Ryu Mitsuse
Ryū Mitsuse was a Japanese novelist, science fiction writer, alternate history writer, historical novelist, and essayist. Mitsuse is the author of Hyakuoku no Hiru to Sen'oku no Yoru. Among his various works, this SF novel is considered as his representative work. Mitsuse is a founder member and was a member of the SFWJ. In the West he might be best known for manga-related works and the story The Sunset, 2217 A.D. which appeared in Frederik Pohl's "Best Science Fiction for 1972".
Biography
Birth and Age of student
Mitsuse was born at Minami-Senju, Kita-Toshima District, Tokyo Prefecture in 1928. His birth name was Kimio Chiba. The eldest son of Kizō Chiba and Kiyo. There were three elder sisters.In around June, 1945, he evacuated to Iwate prefecture, which was his parents' homeland, from Tokyo. He transferred to kyūsei Ichinose middle school. In 1948, he graduated from this middle school and entered the Toyo University in Tokyo. But he dropped out, and entered the Meiji University. But he again dropped out in short period. He transferred to Kawamura high school and graduated from this school. In 1949, Mitsuse entered the department of Agriculture of the Tokyo University of Education. In 1950, he transferred to the department of Science, zoology course, and graduated from this university in 1953.
In 1954, Mitsuse again entered the department of literature, philosophy course, in Tokyo University of Education, which he did not graduate from. During this period in Tokyo, he was engaging in literary coterie activities.
Marriage
In 1955, Mitsuse proposed marriage to Chitose Iizuka, but her father opposed this proposal and rejected their marriage. Mitsuse could not marry. In 1957, Mitsuse became a tutor of Koganai high school of Tokyo prefecture. And next year, he obtained a stable job as a high school teacher of biology and earth science.In 1959, Mitsuse again proposed marriage. He talked to the father of Chitose that he would take the "surname Iizuka". Thus he was allowed to marry with Chitose, and Mitsuse became Kimio Iizuka.
Becoming a novelist
Before his marriage, Mitsuse joined "Kagaku Sōsaku Club" where Takumi Shibano was operating as a publisher and an editor of the coterie magazine "Uchū-jin" in 1957. He started publishing various short novels in under the pen-name Mitsuse Ryū. He published first long novel "Hakengun Kaeru" in Uchūjin.As an SF novelist, he created the Space Chronicles series. His early long SF novel Tasogare ni Kaeru belongs to this series. Most of his short SF stories constitute this series. Rakuyō 2217 nen is one of these stories.
Works
In Japanese science fiction he might be better known for the novel Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights, which combines interest in technology and the Buddha. It was ranked the top of the Japanese SF novels in a 2006 poll by the SF Magazine. Ten Billion Days and a Hundred Billion Nights was adapted into a manga by Moto Hagio in the late 1970s.Long Novels
Tasogare ni Kaeru 1964, Hayakawa PublishingHyakuoku no Hiru to Sen'oku no Yoru 1967, Hayakawa Publishing- * English translation: Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights, 2011, Haikasoru.Kan'ei Mumyōken 1969, Rippu ShoboUshinawareta Toshi no Kiroku 1972, Hayakawa PublishingSeitō Totoku-fu 1975, Hayakawa PublishingHiden Miyamoto Musashi 1976, Yomiuri ShinbunshaHigashi Canal Bunsho 1977, Hayakawa PublishingKarera, Atlantis yori 1979, Rippu ShoboUchū Kōro 1980, Kiso TengaishaGen'ei no Ballad 1980, Tokuma ShotenKarera Seiun yori 1981, Tokuma ShotenShin Miyamoto Musashi 1981, Tokuma ShotenTokoro wa Izuko, Suishi-ei 1983, Kadokawa ShotenHeike Monogatari 1983 - 1988, Kadokawa ShotenFubuki no Niji 1984, ShueishaAurora no Kienu Ma ni 1984, Hayakawa PublishingNew York, Yōsoro 、宜候 ) 1984, Kadokawa ShotenSabita Ginga 1987, Hayakawa PublishingMiyamoto Musashi Kessen-Roku 1992, Kofusha ShuppanYamiichi no Shinkirō 1993, Jitsugyo no NihonshaHidedyoshi to Nobunaga - Shisetsu Shinchō-kō-Ki 1996, Kofusha ShuppanIhon Saiyūki 1999, Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho
Space Chronicle series
Short novels
City 0 nen Solomon 1942 nen Hare no Umi 1979 nen Bohimei 2007 nen Hyōmu 2015 nen Okhotsk 2017 nen Pilot Farm 2029 nen Kansen Suiro 2061 nen Uchū Kyūjotai 2180 nen Hyōi-Sei 2197 nen Junshisen 2205 nen Ryūsa 2210 nen Rakuyō 2217 nen City 2220 nen Senjō 2241 nen Soula 2291 nen Erutria 2411 nen Sincia Yūsuichi 2450 nen Ryūsei 2505 nen Nishi Canal-Shi 2703 nen Renpou 3812 nen Cabilia 4016 nen Canan 5100 nen- ''Henkyō 5320 nen''