref> His latest books include ''Shinran'' () in three volumes (2014).

References

External links

Books by Hiroyuki Itsuki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Itsuki, Hiroyuki 1932 births 20th-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese novelists Naoki Prize winners Writers from Fukuoka (city) Living people

Career

See also

References

External links