Tachihara was born in Andong city, Gyeongsangbuk-do province, Korea to Koreanparents. His father was a member of the former Korean aristocracy and a military officer serving the Joseon Dynasty, who became a Zen priest after the Japanese annexation of Korea, and subsequently committed suicide when Tachihara was five. Four years after his father's death in 1931, Tachihara moved with his mother to Yokosuka city, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. His Korean name was Kim Yun Kyu, but he changed his name to Nomura Shintarō when his mother married a Japanese man. Later, he registered his name as Kanai Masaaki under the soushi-kaimei policy, but after his own marriage, he once again changed his name to Yonemoto Masaaki. He has been naturalized in Japan in 1947. He was a student at Waseda University in Tokyo, and was initially enrolled in the Law Department. However, he gradually shifted over the Literature Department, drawn by his interest in the novels of Yasunari Kawabata and the literary criticism of Hideo Kobayashi. Tachihara was strongly attracted to medieval Japanese culture, particularly Noh drama, and traditional Japanese gardens, and his novels are patterned after the aesthetics in Zeami's Noh treatise Fushi Kaiden. Tachihara's interests included the collection of ceramics, especially many Korean Yi Dynasty works. It was not until after his death that his Korean ethnic background became widely known.
Literary career
Tachihara's first novel, Bakushū was published in the literary magazineBungei kenkyūkai. It was well received by literary critics, which led to his decision to become a professional writer. In 1958, he published Tanin no jiyū in the magazineGunzō, followed by Takigi nō, Tsurugigasaki and Urushi no hana. He won the 55th Naoki Award for his novel Shiroi keshi. He also declined the Akutagawa Prize twice, as he felt that the reward would damage his reputation as an author of serious literature. One of his books, Wind and Stone, has been translated into English by Stephen W. Kohl. Tachihara lived in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture from 1950 until his death of esophageal cancer. Before he died, he officially changed his name to Tachihara Masaaki. His grave is at the temple of Zuisen-ji in Kamakura.
