Kawaguchi Matsutaro

(1899-1985). Novelist, playwright, and stage and film producer. Born in Tokyo. Raised in a poor family, he left home at age 14. In 1935, he won the first Naoki Prize for his short story Tsuruhachi Tsurujirō (1934). His serialized novel Aizen katsura (1936-38), a melodramatic love story about a nurse and a doctor, gained him tremendous popularity. He was long associated with Daiei Co., Ltd., a motion picture company. (adapted from Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993)