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Mayama Seika was a prominent novelist and playwright of the [[Meiji period|Meiji]] through early Shôwa periods. He is perhaps most famous for his novel ''Minami Koizumi-mura'', and the [[kabuki]] play ''[[Genroku Chushingura|Genroku Chûshingura]]'', which is still performed quite regularly today.

Mayama Seika was a prominent novelist and playwright of the [[Meiji period|Meiji]] through early Shôwa periods. He is perhaps most famous for his novel ''Minami Koizumi-mura'', and the [[kabuki]] play ''[[Genroku Chushingura|Genroku Chûshingura]]'', which is still performed quite regularly today.

Born Mayama Akira in [[Miyagi prefecture]], he dropped out of medical school as a youth to study under writer [[Oguri Fuyo|Oguri Fûyô]]. After his now-acclaimed novel ''Minami Koizumi-mura'' was published in [[1907]], he was expected to quickly become a rising star in the new "naturalist" literary movement, but, after an incident in [[1911]] where his manuscript was double-sold, he became estranged from the literary world.

Born Mayama Akira in [[Miyagi prefecture]], he dropped out of medical school as a youth to study under writer [[Oguri Fuyo|Oguri Fûyô]]. After his now-acclaimed novel ''Minami Koizumi-mura'' was published in [[1907]], he was expected to quickly become a rising star in the new "naturalist" literary movement, but, after an incident in [[1911]] where his manuscript was double-sold, he became estranged from the literary world. ''Minami Koizumi mura'' is acclaimed as a representative novel of the naturalist school; it focuses on the travails of poor farmers in [[Tohoku|Tôhoku]], struggling under the crop failures and other economic and social difficulties experienced by many in rural areas of Meiji Japan.<ref>Irokawa Daikiki, "Meiji Conditions of Nonculture," ''The Culture of the Meiji Period'', Princeton University Press (1985), 223.</ref>

He began working for [[Shochiku|Shôchiku]] in 1913, and became a ''[[shinpa]]'' (new-style theatre) playwright, producing such works as ''Genboku and Chôei''<!--玄朴と長英-->, ''Genroku Chûshingura'', and ''[[Taira no Masakado]]''.

Mayama began working for [[Shochiku|Shôchiku]] in 1913, and became a ''[[shinpa]]'' (new-style theatre) playwright, producing such works as ''Genboku and Chôei''<!--玄朴と長英-->, ''Genroku Chûshingura'', and ''[[Taira no Masakado]]''.

He passed away on March 25, 1948.

He passed away on March 25, 1948.