KUME MASAO

born Nov. 23, 1891, Ueda, Japan died March 1, 1952, Kamakura novelist and playwright, one of Japan's most popular writers of the 1920s and '30s. As a student, Kume was associated with the writers Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Kikuchi Kan on the famous school literary journal Shinshicho (New Currents of Thought). He had started writing haiku in high school and published a book of poetry in 1914, but before graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1916, he had turned to theatre. A notable success during this time was the play Gyunyuya no kyodai (1914; The Milkman's Younger Brother). With Akutagawa, he became a disciple of the novelist Natsume Soseki. Jukensei no shuki (1916; Notes of a Student Examinee), Tora (1918; The Tiger), and Hasen (1922; Shipwreck) are among his best works.