Kaoru Tōnobe

Kaoru Tōnobe (1902-1962) was a Japanese novelist and playwright who won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1943 for his work Washi (Japanese Paper), becoming the first resident of Fukushima Prefecture to receive the award. Akutagawa Prize. Born in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, he worked as a teacher while pursuing writing, with other notable works including the play collection People Waiting for Dawn (1930) and the prize-winning novel Kokudo (1941).