Saho Sasazawa Explained

Saho Sasazawa
Pseudonym:Saho Sasazawa
Birth Name:Masaru Sasazawa
Birth Date:November 15, 1930
Birth Place:Tokyo Prefecture
Death Place:Komae, Tokyo
Occupation:Novelist
Genre:Period novel, mystery, Suspense
Notableworks:Kogarashi Monjirō

was a Japanese author, known as the creator of the Kogarashi Monjirō novels, which became a hit televised drama series.

He was a self-declared member of the or "new orthodox" school of detective fiction writing. Aside from mysteries, he also wrote thrillers, essays and history books, with some 380 books to his credit.

Life and works

Saho Sasazwa was born, the third son of poet . Born in Yokohama according to many sources, but it has also been said he was actually born in Yodobashi, Tokyo and later moved to Yokohama. There he attended what is now Kanto Gakuin University's high school division, but failed to graduate, frequently running away from home during this period.

By 1952 he was in Tokyo, working at the Bureau run by the Postal Ministry. Around this time he dabbled in writing plays.

In 1958, he was struck by a DUI car, suffering injuries expecting to take 8 months to fully heal. But his short stories and, which he had submitted to prize contest before the accident both qualified and were printed in the December 1958 special issue of the Hoseki magazine.

In 1960, his became a runner-up for the 5th Edogawa Rampo Prize, and the release of this in book format marked his debut as novelist.

He adopted the pen name Saho, which was taken from his wife's name .

His was awarded the 14th Mystery Writers of Japan Award, after which he resigned from the Postal Ministry and became a full-time professional writer.

With his (1962) he received his third nomination for the prestigious semi-annual Naoki Prize for popular fiction. He had been twice nominated for the prize before, for Hitokui and, and although he was short-listed to win this time, he was disappointed once again. Around this time, while declaring himself to be one of the practitioners of honkaku-ha (本格派) or "orthodox school" of mystery fiction-writing, he wrote a trilogy on double-suicide without homicide; of these, the Naoki Prize-nominated Roppongi Double-Suicide was appraised as a piece "depicting empty love between a young man and a girl", which entwined "the drama of loss of faith in humanity" into the mystery novel.

In 1970, he ventured into writing period novels (in particular matatabi fiction about traveling gamblers) with . Sasazawa's style of this gambler fiction has been characterized as "casting a nihilistic shadow, an added an aura of Cowboy Westerns". The samurai period gambler piece that brought Sasazawa lasting fame was his Kogarashi Monjirō series, begun with the episode entitled . The book was TV-dramatized with Atsuo Nakamura playing the leading role of the gambler Monjirō, and the program achieved immense popularity.[1]

He continued to write fiction in both contemporary and period settings.

Some of his outputs in modern settings from the subsequent period include the child-kidnapping novel, called a masterpiece on par with his earlier great works;[2] which launched the Detective Isenami series; was a time-limit kidnapping story with a twist, the scandal-monger must devise a ransom for the perpetrator who only wants vengeance; features a well-crafted locked room gimmickry.

He also became well known at one time for Akuma no heya ("Devil's room", 1981) and its sequels in his Akuma ("Devil") series of erotic suspense-thriller novels (this being a hybrid genre between the erotic novel and suspense-thriller.

His started the Hideo Yoake casefile series of novels, dramatized on TV as the starring Tsunehiko Watase; The TV series "Interrogation room" ran its first episode in 1994 based on the novel of the same title published 1993.

Period pieces in other than his Monjirō include which employs mystery novel techniques in historical settings, the Jigoku no Tatsu crime-solving novels (1972–), televised as ; another TV-dramtized series on (1974–),[3] 、he has been called a "constant innovator" or experimenter. In particular, Sasazawa is known for applying the mystery novel techniques of "surprise-twist endings (donden-gaeshi)" and climatic endings in writing matatabi fiction, thus introducing a fresh angle in the fiction about these wandering rogue swordsman-gamblers.

He wrote a study in sensual-erotic suspense with the novel which was adapted into film, and crime novels consisting entirely of conversation, such as, and, and where the alibi trick undergoes a complete 180-degrees plot-twist.

