Shichirō Fukazawa

Shichirō Fukazawa (深沢七郎, Fukazawa Shichirō, January 29, 1914–August 18, 1987) was a noted Japanese author and musician.

Fukazawa was born in Isawa, Yamanashi. His first novel, The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushiko, 楢山節考), won the Chūōkōron Prize, and was twice made into a movie script: first by Kinoshita Keisuke (1958) and again by Imamura Shōhei (1983) when it won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or.

In 1960, Chūo Koron published his satire Furyu mutan (“The Story of a Dream of Courtly Elegance"). In it the narrator dreams that leftists take over the imperial palace and behead Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko before an enthusiastic crowd. This story provoked fury in the Imperial Household Agency and among Japanese ultra-nationalists. On February 1, 1961, a seventeen-year-old rightist broke into the home of Chūo's president, Shimanaka Hoji, killed a maid with a sword, and severely wounded Shimanaka's wife in response to the story. Fukazawa went into hiding and was little seen in public afterwards.

Selected prizes

1956 Chūōkōron Prize for The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushiko, 楢山節考)
1981 Tanizaki Prize for Michinoku no ningyotachi (みちのくの人形たち)

Fukazawa was born in Isawa, Yamanashi. His first novel, The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushiko, 楢山節考), won the Chūōkōron Prize, and was made three times into a movie script. First MEN OF TOHOKU by Kon Ichikawa, 1957; then by Kinoshita Keisuke NARAYAMA BUSHI-KO (1958) and again by Imamura Shōhei The Ballad of Narayama (1982) when it won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or (1983).

Selected works

Narayama bushiko, 楢山節考, 1956.
東北の神武たち, 1957.
笛吹川, 1958.
言わなければよかったのに日記, 1958.
東京のプリンスたち, 1959.
千秋楽, 1964.
甲州子守唄, 1964.
人間滅亡の唄, 1966.
庶民烈伝, 1970.
盆栽老人とその周辺, 1973.
無妙記, 1975.
妖木犬山椒, 1975.
Michinoku no ningyotachi (みちのくの人形たち), 1979.
Chotto ippuku meido no michikusa (ちょっと一服冥土の道草), Tōkyō : Bungei Shunjū, 1983.
極楽まくらおとし図, 1984.