Masterpieces on Japan by Foreign Authors From Goncharov to Pinguet

Shōichi Saeki

Shōichi Saeki was born on April 26, 1922 (Taishō 11) and graduated from the Department of English Literature at the University of Tokyo in 1943. He was a professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Tokyo, a professor at Chūō University, and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo (specializing in American and Japanese literature). He died on January 1, 2016 (Heisei 28). His major works include Nihonjin no jiden (Autobiography of the Japanese) (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1974), Monogatari geijutsu ron (Narrative Art Theory) (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1979), winner of the Yomiuri Literature Award, and Jiden no seiki (Century of Autobiography) Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1985), awarded the Art Encouragement Prize.

Tōru Haga 

Tōru Haga was born in 1931(Showa 6), and graduated from the University of Tokyo with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Culture.  He specialized in comparative literature and modern Japanese comparative cultural history and was president emeritus of Kyoto University of Art and Design, director of the Okazaki City Museum of Art, and director of the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. He died in 2020 (Reiwa 2).His writings include Taikun no shisetsu (Mission of the Tycoon) (Tokyo: Chūkō Shinsho, 1968); Watanabe Kazan (Tokyo: Asahi Sensho, 1974); Hiraga Gen’nai (Tokyo: Asahi Hyōdensen, 1981), awarded the Suntory Prize for Arts and Letters; Kaiga no ryōbun (The Domain of Art) (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1984), winner of the Osaragi Jirō Prize; Yosa Buson no chiisana sekai (The Little World of Yosa Buson); (Tokyo: Chūokōron Shinsha, 1984); Shiika no mori e (To Forest of Poetry) (Tokyo: Chūkō Shinsho, 2002); and Geijutsu no kuni Nippon: Gabun kōkyō (Japan—The Land of the Arts: A symphony of painting and literature) (Tokyo: Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan, 2010).