Jirō Nitta

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Jirō Nitta (新田 次郎, Nitta Jirō, June 6, 1912 – February 15, 1980) is the pen name of popular Japanese historical novelist Hiroto Fujiwara (藤原 寛人, Fujiwara Hiroto). He was born in an area that is now part of the city of Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.[1]

Jirō Nitta
新田 次郎
Jirō c. 1956
Jirō c. 1956
BornHiroto Fujiwara
藤原 寛人
(1912-06-06)June 6, 1912
Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
DiedFebruary 15, 1980(1980-02-15) (aged 67)
Musashino, Tokyo, Japan
OccupationNovelist
NationalityJapanese
Notable awardsNaoki Prize
Medal with Purple Ribbon
Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class
ChildrenMasahiko Fujiwara (son)
RelativesSakuhei Fujiwara (uncle)

Literature portal

Career

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His uncle was the famed meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwara and his son is mathematician Masahiko Fujiwara. After retiring from the Japan Meteorological Agency, he began writing professionally. Originally a meteorologist, he wrote mainly on themes connected with mountains.

At least three of his documentary novels have been translated into English. Death March on Mount Hakkōda (八甲田山死の彷徨, Hakkōdasan shi no hōkō) is based on an incident in 1902 in the Hakkōda Mountains. Alaskan Tale (アラスカ物語, Arasuka monogatari) is about the adventures of Frank Yasuda.

Phantom Immigrants (密航船水安丸, Mikōsen Suianmaru, lit. "Stowaway-ship Suianmaru"; translated by David Sulz) deals with the Meiji era entrepreneur, Jinzaburo Oikawa (及川 甚三郎, Oikawa Jinzaburō) from northern Miyagi prefecture, who went to Canada in 1896 to export salmon roe back to Japan. In 1906, he chartered the schooner Suianmaru to smuggle 82 fellow villagers out of Japan and into Canada. They were apprehended and arrested on Vancouver Island without passports but allowed to stay in Canada thanks to negotiations by Saburo Yoshie (吉江 三郎, Yoshie Saburō) (aka Fred Yoshy) of the Japanese consulate in Vancouver.

His 1973 two-volume novel Kokou no Hito (孤高の人) has been adapted into a manga series of the same title in which he is credited as writer.

References

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  1. ^ Jirō Nitta Archived 2011-12-16 at the Wayback Machine. (in Japanese) Suwa City. Accessed July 25, 2010.