Hino Ashihei

Who was Hino Ashihei?

Ashihei Hino was born in Wakamatsu and in 1937 he received the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for one of his novels, Fun'nyōtan. At that moment he was a soldier for the Japanese army in China. He then got promoted to the information corps and published numerous works about the daily lives of Japanese soldiers. It is for his war novels that he became famous for during the war. His book Mugi to Heitai sold over a million copies.

Hino committed suicide at the age of 53. His death was first reported to have been from a heart attack, but was later revealed by his family to have been from an overdose of sleeping pills. His birthhouse can be visited today.