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 aspire to ...

active in

Shōwa period Shōwa may refer to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufacturer, affiliated with the Honda keiretsu Japanese eras * Jōwa (Heian ...

Japan.

Biography

Kojima was born in the plebeian Shitaya district of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to a family of clothing merchants. While attending

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

he studied

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japanes ...

and the works of European authors. He was especially attracted to the works of Nagai Kafū and Mori Ōgai. His literary career began as a student, when he contributed short stories to the journal of Keio University's literature department, ''

Mita Bungaku ''Mita Bungaku'' (三田文学) is a Japanese literary magazine established in 1910 at Keio University that published early works by young Japanese authors such as Yōjirō Ishizaka, Kyōka Izumi, Hakushū Kitahara, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki,Dawn to ...

''. After graduation in 1918, he worked with

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

, editing the

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

, ''Akai Tori'' ("Red Bird"), and writing tales for children. However, Kojima established himself as a mainstream author with serious, adult-orientated stories, such as ''Ichimae Kanban'', ("One Card") based on the life of a professional storyteller, and ''Ie'' ("Family"), the story of relatives who were forced out of their home. He later gained a reputation as a writer of popular fiction with such stories as ''Midori no Kishi'' ("Green Knight"), ''Kaiso'' ("Seaweed"), and ''Hitozuma Tsubaki'' ("Tsubaki, a Married Woman"). As many of his works dealt with human relationships, his writings were a favorite of movie directors and script writers. His ''Ganchu no Hito'' ("Centre of Attention"), a semi-documentary work on his awakening to the possibilities of literature was almost a history of Taishō period

, and was highly praised by the famed authors Natsume Sōseki and

Kikuchi Kan , also known as Kan Kikuchi (which uses the same kanji as his real name), was a Japanese author. He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both the Akutagawa ...

. Along with Kikuchi Kan, he was one of the pallbearers at the funeral of

Akutagawa Ryunosuke Akutagawa (written: 芥川) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927), Japanese poet and writer * Yasushi Akutagawa (1925–1989), Japanese composer and conductor, son of Akutagawa Ryunosuk ...

in 1927* page 312 In 1938, Kojima joined the Pen butai (lit. "Pen corps"), a government organisation which consisted of authors who travelled the front during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

to write favourably of Japan's war efforts in China. After

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 ...

he wrote a number of biographical works, including ''Taifu no Me no yo no'' ("Like the Eye of a Typhoon"), (later retitled, ''Suzuki Miekichi''), ''Ogai, Kafu, Mantaro'', about the three writers he respected, and ''Encho''. Kojima lived briefly in

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

Kanagawa prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

in the 1930s but returned to Tokyo shortly afterwards. He served many years on the review committee for the Akutagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize. He returned to Kamakura in 1944, where he lived till his death in 1994 at the age of 100. He broke his thigh in an accident at home in 1983, and was hospitalized for the remainder of his days, although he kept writing from his hospital bed until well into the 90s. His grave is at the temple of Tenno-ji in

Yanaka Cemetery is a large cemetery located north of Ueno in Yanaka 7-chome, Taito, Tokyo, Japan. The Yanaka sector of Taito is one of the few Tokyo neighborhoods in which the old Shitamachi atmosphere can still be felt. The cemetery is famous for its beautifu ...

References

Bibliography

*Inoue, Charles Shiro. ''The Similitude of Blossoms: A Critical Biography of Izumi Kyōka (1873-1939)'', Harvard University Asia Center (1998); {{DEFAULTSORT:Kojima, Masajiro 1894 births 1994 deaths Japanese centenarians Men centenarians Japanese children's writers 20th-century Japanese novelists People from Taitō Writers from Tokyo Keio University alumni

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography