Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (1892–1927)

Japanese writer of stories, plays, and poetry. Noted for stylistic virtuosity, he wrote autobiographical fiction and grim satirical fables such as ‘Kappa’ (1927), but his best works are stories derived from 12th- and 13th-century Japanese tales, retold in the light of modern psychology. Among the best known are ‘Jigokuhen’ (1918), the story of an obsessively ambitious artist, and ‘Rashōmon’, the basis for a film of the same name by Akira Kurosawa (1951).