江戸川乱歩
Edogawa Ranpo
1894–1965
Widely regarded as the founding figure of Japanese detective fiction, he took his pen name in homage to Edgar Allan Poe, and the borrowing was telling. His early stories, including the celebrated 'Nisen Doka' and 'Yaneura no Sanposha', introduced ratiocinative puzzles to a Japanese readership, while later works drifted toward the eerie, the erotic, and the grotesque -- a sensibility critics came to call ero guro nansensu. He created the gentleman detective Akechi Kogoro and the boy-detective series 'Shonen Tantei-dan', shaping generations of mystery writers. As a critic, editor, and tireless champion of the genre, he gave the form respectability, and the annual prize bearing his name remains its highest honor.
