Author · 1892–1962

吉川英治Yoshikawa Eiji · よしかわ えいじ

Yoshikawa Eiji was one of the most widely read Japanese novelists of the twentieth century, best known for historical fiction. Family hardship forced him to leave school young, and he worked a series of jobs before establishing himself as a writer. Much of his fiction first appeared as newspaper serials and reached a very large popular readership. His best-known works include Miyamoto Musashi, a fictionalised life of the swordsman, and Shin Heike Monogatari, a retelling of the Heike saga. His Sangokushi brought the Chinese Three Kingdoms story to a broad Japanese audience.

三国志 — The Three Kingdoms: An Author's Foreword

N1 1,414 characters

This is not the novel itself but Yoshikawa Eiji's short preface to his retelling of the Chinese classic of the Three Kingdoms. In about 1,400 characters he explains why this ancient story still feels alive to him, why he chose to write it…