Ibuse, Masuji (1898-1993)

Japanese novelist and poet. His novel Kuroi ame/Black Rain 1966 is a powerful and moving account of the devastating effects of nuclear war. Other works include Tomonotsu chakai ki/Recordings of the Tea Ceremonies at Tomonotsu 1984, an account, in the form of diary records, of events at thirteen 16th-century tea ceremonies.

Life Ibuse was born in Hiroshima prefecture. He studied French at Waseda University, and then entered Nihon Bijutsu Gakkō, Tokyo's leading art school. His poetry during this time shows an artist's attention to visual detail. His first short stories appeared in the early 1920s, and his first novel, Shigoto beya/A Room to Work In, 1931. Ibuse was a war correspondent in Southeast Asia during World War II, and much of his post-war writing is about the shattering effects of the war on ordinary people's lives. He is considered one of the most important Japanese writers of the 20th century.

Work His carefully crafted short stories, novellas, and novels often have historical settings. His early works include the stories ‘Koi/Carp’ 1928 and ‘Sanshōuo/Salamander’ 1929, Kawa/River 1932, and the satirical novel Shūkin Ryokō/Travel to Collect Money 1936. The novella Hazanami gunki/Waves, set at the close of the Heian era, took so long to write that it was published 1930-38. Jon Manjirō Hyōryūki/Jon Manjiro Castaway: his life and adventures 1937 is a true account of a man whose boat was swept across the Pacific by a storm during the time when Japan had closed itself off from the world. Black Rain tells the story of a young woman who, because she is thought to have been contaminated by radiation from the atomic bomb, is unable to find a husband. Interwoven with this story are documentary and diary extracts.