Agawa was born in
Hiroshima, Japan. As a
high school student Agawa was influenced by the Japanese author
Naoya Shiga. He entered the
Tokyo Imperial University to study
Japanese literature. Upon graduation in 1942, Agawa was
conscripted to serve in the
Imperial Japanese Navy, where he worked as an intelligence officer breaking Chinese military codes until the end of the war. He returned to Hiroshima, where his parents had experienced the atomic bomb, in March 1946. After
World War II Agawa wrote his first short story
Nennen Saisai (Years upon Years, 1946), which was a classic
I Novel, or autobiographical novel, recounting the reunion with his parents. It follows the style of
Naoya Shiga, who is said to have praised the work.
August 6 as Agawa notes in a postscript, combines the stories of friends and acquaintances who experienced the bombing into the testimony of one family. Occupation censorship at the time was strict, but the story passed because, the author later observed, "it made no reference to the problems of after-effect and continued no overt criticism of the U.S." Agawa came to popular and critical attention with his
Citadel in Spring (, 1952), which was awarded the
Yomiuri Prize. (He later revisited the same theme of his experiences as a student soldier in
Kurai hato (Dark waves, 1974)).
Ma no isan (Devil's Heritage, 1953), a documentary novel, is an account of the bombing of Hiroshima through the eyes of a young Tokyo reporter, handling, among other topics, the death of his Hiroshima nephew and survivors' reactions to the Atomic bomb Casualty Commission, the U.S. agency that conducted research on atomic victims. Agawa's four major biographical novels are
Yamamoto Isoroku (山本五十六, 1965),
Yonai Mitsumasa (米内光政, 1978),
Inoue Seibi (井上成美, 1986), and
Shiga Naoya (志賀直哉, 1994). His other major works include
Kumo no bohyo (Grave markers in the clouds, 1955), and
Gunkan Nagato no shogai (The life of the warship Nagato, 1975). Agawa was awarded the
Order of Culture (Bunka Kunsho) in 1999. He is the father of
Sawako Agawa, popular author and TV personality, and
Naoyuki Agawa, professor of law at
Keio University. == Bibliography ==