About Fumio Niwa
Fumio Niwa (丹羽 文雄, Niwa Fumio; November 22, 1904 Japan, died April 20, 2005 in Musashino, Tokyo) was a Japanese novelist with a long list of works, the most famous in the West being his novel The Buddha Tree (Japanese Bodaiju, "The Linden", or "The Bodhi Tree", 1956). He was ordained as a Shin Buddhist priest in his youth, but abandoned the priesthood two years after his ordination. == Career == Niwa was born in Mie Prefecture, the eldest son of a priest in the Pure Land sect of Buddhism. He grew up at Sōgen-ji, a temple in Yokkaichi near Nagoya. After his graduation from Waseda University, he reluctantly entered the hereditary priesthood there but quit two years later, at the age of 29, in order to become a writer, walking out of the temple grounds on 10 April 1932 and heading back to Tokyo. He was supported by his girlfriend until their marriage in 1935. During this time he published Sweetfish (Japanese Ayu), serialised in Bungeishunjū, and the novel Superfluous Flesh (Japanese Zeiniku). Niwa's work was controversial and, during World War II, two of his novels were banned for immorality. In 1938, Niwa joined the Pen butai (lit. "Pen corps"), a government organisation which consisted of authors who travelled the front during the Second Sino-Japanese War to write favourably of Japan's war efforts in China.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.