Voices Left Behind in the Battlefield Wheat Fields: Shihei Hino, Wheat, and Soldiers, 1937–1960

Shihei Hino was born in 1907 in Wakamatsu, Fukuoka Prefecture; his real name was Katsunori Tamai. In 1937, he won the Akutagawa Prize for *Fecal and Urine Tales*, which he wrote just before being drafted into the Sino-Japanese War, and received the news while on the battlefield. The following year, in 1938, he published *Wheat and Soldiers*, based on his experiences on the Chinese front. Bibliographic records at the National Diet Library confirm that this work was published by Kaizōsha in 1938. Although *Wheat and Soldiers* was a war correspondent’s account written at the request of the military, it also depicted the daily lives of soldiers who longed for their homeland and lived with a fear of death. The book generated a huge response, and Hino instantly rose to fame as a “soldier-writer.” However, after Japan’s defeat, Hino faced severe criticism for his collaboration with the war effort and was even barred from holding public office. Subsequently, he wrote works such as *Flowers and Dragons* and *Before and After the Revolution*, in which he reexamined his own wartime experiences and his responsibility for the war. From the perspective of “author pathology” in the source material, the stark contrast between his wartime fame and his postwar isolation provides crucial context for understanding the latter half of Hino’s life. He died on January 24, 1960, and it was later revealed by his family that he had taken his own life.