was a Japanese author, known as the creator of the Kogarashi Monjirō novels, which became a hit televised drama series.
He was a self-declared member of the or "new orthodox" school of detective fiction writing. Aside from mysteries, he also wrote thrillers, essays and history books, with some 380 books to his credit.
Life and works Saho Sasazwa was born , the third son of poet . Born in Yokohama according to many sources, but it has also been said he was actually born in Yodobashi, Tokyo and later moved to Yokohama. There he attended what is now Kanto Gakuin University's high school division, but failed to graduate, frequently running away from home during this period.
By 1952 he was in Tokyo, working at the Bureau run by the Postal Ministry. Around this time he dabbled in writing plays.
In 1958, he was struck by a DUI car, suffering injuries expecting to take 8 months to fully heal. But his short stories and , which he had submitted to prize contest before the accident both qualified and were printed in the December 1958 special issue of the Hoseki magazine.
In 1960, his became a runner-up for the 5th Edogawa Rampo Prize, and the release of this in book format marked his debut as novelist.
He adopted the pen name Saho, which was taken from his wife's name .
His was awarded the 14th Mystery Writers of Japan Award, after which he resigned from the Postal Ministry and became a full-time professional writer.
With his (1962) he received his third nomination for the prestigious semi-annual Naoki Prize for popular fiction. He had been twice nominated for the prize before, for Hitokui and , and although he was short-listed to win this time, he was disappointed once again. Around this time, while declaring himself to be one of the practitioners of honkaku-ha (本格派) or "orthodox school" of mystery fiction-writing, he wrote a trilogy on double-suicide without homicide; of these, the Naoki Prize-nominated Roppongi Double-Suicide was appraised as a piece "depicting empty love between a young man and a girl", which entwined "the drama of loss of faith in humanity" into the mystery novel.
In 1970, he ventured into writing period novels (in particular matatabi fiction about traveling gamblers) with . Sasazawa's style of this gambler fiction has been characterized as "casting a nihilistic shadow, adding an aura of Cowboy Westerns". The samurai period gambler piece that brought Sasazawa lasting fame was his Kogarashi Monjirō series, begun with the episode entitled . The book was TV-dramatized with Atsuo Nakamura playing the leading role of the gambler Monjirō, and the program achieved immense popularity..
He continued to write fiction in both contemporary and period settings.
Some of his outputs in modern settings from the subsequent period include the child-kidnapping novel , called a masterpiece on par with his earlier great works;. which launched the Detective Isenami series; was a time-limit kidnapping story with a twist, the scandal-monger must devise a ransom for the perpetrator who only wants vengeance; features a well-crafted locked room gimmickry.
He also became well known at one time for Akuma no heya ("Devil's room", 1981) and its sequels in his Akuma ("Devil") series of erotic suspense-thriller novels (), this being a hybrid genre between the erotic novel and suspense-thriller.
His started the Hideo Yoake casefile series of novels, dramatized on TV as the starring Tsunehiko Watase; The TV series "Interrogation room" ran its first episode in 1994 based on the novel of the same title published 1993.
Period pieces other than Monjirō include which employs mystery novel techniques in historical settings, the Jigoku no Tatsu crime-solving novels (1972–), televised as ; another TV-dramtized series on (1974–), whose title character Okon bears a tattoo which forms a complete dragon when combined with her lover's.
During his lifetime he published some 377 books.
With declining health in 1987, he recuperated at a hospital in the town of Mikatsuki, Saga which bore a name similar to (Mikazuki Village), the fictitious birthplace of Monjirō. After being discharged, he made the adjacent town of Fujichō his home, and although he had to relocate in 1995 to in Saga city for hospital access, the Fujichō residence later became the Sasazawa Saho Memorial Museum.
He established the for literature by new authors in 1993, with the final 24th prize awarded in 2017.
In 2001 he returned to Kodaira, Tokyo, and succumbed to liver cancer (HCC) on 21 October 2002 at a hospital in Komae, Tokyo.
Legacy and influence He was a prolific writer, who at his height wrote 1,000 or even 1,500 pages of manuscript per month, apud BLOGOS, review, 2015-03-10. and has been called a "constant innovator" or experimenter. Sasazawa is known for applying the mystery novel techniques of "surprise-twist endings (donden-gaeshi)" and climatic endings in writing matatabi fiction, thus introducing a new element to fiction about wandering rogue swordsman-gamblers.
He wrote a study in sensual-erotic suspense with the novel which was adapted into film, and crime novels consisting entirely of conversation, such as , and , and where the alibi trick undergoes a complete 180-degrees plot-twist.
