Nakarai Tousui (半井桃水)
Tousui NAKARAI (January 12, 1861 - November 21, 1926) was a novelist in Japan.
His real name was Kiyoshi (or Retsu) written as "冽" or "洌." His childhood name was Sentaro.
He was born as the eldest of four children of Tantaro and Fuji NAKARAI in Tsushima Fuchu Domain, present-day Izuhara-machi, Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture. He spent his boyhood in Busan Metropolitan City since his father worked there. He came to Tokyo in his teens and studied at Kyoritsu-Gakusha (school) run by Shimpachi SEKI; he became a newspaper reporter for Tokyo Asahi Shinbun in 1888. In the following year, he published a novel, "Oshitsunbo" (deaf-mute), in installments in the paper and established himself as a newspaper novelist with his subsequent novels, "Shigureen" and "Kaioumaru." His representative work is a long novel "Kosa-fuku-kaze" (The Seasonal Wind with Chinese Sand) published in installments in 1891. Ichiyo HIGUCHI became his disciple in the same year. Ichiyo's first work "Yamizakura" (The Cherry Blossoms in the Dark) was edited by Tousui and published in "'Musashino." However, Ichiyo left and ended master and disciple relationship with him in the following year. The rumor had started at the time that Tousui and Ichiyo were lovers. He wrote more than 300 novels until his death; however, they are forgotten today. He also wrote 'Tengu- kaijou' (The Messages from a Mountain Spirit). He was knowledgeable about long epic songs and folk songs and wrote several songs himself.
There is not a comprehensive biography of him yet; however, there is Tousui NAKARAI museum in Nakamura, Izuhara-machi, Tsushima-City, where it was believed to be his birthplace.