He held a staunch purist stance about detective fiction writing. Sasazawa identified himself as a proponent of the . Such a writer, he explained, was not only required to be "orthodox" (or "authentic") and devise a clever trick used in the crime, but in addition, needed to maintain realisticness in the human characters employed. When he sat on the selection panel for the Edogawa Rampo Prize, he repeatedly bewailed the laxening of the definition of what could be considered "detective fiction". In 1977, he wrote an essay that polemicized against the novel of manners contaminating the mystery fiction genre.[5]

Selected works

Modern mysteries

The Misaki ("Cape") series

The Akuma ("Devil") series

The Hideo Yoake taxi-driver series

Misc.

Period novels

Kogarashi Monjiro series

Return of Kogarashi Monjiro series

Downfall: Rise and Fall of the Tokugawa Cabinet

  1. Shodensha, 1993-12
  2. , 1994-09
  3. , 1995-04
  4. , 1996-03
  5. , 1996-12
  6. , 1997-09
  1. , 2002-01
  2. , 2002–03
  3. , 2002–05

Miyamoto Musashi series

  1. , Bungeishunjū, 1990-01
  2. , 1990-02
  3. , 1990-03
  4. , 1990-08
  5. , 1991-02
  6. , 1991-08
  7. , 1992-03
  8. , 1992-08
  9. , 1993-05
  10. , 1994-02
  11. , 1994-07
  12. , 1995-02
  13. , 1995-07
  14. , 1995-12
  15. , 1996-06
  1. , Bunshun Bunko, 1996-10
  2. , 1996-10
  3. , 1996-11
  4. , 1996-11
  5. , 1996-12
  6. , 1996-12
  7. , 1997-01
  8. , 1997-01

Sanada Ten Braves series

  1. ,, 1980-09
  2. , 1980-11
  3. , 1981-05
  1. , Kobunsha Bunko, 1989-01~0
  1. , Futaba Bunko, 1997-02
  2. , 1997-03
  3. , 1997-04
  4. , 1997-05
  5. , 1997-05

Yakubyōgami Casebook

Donta's caebook.

  1. , 1997-02
  2. , 1998-07

Yume to shōchi de

Or, "Full knowing it's a Dream" series

Jigoku no Tatsu series

  1. , Kappa Novels, 1972
  2. , 1972
  3. , 1976
  1. Kubinashi jizō wa katarazu, Kobunsha Bunko, 1985-11
  2. Okappiki ga jūji wo suteta, 1985-12
  3. Asu wa meido ka Kyo nō yume ("Dream of Hell or Kyoto Tomorrow"), 1986-06
  1. , Shodensha Bunko

Hanmi no Okon series

  1. , Kodansha, 1974
  2. , 1974
  3. , 1975
  1. , 1986-11
  2. , 1986-12
  3. , 1987-01
  1. , Kobunsha Bunko, 2000–06
  2. , 2000–08
  3. , 2001–06
Itako no Itaro series
  1. , Yomiuri Shimbunsha, 1975
  2. , 1975
  1. Itako no Itarō: Ōtone no yami ni kieta, 1982-08
  2. Itako no Itarō: Kettō Hakone-yama Sanmai-bashi|潮来の伊太郎 決闘・箱根山三枚橋|extra="Duel at Sanmai Bridge, Mount Hakone"}}, 1982-10
  1. Ōtone no yami ni kieta, 1988-06
  2. Kettō Hakone-yama Sanmai-bashi, 1988-07
The Banished One: Kuki Shinjūrō series
  1. ,, 1978-08
  2. , 1979
  1. Edo no yūgiri ni kiyu, 1989-05
  2. Bijo ka kitsune ka tōge michi, 1989-06

Mushukunin Mikogami no Jokichi

  1. Mushukunin Mikogami no Jōkichi jō, Volume 1, Kodansha, 1972
  2. Mushukunin Mikogami no Jōkichi chū, Volume 2, 1972
  3. Mushukunin Mikogami no Jōkichi ge-no-ichi, Volume 3. Part 1, 1973
  4. Mushukunin Mikogami no Jōkichi ge-no-ni, Volume 3. Part 2, 1973
  1. "Volume 1", Tokuma Bunko, 1987-10
  2. "Volume 2", 1987-11
  3. "Volume 3", 1987-12
  4. "Volume 4", 1988-01

Otonashi Gen's Casebook

, Kobunsha

  1. , Jidai Shosetsu Bunko, 1987-12
  2. , 1988-02
  3. , 1988-03
  4. , 1988-04
  5. , 1988-05
  1. , Non Pochette Bunko, 1996-12
  2. , 1997-07
  3. , 1997-12
  4. Ukiyoe no onna, 1998-06

Himeshiro Nagaretabi series

  1. , Kofudo Shuppan, 1980-10
  2. , 1980-11
  3. , 1981-01
  4. , 1981-01
  5. , 1982-07
  1. , Tokuma Bunko, 1990-03
  2. , 1990-04
  3. , 1990-05
  4. , 1990-06
  5. , 1990-07

Haiku-Poet Issa's Casebook

Genpaku and Utamaro's Casebook

Otasuke Doshin series

Otasuke Doshin or the "Helpful Doshin-Detective"

Misc.

