was the pen-name of Muramatsu Giichi, a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 novelist active during the Showa period

Showa period

The , or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, from December 25, 1926 through January 7, 1989.The Shōwa period was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor...

 of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

Early life

Shōfu was born in Mori Town

Mori, Shizuoka

is a town located in Shūchi District, Shizuoka, Japan. As of February 2010, the town had an estimated population of 19,650 and a density of 147 persons per km². The total area was 133.84 km².-Geography:...

, Shizuoka prefecture

Shizuoka Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...

, which was (and is) a very rural district. Unhappy with country life, he moved to Shiba

Shiba, Tokyo

Shiba is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, located near Hamamatsucho and Tamachi Stations on the Yamanote Line and Mita Station on the Toei Mita Line....

 in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 and attended Keio University

Keio University

,abbreviated as Keio or Keidai , is a Japanese university located in Minato, Tokyo. It is known as the oldest institute of higher education in Japan. Founder Fukuzawa Yukichi originally established it as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo . It has eleven campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa...

. However, he spent more of his time in the Tokyo pleasure districts, such as Yoshiwara

Yoshiwara

Yoshiwara was a famous Akasen district in Edo, present-day Tōkyō, Japan.In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to...

, rather than in the classroom. His first novel, Kotohime monogatari was based on personal experiences in the brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

 district, and appeared in the literary magazine

Literary magazine

A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...

 Chuo Koron in 1917. Its success led to his withdrawal from Keio University to start a career as a writer.

Literary career

Although Shōfu produced numerous works of romantic popular fiction, he is best known for his semi-historical biographical novel

Biographical novel

The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional and usually entertaining account of a person's life. This kind of novel concentrates on the experiences a person had during his lifetime, the people he met and the incidents which occurred are detailed and sometimes...

s. His works include Shōden Shimizu Jirochō (1926–1928), about the famous 19th century gangster/folk-hero of the Tokaido

Tokaido

In Japanese, Tōkaidō may refer to:Spelled 東海道 :*Tōkaidō , an ancient country subdivision of Japan*Tōkaidō , one of the Five Routes of Japan during the Edo period...

, Honchō gajin den ("Biography of an Imperial Court Painter", 1940–1943), Kinsei Meishōden (Biography of Contemporary Master Craftsmen), and Kinsei meishōbu monogatari (1952–1961), which appear serialized in newspapers. A number of novels were also made into movies in the early 1960s, such as Zangiku Monogatari (which appeared in movie form as "The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums

, 1939) is a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.The film is regarded as one of Mizoguchi's greatest pre-war achievements. Especially notable is Mizoguchi's now mature mise-en-scène compositions and extreme long takes.-Synopsis:...

")

His son, Muramatsu Takashi, won the Kikuchi Award, and his grandson Muramatsu Tomomi

Muramatsu Tomomi

is a novelist in late Showa period and Heisei period Japan.-Biography:Muramatsu was born in Tokyo, but was raised in Shimizu, Shizuoka. His grandfather was the noted writer Muramatsu Shofu, and both his father and his mother worked for the literary magazine Chūōkōron. Muramatsu Tomomi attended Keio...

 is a winner of the Naoki Award.

Shōfu relocated from Tokyo to Kamakura

Kamakura, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...

 in 1947, and lived there to his death. He was also a noted amateur master of the classical board game, go

Go (board game)

Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...

.