Quick Facts
Biography
Ozaki Kōyō (尾崎 紅葉, January 10, 1868 - October 30, 1903) was a Japanese author. His real name was Ozaki Tokutaro (尾崎 徳太郎).
Biography
Ozaki was the only son of Kokusai (尾崎 谷斎), a well-known netsuke carver in the Meiji period. He was educated at Tokyo Prefecture Middle School and later at Tokyo Imperial University. At university, he started publishing a literary magazine called 'Ken'yūsha' (Friend of the ink stone) in 1885 with some friends. Well known writers Yamada Bimyo and Kawakami Bizan also had material published in the magazine.
Ozaki's most renowned works are The Usurer (金色夜叉 Konjiki Yasha) (also known as The Golden Demon, which first appeared in 1897 in the Hakubunkan magazine Nihon Taika Ronshū (日本大家論集, lit. Japan Expert Treatise Collection)) and Tajō Takon. His works mostly appeared in the Yomiuri Shimbun, the most popular newspaper in Japan. His pupil Izumi Kyōka continued to write in Ozaki's style. In 1954, The Golden Demon was made into a Japanese-language film set in Atami.