Famous People in Japan



Shiba Ryotaro

Date of Birth August 7, 1923
Place of Birth Osaka
Real Name Teiichi Fukuda

Ryotaro Shiba is one of the greatest writers in Japan. After he graduated in Mongolian from Osaka University of Foreign Languages, he worked for the Sankei Newspaper Company for 13 years. While he was working there, he began to write the historical novels.

In 1960, he won the Naoki prize with his first novel "Fukuro-no-shiro". They are quite different from what they are used to be. He achieved to create a new style of historical novels. In 1962, he devoted himself to the job of a writer. People can feel as if the characters in his stories were in front of their eyes over the centuries. Then he won the Kikuchi Kan prize with his work "Ryouma ga iku" and gained the status of a writer because of it.

He uses a large amount of material for a novel and grasps feelings or thoughts of historical figures. His original view is based of his way of thinking about Japanese history, which is called "Shiba-shikan". His novel shows us that it is interesting to touch the history. So many readers are attracted to his world.

Some of these novels were broadcasted on TV. Young people come to know him because of his dramas. Then, he was presented many awards for his cultural achievements. In 1996, he died on February 12 on May. Then The Shiba Ryoutaro Memorial was opened in Hyougo. The president of it is his wife whose name is Fukuda Midori.

References: Gendai Nihonjin Meiroku "Comtemporary Who's Who in Japan vol.1" 1987:Nichigai Associates, Japan

Reported by: Imoto Izumi
Date of Report: January 1998
Updated by: Fukushima Tomoko, May 1998

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