山塔 (Santō)

Shiba Shirō (1852 or 1853–1922), better known by his pen name Tōkai Sanshi, was a Japanese novelist, journalist, and political activist born into a samurai family in the Aizu domain. He fought for the Tokugawa shogunate in the Boshin War, studied finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in the United States, and later served in the military during the Satsuma Rebellion, First Sino-Japanese War, and Russo-Japanese War. His most notable work is the political novel Kajin no Kigū (Strange Encounters with Beautiful Women, 1885–1897), the era's most popular political novel blending nationalism, adventure, and critique of Western powers, and he was elected to Japan's national legislature nine times starting in 1891. Read more →