was the

pen-name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of Abe Shōzō, a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

novelist and literary critic active during the

Shōwa period Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...

of Japan.

Early life

Minakami was born in the upscale

Azabu is an area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Built on a marshy area of foothills south of central Tokyo, its coverage roughly corresponds to that of the former Azabu Ward, presently consisting of nine official districts: Azabu-Jūban, Azabudai, Aza ...

district of

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 ...

. His father, Abe Taizo, was the founder of Meiji Life Insurance Company. In 1891 the family moved to Matsuzaka-cho in Shiba Ward of Tokyo. Minakami attended Keiō High School and played on the school's

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

club. While attending

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

, he was inspired by the works of

Kyōka Izumi , known by his pen name , was a Japanese novelist, writer and kabuki playwright who was active during the prewar period. Kyōka's writing differed greatly from that of the naturalist writers who dominated the literary scene at the time. Many ...

and by a newly appointed professor,

Kafū Nagai was a Japanese writer, editor and translator. His works like '' Geisha in Rivalry'' and ''A Strange Tale from East of the River'' are noted for their depictions of life of the demimonde in early 20th-century Tokyo. Biography Nagai was born Sō ...

, who was also the founder of the literary magazine '' Mita Bungaku,'' launched in 1910. While at Keiō University, Minakami developed a friendship with the playwright, script writer, and director of the Bungakuza Theater,

Mantarō Kubota was a Japanese author, playwright, and poet. Early life Kubota was born in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, to a clothing merchant family. He became interested in stage plays at an early age, largely due to the influence of his grandmother, who ...

Literary career

While still a student at Keio University he began his literary career by contributing poems and short stories to ''Mita Bungaku'' and to the mainstream literary magazine ''

Subaru is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first largest aut ...

''. He established his own literary circle, ''Rei-no-kai'', by gathering his aspiring writer friends at his home. His debut story, ''Yamanote no Ko'' ("Child from Yamanote") was the story of these gatherings, and was published in 1911 in ''Mita Bungaku''. His choice of a pen-name came from a character in one of Izumi Kyoka's stories. After a period overseas, studying

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

in the United States, and touring 16 countries around the world, Minakami returned to Japan in 1916 to accept a position in his father's insurance company. However, he did not give up his literary aspirations, and this job provided him with an insight into the lives of

white-collar workers White collar may refer to: * White-collar worker, a professional who performs office-based or similar service-based jobs, as opposed to a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor * White-collar boxing * White-collar crime The ter ...

, albeit from the rather lofty position of director of one of Japan's largest insurance companies. Minakami wrote numerous novels in the 1920s and 1930s depicting the lives of common, urban people. His works include a novel ''Osaka no yado'' ("An Inn in Osaka", 1925–1926) and ''Kaigara Tsuihō '' (1918–1940), a collection of essays. After Keio University dropped its financial support for ''Mita Bungaku'' literary magazine in 1925, he (along with Kubota Mantaro) contributed greatly to its re-launch and supported it throughout the 1930s. Minakami continued to enjoy baseball even after he became a writer by arranging games between the ''Mita Bungaku'' amateur baseball team and a team led by rival author

Ton Satomi is the pen-name of Japanese author . page 5 Satomi was known for the craftsmanship of his dialogue and command of the Japanese language. His two elder brothers, Ikuma Arishima and Takeo Arishima, were also authors. Early life Satomi Ton was b ...

. Minakami died of a

brain hemorrhage The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

in 1940. His grave is at the Tama Reien, in

Fuchū, Tokyo file:FuchuCityHall2023091.jpg, 260px, Fuchū City Hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in the western Tokyo, western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Fuchū serves as a regional commercial center and a commuter town for workers in cent ...

External links

e-texts of Minakami's works
at

Aozora Bunko Aozora Bunko (, , also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousand works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that t ...

Early life

Literary career

External links

See also