ITO SEI

(1905–1969)

Ito Sei, given name Hitoshi, was a critic, poet, and novelist born in Hokkaido. After graduating from Otaru Commercial College, he was accepted into Hitotsubashi University but later dropped out. In his youth, he wrote an anthology of poetry titled Yukiakari no michi (Snow-lit Road, 1926), but focused on novels and criticism in his later years. He translated James Joyce’s Ulysses into Japanese, as well as D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the latter of which went to trial in the 1950s in a landmark obscenity case. Many of his novels became bestsellers, and he also received the Japan Art Academy Prize. In memoriam, the first Ito Sei Prize was awarded in 1990 and continues to be awarded annually for outstanding novels and literary criticism.