Seiichi Morimura

Seiichi Morimura
Native name
森村 誠
Born(1933-01-02)January 2, 1933
Kumagaya
DiedJuly 24, 2023(2023-07-24) (aged 90)
Notable worksThe Devil's Gluttony [ja]
Notable awardsEdogawa Rampo Prize (1969)

Seiichi Morimura (森村 誠一, Morimura Seiichi, January 2, 1933 – July 24, 2023) was a Japanese novelist and author, born in Kumagaya. He is best known for the controversial The Devil's Gluttony [ja] (悪魔の飽食) (1981), which revealed the atrocities committed by Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).[1][2]

The Devil's Gluttony was serialized in the Akahata (Japanese Communist Party's newspaper) in 1980,[1] and subsequently published by Kobunsha (光文社), in two volumes in 1981 and 1982.[3] In the ensuing controversy, half of a photograph was discovered to be a fabrication, and Kobunsha subsequently withdrew the book. A second edition was then published by Kadokawa Shoten in 1983 with the controversial photograph removed.[4]

Morimura won the Edogawa Rampo Prize in 1969 for Death in the High-Rise (高層の死角).[5]

His short story "Devil of a Boy" appears translated into English in Ellery Queen's Japanese Golden Dozen: The Detective Story World in Japan anthology, which was edited by Ellery Queen.

Seiichi Morimura died of pneumonia on July 24, 2023, at the age of 90.[6]

  1. ^ a b "The Devil's Feast..." Boston Globe. April 20, 1982. Retrieved December 7, 2010.[dead link‍]
  2. ^ "Japanese public reliving war". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 15, 1982. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  3. ^ Croddy, Eric (1997). Chemical and biological warfare: an annotated bibliography. Scarecrow Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780810832718. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  4. ^ Nozaki, Yoshiko (2000). Textbook controversy and the production of public truth: Japanese education, nationalism, and Saburo Ienaga's court challenges. University of Wisconsin--Madison. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  5. ^ Gid Powers, Richard; Hidetoshi Katō; Bruce Stronach (1989). Handbook of Japanese popular culture. Greenwood Press. p. 283. ISBN 9780313239229. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  6. ^ Award-Winning Novelist Seiichi Morimura Dies at 90