Born in Kanazawa, Kaga, to a maki-e artisan family. Real name Kyotaro. He lost his mother young; longing for her ran under his later literature.
He went to Tokyo aiming at literature, failed for a time and returned to Kanazawa. Even in poverty his passion to write did not die.
He returned to Tokyo and entered Ozaki Koyo's school, living as a doorkeeper under strict training. He emerged as a brilliant Koyo disciple.
Early success Righteous Blood, Heroic Blood depicted love, sacrifice and bloody beauty, winning Koyo's recognition. Dramatic plotting was his forte.
He published short pieces one after another, noted for unique style and a world of the uncanny. The prototype of Kyoka literature mixing real and fantastic appears here.
He published his masterpiece The Holy Man of Mount Koya. The tale of a traveling monk and an eerie beauty in the mountains endures as crystal of ghost story and ornate prose.
He published A Woman's Pedigree to great acclaim. Later adapted for stage and film, it spread Kyoka's name widely.
While naturalism ruled the literary world, Kyoka held to beauty and the supernatural. Resisting the current built his unique place.
Elected to the Imperial Arts Academy, in old age he was revered as a literary elder. In Kanazawa and Tokyo he kept writing worlds of the uncanny and lyric.
He died in Tokyo at sixty-five. Works such as The Holy Man of Mount Koya kept being read; he is seen as a spring of Japanese fantastic literature.
Nishida KitarōHonda KōtarōShimamura HōgetsuSakai ToshihikoMinobe TatsukichiSuzuki UmetarōYanagita KunioUemura Shōen
People of the Taishō period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.