Saneatsu Mushanokōji

Saneatsu Mushanokōji
Saneatsu Mushanokōji
Born	(1885-05-12)12 May 1885 Tokyo, Japan
Died	9 April 1976(1976-04-09) (aged 90) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Writer
Genre	novelist

Saneatsu Mushanokōji (武者小路 実篤(實篤), Mushanokōji Saneatsu^?, 12 May 1885 – 9 April 1976) was a Japanese novelist, playwright, poet, artist, and philosopher active during the late Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. Though he later changed his surname to Mushakōji, he was generally known by his former name Mushanokōji. He was nicknamed Musha and Futo-o by his colleagues.

Born in Kōjimachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo Saneatsu was the eighth son of Viscount Mushanokōji Saneyo, who died when Saneatsu was age two. Raised mostly by his mother. Saneatsu was a frail and sickly youth, unable to compete in the physical activities at the Gakushūin Peers' School. To compensate, he developed his debating skills and developed an interest in literature. During his time at this school he became friends with Naoya Shiga, and was introduced by his uncle to the Bible and the works of Tolstoy. Saneatsu enrolled in the sociology department of Tokyo Imperial University, but left without graduating in 1907 to form a literary group with Kinoshita Rigen, Shiga Naoya, Arishima Takeo, and Ogimachi Kinkazu (). They named the group Jūyokkakai (The Fourteenth Day Club). This group evolved into the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary coterie, and began publishing a literary magazine of the same name in 1910.