The New Tale of Taira (2): Shin Heike Monogatari, Edition 2

Eiji Yoshikawa (1892 - 1962) is one of Japan's best-known writerAs of popular literature. He wrote novels about historical characters and themes from an early age. From 1935 to 1939, he published the serial novel Miyamoto Musashi in a weekly newspaper. Japanese read no other serial novel as widely as Miyamoto Musashi. His literary portrayal of the famous swordsman resonated strongly with the Japanese suffering under the miserable circumstances of the Second World War. As renowned literature novel, Miyamoto Musashi was a great success. Eiji Yoshikawa was very disappointed by the defeat of the Second World War and the unimaginable destruction of Japan and was unable to write for several years. He only began writing the great novel Shin Heike Monogatari, The New Tale of Taira, in 1950 and completed it after 7 years. In this novel, which Shukan Asahi published as a newspaper series, Eiji Yoshikawa interpreted the classic novel The Tale of The Heike from a new perspective. The Taira tribe perishes in the power struggle against arch-rival Minamoto. This long novel appealed to many Japanese, whom the postwar situation badly shook. A literature scholar says this novel is his lifework and an eternal literature of Japan.

Yutaka Hayauchi was born in Masuda, Japan, in 1951 and attended school there until high school. At 18, he began studying chemistry at the University of Osaka, Japan. At the age of 20, he moved to Hamburg and studied chemistry at the University of Hamburg, where he also obtained a doctorate in organic chemistry after graduating. During his studies, he worked as a translator for scientific literature and patent specifications, an interpreter for business negotiations, and a simultaneous interpreter for congresses. In 1984, he joined Bayer AG in Leverkusen as a chemist with a doctorate, was responsible for drug approval for Bayer in Japan (1988 to 1991). He worked in various development laboratories for new drugs in Leverkusen and Wuppertal until his retirement (1991 to 2016). He is married, has two daughters, and lives in Leverkusen. He has been a German citizen since 1998. Yutaka Hayauchi became acquainted with Eiji Yoshikawa's novel The New Tale of Taira when he lived with his family in Kyoto. Even as a schoolboy, he had heard stories about the tragic General Yoshitsune from his mother and was immediately fascinated by the novel. Moreover, the story happened in Kyoto, a city he remembers fondly. He worked on translating this long story into German from 1991 to full length and published 21 volumes from 2016 till 2023.