He held a staunch purist stance about detective fiction writing. Sasazawa identified himself as a proponent of the . Such a writer, he explained, was not only required to be "orthodox" (or "authentic") and devise a clever trick used in the crime, but in addition, needed to maintain realisticness in the human characters employed. When he sat on the selection panel for the Edogawa Rampo Prize, he repeatedly bewailed the laxening of the definition of what could be considered "detective fiction". In 1977, he wrote an essay that polemicized against the novel of manners contaminating the mystery fiction genre."Fūzoku shōsetsuka no kōzai 風俗小説化の功罪" Suiri shōsetsu kenkyū 推理小説研究, (7).
Selected works Modern mysteries The Misaki ("Cape") series , 1976 , 1978 , 1979 , 1981 , 1981 , 1985 , 1987
The Akuma ("Devil") series , 1981 , 1981 , 1982 , 1982 , 1983 , 1983 , 1994
The Yōbi ("Days of the Week") series
The Hideo Yoake taxi-driver series , Kodansha Novels, 1991 , 1992 , 1994 , Nichibun Bunko, 1998 , 1999 , 199 , Tokuma Bunko, 2000
Misc. , 1960 , 1960 , 1960 , 1960 , former title , 1961 , 1961 , 1961
, 1963 , 1963 , 1972 , 1975 , 1976 , 1977 , 1977 , 1978 , 1979 , 1978 , 1979 , 1980 , 1981 , 1982 , 1983 , 1981 , 1987 , 1989 , 1993
Period novels
, Kodansha, 1970
Kogarashi Monjiro series , Kodansha, 1971 , 1971 , 1972 , 1972 , 1972 , 1973 , 1973 , 1976 , 1976 , 1977 , 1977 , 1978 , 1988
Return of Kogarashi Monjiro series , Shinchosha, 1996 , 1996 , 1997 , 1998 , 1999 , 1999
Downfall: Rise and Fall of the Tokugawa Cabinet Shodensha, 1993-12 , 1994-09 , 1995-04 , 1996-03 , 1996-12 , 1997-09 Shodensha Bunko format , 2002-01 , 2002–03 , 2002–05
Miyamoto Musashi series , Bungeishunjū, 1990-01 , 1990-02 , 1990-03 , 1990-08 , 1991-02 , 1991-08 , 1992-03 , 1992-08 , 1993-05 , 1994-02 , 1994-07 , 1995-02 , 1995-07 , 1995-12 , 1996-06 Bunshun Bunko format , Bunshun Bunko, 1996-10 , 1996-10 , 1996-11 , 1996-11 , 1996-12 , 1996-12 , 1997-01 , 1997-01
Sanada Ten Braves series , , 1980-09 , 1980-11 , 1981-05 Kobunsha Bunko format , Kobunsha Bunko, 1989-01~0 Futaba Bunko format , Futaba Bunko, 1997-02 , 1997-03 , 1997-04 , 1997-05 , 1997-05
Yakubyōgami Casebook Donta's caebook. , Tokuma Shoten, 1991-10 Tokuma Bunko format , 1997-02 , 1998-07
Yume to shōchi de Or, "Full knowing it's a Dream" series , Yomiuri Shimbunsha, 1985-11 , 1985-11 Kobunsha Bunko format , Kobunsha Bunko, 1991-11 , 1991-11
Jigoku no Tatsu series , Kappa Novels, 1972 , 1972 , 1976 Kobunsha Bunko fo Kubinashi jizō wa katarazu, Kobunsha Bunko, 1985-11 Okappiki ga jūji wo suteta, 1985-12 Asu wa meido ka Kyo nō yume ("Dream of Hell or Kyoto Tomorrow"), 1986-06 Shodensha Bunko format , Shodensha Bunko
Hanmi no Okon series , Kodansha, 1974 , 1974 , 1975 Kobunsha Bunko format , 1986-11 , 1986-12 , 1987-01 Shodensha Bunko series , Kobunsha Bunko, 2000–06 , 2000–08 , 2001–06
Itako no Itaro series , Yomiuri Shimbunsha, 1975 , 1975
Kobunsha format Itako no Itarō: Ōtone no yami ni kieta, 1982-08 Itako no Itarō: Kettō Hakone-yama Sanmai-bashi, 1982-10 Tokuma Bunko format Ōtone no yami ni kieta, 1988-06 Kettō Hakone-yama Sanmai-bashi, 1988-07
The Banished One Kuki Shinjūrō series , , 1978-08 , 1979 Tokuma Bunko version Edo no yūgiri ni kiyu, 1989-05 Bijo ka kitsune ka tōge michi, 1989-06
