11 Facts About Fumio Niwa

Fumio Niwa was a Japanese novelist with a long list of works, the most famous in the West being his novel The Buddha Tree.

Fumio Niwa was ordained as a Shin Buddhist priest in his youth, but abandoned the priesthood two years after his ordination.

Fumio Niwa grew up at Sogen-ji, a temple in Yokkaichi near Nagoya.

Fumio Niwa was supported by his girlfriend until their marriage in 1935.

Fumio Niwa's work was controversial and, during World War II, two of his novels were banned for immorality.

Fumio Niwa worked as a war correspondent in China and New Guinea, accompanied Rear Admiral Gunichi Mikawa's Eighth Fleet and was on board the flagship Chokai during the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942.

Fumio Niwa's most celebrated short story was The Hateful Age, about a family terrorised by a senile grandmother, which enjoyed such popularity that the title became a phrase in the language, for a time.

In 1965 Fumio Niwa was elected a member of the Japan Art Academy, and the following year he was elected as Chairman of the Japanese Writers' Association, a position he held for many years.

Fumio Niwa encouraged fellow members to play golf, organised health insurance, and bought land for a writers' cemetery.

Fumio Niwa won the 19th Yomiuri Prize and was awarded the Order of Culture in 1977.

Fumio Niwa was married twice and had one son and one daughter, Keiko Honda, who described his decline in Days of Care.