was a Japanese novelist. Born in

Nakijin, Okinawa is a village located in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the village has an estimated population of 9,529 and a population density of 239.00 persons per km2. The total area is 39.87 km2. Education The village ope ...

, he attended local elementary and middle schools, but continued his high school in

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

, where he began writing novels and studied with Haruo Umezaki. He graduated from the School of English Literature, Literature Department of

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 ...

. In 1940, he was

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

and sent to

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomons. Its land area is ...

. Towards the end of the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, in May 1945, he surrendered to Australian forces and was sent to a

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

camp. After being released, he did not return to

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

(which at the time was occupied by the Americans), but went to

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 ...

instead, where he wrote novels while working in the offices of ''Shin Nihon Bungakukai'' ("Society of the Literature of the New Japan"), a leftist writers' association. In 1950, he published ''Kiyama ittō-hei to senkyōshi'' ("Private Kiyama and the Missionary") in the magazine "Shin Nihon Bungaku" and established himself as a writer. In 1953, he returned for a visit for the first time after the war to Okinawa, and started using Okinawan themes in his writings. For the novel ''Okinawashima'' which was published in installments in ''Shin Nihon Bungaku'' ("New Japanese Literature") in 1956 he was awarded the "Mainichi Publications Literary Award". In 1957, with fellow writers Tatsukichi Nishino, Kim Tal-su and Sei Kubota, he started the so-called ''Riarizumu Kenkyukai'' ("Realism Research Association"). After having some ideological disputes (among others about the

Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) is the abbreviated name of the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, which prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted ...

, he siding with the

Japanese Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

views) with other executives of the Society at a conference in 1964, and after his relations soured with Teruo Takei, the de facto leader of the Society, and the people around him, he was expelled from the Society of the Literature of the New Japan. When the ''Nippon minshushugi bungaku domei'' ("Japanese Democratic Literary Alliance") was established in 1965, he was named vice-chairman. In 1971, he was awarded the Takiji-Yuriko Award for ''Akemodoro''. 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 severity ...

Musashino, Tokyo is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 147,492 in 77,779 households, and a population density of 13,000 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Based on the 2015 Ka ...

, on April 16, 2003.

Awards

* ''Mainichi Shuppan Bungaku Sho'' for ''Okinawashima'' (1956) * Takiji-Yuriko Award for ''Akemodoro'' (1971)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimota, Seiji 1913 births 2003 deaths Japanese communists People from Okinawa Prefecture Writers from Okinawa Prefecture Deaths from pneumonia in Japan 20th-century Japanese novelists Japanese military personnel of World War II Japanese prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Australia