SHIRAI Kyoji - Standard-bearer of Popular Literature 1889-1980
Born in Yokohama in 1889, Kyoji Shirai's experience of moving from place to place as his bureaucratic father was transferred from one job to another provided a rich backdrop for his later works. After studying literature at Waseda University, he worked as a translator and a newspaper reporter before beginning his creative work. The Taisho period was a time of urbanization and the rise of magazine culture, and ordinary people were in great demand for entertainment. After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, Shirai serialized "Shinsengumi" and "Fuji ni Tateki Kage" and established the golden age of newspaper novels. Fuji" fascinated readers as a magnificent historical romance and gave them hope in a dark world. In addition, together with Naoki Sanjo and Edogawa Rampo, he advocated "popular literature" and promoted the movement to open literature to the general public. In the early Showa period, when modernization was proceeding rapidly, Shirai established literature that had soc
ial significance rather than mere entertainment, and led the masses to become cultural entities.
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