Autobiography

Essays

Part2; Part3. PHP, 1990; 1991; 1993

Moving images adaptions

Films

TV Dramas

TV series

One-off /Single episode

Manga adaptations

References

Citations
Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. .
  2. .
  3. apud BLOGOS, review, 2015-03-10.
  4. whose title character Okon bears a tattoo which forms a complete dragon when combined with her lover's.

    During his lifetime he published some 377 books.

    With declining health in 1987, he recuperated at a hospital in the town of Mikatsuki, Saga which bore a name similar to (Mikazuki Village), the fictitious birthplace of Monjirō. After being discharged, he made the adjacent town of Fujichō his home, and although he had to relocate in 1995 to in Saga city for hospital access, the Fujichō residence later became the Sasazawa Saho Memorial Museum.

    He established the for literature by new authors in 1993, with the final 24th prize awarded in 2017.

    In 2001 he returned to Kodaira, Tokyo, and succumbed to liver cancer (HCC) on 21 October 2002 at a hospital in Komae, Tokyo.

    Legacy and influence

    He was a prolific writer, who at his height wrote 1,000 or even 1,500 pages of manuscript per month,[3]

  5. "Fūzoku shōsetsuka no kōzai 風俗小説化の功罪" Suiri shōsetsu kenkyū 推理小説研究, (7).
  6. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322981/ Kogarashi Monjirô (1972)
  7. "Kogarashi Monjirô: Kakawari gozansen (1972)" on IMDb
  8. "Kaettekite Kogarashi Monjirô (1993)" [''sic.''] on IMDb
  9. "Mushukunin Mikogami no Jôkichi: Kiba wa hikisaita (1972)" on IMDb
  10. "Mushukunin mikogami no jôkichi: Kawakaze ni kako wa nagareta (1972)" on IMDb
  11. "Slaughter in the Snow (1973)" on IMDb
  12. "Akuma no heya (1982)" on IMDb
  13. "Shin Kogarashi Monjirô (TV Series 1977–1978)" on IMDb
  14. http://www.tvdrama-db.com/drama_info/p/id-20800 裏切りの報酬　追放者・九鬼真十郎
  15. "Taxi Driver no Suiri Nisshi 1 (1992)" on IMDb
  16. Attribution to Sasazawa and screenplay confirmed on the network's webpage for the 9 May 2015 reairing, and 20 September 2019 reairing on satellite.
  17. Web site: Ninjō keiji no shitamachi jikenbo.. (Ninjō keiji Miyamoto Seishirō: Shi wo maneku yamayuri) . ja:人情刑事の下町事件簿　巣鴨・新妻殺人事件　現場に咲くヤマユリは復讐の合図!?仮面夫婦の完全犯罪を暴く万年ヒラ刑事の情熱捜査（人情刑事　宮本清四郎　死を招く山百合）. TV Drama Database . 2016.
  18. Web site: Kogarashi Monjirō (Kogarashi Monjirō... Ayamari) . ja:木枯し紋次郎（木枯らし紋次郎...誤り）. TV Drama Database . 2009.
  19. Web site: Monday Golden back episodes . ja:月曜ゴールデン バックナンバー . 2020 . TBS .
  20. https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%9C%A8%E6%9E%AF%E3%81%97%E7%B4%8B%E6%AC%A1%E9%83%8E-%E5%B0%8F%E5%B3%B6%E5%89%9B%E5%A4%95/dp/B074BQ2BJ8 Kogarashi Monjiro, comics (paperback)
  21. https://ndlonline.ndl.go.jp/#!/detail/R300000001-I000007381434-00 Jigoku no Tatsu torimono-hikae
  22. https://ndlonline.ndl.go.jp/#!/detail/R300000001-I027039742-00 Sanada jūyūshi:
  23. https://ndlonline.ndl.go.jp/#!/detail/R300000001-I000009179439-00 Ginrō ni kodoku wo mita 1

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Saho Sasazawa".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.