SHIGA NAOYA

Shiga Naoya, an author from Miyagi Prefecture, was converted to Christianity through the influence of Uchimura Kanzo (1861–1930) while studying at the Gakushuin Peer’s School. He also became friends and formed the literary group Shirakaba at the school with other authors, such as Mushanokoji Saneatsu. Shiga is famous for his I-Novels and earned the sobriquet “the god of novels.” His works include such short stories as “Kamisori” (1910; tr. The Razor, 1957) and “Seibei to Hyotan” (1913; tr. Seibei and His Gourds, 1956), as well as such novels as Wakai (Reconciliation, 1917) and An’ya Koro (1921–37; tr. A Dark Night’s Passing, 1976). Shiga was awarded the 1949 Order of Cultural Merit and produced very little new work in the last decades of his life, dying of pneumonia at 88.

See also AGAWA HIROYUKI; ARISHIMA TAKEO; BUDDHIST LITERATURE; CHRISTIAN LITERATURE; OZAKI KAZUO.