[プロフィール]
1947年栃木県生まれ。 早稲田大学政治経済学部卒業。
在学中に「自転車」で早稲田文学新人賞。 卒業後、種々の職業を経験、故郷に戻って宇都宮市役所に勤務した。
79年から文筆活動に専念する。
80年「遠雷」で野間文芸新人賞、93年『卵洗い』で坪田譲治文学賞、97年『毒――風聞・田中正造』で毎日出版文化賞。
国内外を問わず、各地を旺盛に旅する行動派で、近年は自然環境保護問題にも積極的に取り組む。
2002年、歌舞伎座上演「道元の月」の台本を手がけ、第31回大谷竹次郎賞受賞。
2007年、『道元禅師』（上・下）で第35回泉鏡花文学賞受賞。
2008年、『道元禅師』（上・下）で第5回親鸞賞受賞。 著書多数。

[Profile]
Born in Tochigi prefecture in 1947. Graduated from Waseda University's school of economics.
Awarded Waseda University's literary prize for "Bicycle" while still enrolled. After graduating he worked at a variety of jobs before returning to his hometown and becoming employed at the Utsunomiya City Office.
Devoted himself to writing from 1979 onward.
Awarded the Noma New Literary Prize for his work "Distant Snow" in 1980, awarded the Joji Tsubota Literary Prize for "Washing Eggs" in 1993, and awarded the Mainichi Publishing Cultural Prize for "Poison - Rumors of Shozo Tanaka."
Actively travels within Japan and abroad, and recently has become involved in environmental protection issues.
In 2002, worked on the script for "Dogen's Moon" to be performed at Kabuki-za, and was awarded the 31st Takejiro Otani Prize.
In 2007, was awarded the 35th Kyoka Izumi Cultural Prize for "Zen Master Dogen" (Volumes 1 and 2).
In 2008, was awarded the 5th Shinran Prize for "Zen Master Dogen" (Volumes 1 and 2).
And many more publications...