was a Japanese novelist. Born in

Nakijin, Okinawa is a village located in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. , 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. Geography Nakijin Village occupies ...

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

Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, 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 populat ...

, where he began writing novels and studied with

Haruo Umezaki was a Japanese writer of short stories and novels. Biography Born in Fukuoka, Kyushu, Umezaki studied at the 5th High School of Kumamoto University, later at the Tokyo Imperial University where he majored in Japanese literature. He then worked ...

. He graduated from the School of English Literature, Literature Department of

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

. In 1940, he was

conscripted Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

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. Its land area is . The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at . The much smaller Buk ...

. Towards the end of the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

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

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

camp. After being released, he did not return to

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

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

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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), formally known as the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, prohibited all nuclear weapons testing, test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those co ...

, he siding with the

Japanese Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party is chaired ...

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 Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Musashino, Tokyo is a city located in the western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 147,754 in 78,614 households, and a population density of 13,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Based on the 201 ...

, 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 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