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Bunzo Uchiumi

うちうみ ぶんぞう

Uchiumi Bunzo

Aliases: 荒井 一作
Pen Names: Bunzo Uchiumi（Pen name）, Issaku Arai（Birth name）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1948-08-04 （Tokyo, Japan）
Died
2007-10-09 （Tokyo, Japan） age 59
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Writer, Film assistant director, Farmer
Active Years
1992-2007

Education

Waseda University
School of Political Science and Economics
Country: Japan
After graduation he worked as a film assistant director and later engaged in farming.

Awards

Yokomizo Seishi Mystery Award
1992
Work: Gray Princess: Spy in the Mirror Country
Category: 優秀作
Organization: Yokomizo Seishi Mystery Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Ōyabu Haruhiko Award
2002
Work: Harbin Café
Organization: Ōyabu Haruhiko Award Committee
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Gray Princess: Spy in the Mirror Country

1993 Mystery

Debut novel. A mystery-tinged long work with spy elements set in a 'mirror country'-like setting.

spydeceptionidentity

Harbin Café

2002 Mystery / Hard-boiled

A work depicting human drama and crime set against an exotic backdrop. Winner of the Ōyabu Haruhiko Award.

crimehuman dramanostalgia

Naked and Naked, Vol.1 — The Orphans' Eternal World War

2004 Near-future war fiction / SF

The first volume of a near-future war series set in Japan, portraying orphaned troops and an eternal war.

civil warmilitarychild soldiers

The Fool and the Fool, Vol.1 — Rebellion of the Savage Starving Gods

2006 Near-future war fiction / SF

Part of the Ouka War Chronicle series; a near-future ensemble drama depicting violence and societal collapse.

social collapseviolencepower struggle

The Victor and the Victor — Joy, Remorse, and Paper Snow

2008 Near-future war fiction / SF

Intended as the final installment of the Ouka War Chronicle series. Published in combined volume unfinished.

civil warreconstructionloss

Bibliography

  • Gray Princess: Spy in the Mirror Country
  • Sometimes a Confession
  • There Was a Rose
  • The Evil Eye
  • And Yet You Walk the Path of Shura
  • Period
  • House of R
  • Harbin Café
  • Carnival of Love and Regret
  • 1972: Rainy Lau
  • Robinson's House
  • The Ghost I Loved
  • Bitter Daughter
  • Dreaming of Home & Mother
  • Naked and Naked, Vol.1 — The Orphans' Eternal World War
  • Naked and Naked, Vol.2 — The Unforgivable Heresy of Evil
  • The Fool and the Fool, Vol.1 — Rebellion of the Savage Starving Gods
  • The Fool and the Fool, Vol.2 — Gender F**ker Sisters
  • The Victor and the Victor — Joy, Remorse, Paper Snow
  • The Men's Long Journey (included in a short-story collection)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
A hard-edged style grounded in mystery elementsNarration incorporating near-future depiction and war chronicle modes
Recurring Motifs
civil war and divisionviolence and recoverymarginalized figures such as orphans and child soldiers

Health

  • Myocardial infarction
    2007-10
    He died suddenly of a myocardial infarction in 2007. A planned final long work was published incomplete.

Legacy

Uchiumi Bunzo was a novelist active in mystery and near-future war fiction, receiving the Yokomizo Seishi Mystery Award (Excellence) and the Ōyabu Haruhiko Award. He left the Ouka War Chronicle series and other near-future war works; his final long novel was published unfinished.

Archives

  • Holdings and authority record at the National Diet Library (NDL)

Trivia

  • Pen name: Bunzo Uchiumi. Birth name: Issaku Arai.
  • Graduated from Waseda University, School of Political Science and Economics.
  • After graduation he worked as a film assistant director and later in farming, then debuted as a writer in 1992.
  • Debuted in 1992 with 'Gray Princess: Spy in the Mirror Country', awarded an Excellence prize at the 13th Yokomizo Seishi Mystery Award.
  • Won the 5th Ōyabu Haruhiko Award in 2002 for 'Harbin Café'.
  • Died suddenly of a myocardial infarction in 2007 at age 59.
  • The intended final volume of the Ouka War Chronicle, 'The Victor and the Victor', was published incomplete as a combined volume.
  • Authority and catalog records exist (ISNI, VIAF, NDL, CiNii).