Maruya (family name Nemura) Saiichi is a novelist, literary critic, and translator from Yamagata Prefecture. He was conscripted into military service while still in secondary school and had to complete his high school degree after World War II. Thereafter, he attended Tokyo University and subsequently taught English literature at the university level while writing novels. His most famous work is Sasamakura (1966; tr. Pillows of Grass, 1970). Maruya also won the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize for Toshi no nokori (The Rest of the Year, 1968) and the Tanizaki Jun’ichiro Prize for Tatta hitori no hanran (1972; tr. Singular Rebellion, 1986). He also published numerous essays and translations.
Historical dictionary of modern Japanese literature and theater. J. Scott Miller. 2009.