Mushukunin Mikogami no Jokichi Mushukunin Mikogami no Jōkichi jō, Volume 1, Kodansha, 1972 Mushukunin Mikogami no Jōkichi chū, Volume 2, 1972 Mushukunin Mikogami no Jōkichi ge-no-ichi, Volume 3. Part 1, 1973 Mushukunin Mikogami no Jōkichi ge-no-ni, Volume 3. Part 2, 1973 Tokuma Bunko format "Volume 1", Tokuma Bunko, 1987-10 "Volume 2", 1987-11 "Volume 3", 1987-12 "Volume 4", 1988-01
Otonashi Gen's Casebook , Kobunsha Fujimi Shobo , Jidai Shosetsu Bunko, 1987-12 , 1988-02 , 1988-03 , 1988-04 , 1988-05 Shodensha format , Non Pochette Bunko, 1996-12 , 1997-07 , 1997-12 Ukiyoe no onna, 1998-06
Himeshiro Nagaretabi series , Kofudo Shuppan, 1980-10 , 1980-11 , 1981-01 , 1981-01 , 1982-07 Himeshiro's Medicinal Art Travels , Tokuma Bunko, 1990-03 , 1990-04 , 1990-05 , 1990-06 , 1990-07
Haiku-Poet Issa's Casebook , Kobunsha, 1989-0 , Kadokawa Shoten, 1991-10 Kadokawa Bunko format , 1993-01 , 1993-11 Kobunsha Bunko format , Kobunsha Bunko, 1995-05 , 1996-01 Keibunsha Bunko format Bunko, 2001–03 Kosaido Bunko format Bunko, 2004–05
Genpaku and Utamaro's Casebook , Kobunsha Bunko, 1993-02 , 1995-09
Otasuke Doshin series Otasuke Doshin or the "Helpful Doshin-Detective" , Sankei Shimbun Seikatsu Joho Center, 1992-10 Non Pochette Bunko format , Non Pochette (Shobunsha imprint), 1995-10 , 1996-02
Misc. , Bungeishunjū, 1971 , Shogakukan, 1977 Bunshun Bunko format 1982-01 , Bungeishunjū, 1972 Bunshun Bunko format 1982-04 , Kodansha, 1972 KobunshaBunko format 1988-08 , Bungeishunjū, 1976 Bunshun Bunko format 1987-11/Tokuma Bunko format 2002-07 , Shinchosha, 1976 ShinchoBunko format 1984-01 , Shinchosha, 1979-01 ShinchoBunko format 1984-09
, Shincho Bunko, 1988–12. Retitled from Ōedo burai. , Sankei Shuppan, 1982-04 , Non Pochette Bunko, 1988–11. Retitled from . , Shueisha, 1984-02 , Yomiuri Shimbunsha, 1986 , Shinchosha, 1988-11 Shincho Bunko format, 1991-09; Futabasha, 1997-05; Tokuma Bunko format, 2002-01 , Non Pochette Bunko, 1988-03 , Non Pochette Bunko, 1988-05 , Kadokawa Bunko, 1988-09 , Non Pochette Bunko, 1989-04 , Shincho Bunko , Kobunsha, 1990-10 , Kobunsha Bunko, 1999-02 , Kadokawa Bunko, 1990-10 , Kobunsha Bunko, 1992-10 , Bungeishunjū, 1993-03 Bunshun Bunko format, 1996-03; Kobunsha Bunko format, 2000–05 , Futabasha, 1994-12 Futaba novels edition 1997-05 , Kobunsha Bunko, 1995-01 , Futabasha,, 1997-10 Futaba novels edition 1997-05 Futaba Bunko format 2000-06 , Kobunsha, 2000–04 Bunshun Bunko format, 1996-03; Kobunsha Bunko format, 2005-01 , Shodensha Bunko, 2001-01 , Shodensha Bunko, 2002–12 , Kobunsha, 2003–10 Kobunsha Bunko format, 2006-03
Autobiography , 1978
Essays , Shodensha, 1978 , Inner Trip, 1981 ; Part2; Part3. PHP, 1990; 1991; 1993 , Kadokawa, 1990 , Kayryusha, 1994
Adaptations Films , Toei, starring Bunta Sugawara.Kogarashi Monjirô (1972)" on IMDb , Toei, starring Bunta Sugawara."Kogarashi Monjirô: Kakawari gozansen (1972)" on IMDb , Toho, starring Atsuo Nakamura."Kaettekite Kogarashi Monjirô (1993)" [sic.] on IMDb , Toho, starring Yoshio Harada."Mushukunin Mikogami no Jôkichi: Kiba wa hikisaita (1972)" on IMDb , Toho, starring Yoshio Harada."Mushukunin mikogami no jôkichi: Kawakaze ni kako wa nagareta (1972)" on IMDb , Toho, starring Yoshio Harada."Slaughter in the Snow (1973)" on IMDb , Nikkatsu, starring ."Akuma no heya (1982)" on IMDb
TV Dramas TV series , Fuji TV. , Fuji TV.