Eiki Matayoshi

Who is Eiki Matayoshi?

Eiki Matayoshi is a contemporary Japanese writer from Okinawa, Japan.

His novels are always set in the Okinawa archipelago, and he is considered one of the most important contemporary novelists from Okinawa.

One of his earliest novels, Jōji ga shasatsu shita inoshishi, published in 1978, became very famous for being inspired by a true, controversial story. A soldier of the US occupation forces in Okinawa shot a local man, and during the trial he declared that he mistakenly took him for a wild boar. The US soldier was declared innocent, arousing a big debate among the locals.

Matayoshi became known outside Okinawa thanks to the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, which he won in 1995 for his novel Buta no mukui.