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Azusa Katsume

かつめ あずさ

Katsume Azusa

Pen Names: Azusa Katsume（Used as a pen name）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1932-06-20 （Tokyo, Japan）
Died
2020-03-03 age 87
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Tokyo, Japan → Kyushu region (including Nagasaki) → Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Essayist, Haiku poet
Active Years
1962-2020
Affiliations
Bungei Shuto (literary magazine circle), All-Japan Haiku Society General Council (organizer)
Memberships
Mystery Writers of Japan, Japan PEN Club, Japan Literary Artists Association
Influenced By
Kenji Nakagami, Atsushi Mori

Education

Kagoshima Prefectural Ijuin High School
Country: Japan
Did not complete (dropped out)

Awards

Shosetsu Gendai Newcomer Award
1974
Work: Shindai no Hōsen (The Ark of the Berth)
Organization: Kodansha / Shosetsu Gendai magazine
Result: 受賞
Japan Bungei Award
1981
Organization: Japan Bungei Award Committee
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

My Carnival

1967 Literary fiction

An early major work depicting urban loneliness and sexual impulses; a notable short/novella.

isolationsexualityurban life

Holding Up the Flowers

1969 Literary fiction

Published in Bungeikai and nominated for the Naoki Prize; explores human relationships and social margins.

familysocial marginalizationviolence

The Ark of the Berth

1974 Novel

Award-winning novel (Shosetsu Gendai Newcomer Award) focusing on revenge and violence; a turning point in his career.

revengeviolencemasculine struggle

The Beasts' Hot Sleep

1978 Erotic novel / Violent fiction

A bestseller that mixes erotic and violent depictions in an ensemble narrative; adapted into film.

eroticismviolencedesire
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Beasts' Hot Sleep / 村川透 (1981)

Bibliography

  • My Carnival (1967)
  • Holding Up the Flowers (1969)
  • The Ark of the Berth (1974)
  • Man-Flower Voyage (1977)
  • The Beasts' Hot Sleep (1978)
  • Night at Noon (1978)
  • The Lascivious Hunter (1978)
  • Night's Fang (1979)
  • Dark Festival of the Scaffold (1979)
  • Night Prey (1980)

Adaptations

  • The Beasts' Hot Sleep (film adaptation, 1981, dir. Toru Murakawa)
  • From 'Orion's Killing' — Equation of Affair (film, 1978, dir. Yoshitaro Negishi)
  • Target of Desire (film, 1979, dir. Noboru Tanaka)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Direct, rough prose styleMixes eroticism and violenceHard-boiled narration
Recurring Motifs
nightbeasts/wildnessrevengeunderclasssexual perversion

Health

  • Tuberculosis
    若年期に約3年間療養
    During sanatorium treatment he resolved to become a writer
  • Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
    2020-03-03（死因）
    Died of a heart attack in March 2020

Legacy

Known as a prolific writer of erotic and violent popular fiction with many film and manga adaptations. He also worked on haiku and criticism, and is recognized for a cross-genre body of work.

Academic Societies

  • Mystery Writers of Japan
  • Japan Literary Artists Association
  • Japan PEN Club

Archives

  • National Diet Library (authority records)
  • Authority records such as VIAF / WorldCat

In Popular Culture

  • Many works were adapted into films and manga
  • Representative figure of erotic/violence fiction in 1970s–1990s Japan

Trivia

  • Parents divorced in his childhood and he moved to Kyushu with his mother
  • Dropped out of Kagoshima Prefectural Ijuin High School
  • Worked as a coal miner in Nagasaki and served as a labor union official
  • Had a roughly three-year tuberculosis sanatorium stay during which he decided to become a writer
  • Used the haiku pen-name 'Ichien' and organized haiku gatherings for decades
  • Reportedly published close to 300 books over his career