Matsumoto Seich was one of the most prolific postwar writers in Japan. Although he is known primarily as a writer of popular and mystery fiction, he also wrote historical fiction, nonfiction dealing with history and archaeology, and works on current social issues. He won both the Naoki Prize and the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize as a writer of popular fiction, and he was also a writer whose receipt of the Akutagawa Prize signaled his recognition by the literary establishment and whose nonfiction was recognized by the Nihon Janaristo Kaigisho Prize awarded by the Association of Japanese Journalists. In all these genres the common thread distinguishing Matsumoto's work is his fascination with human motivation.

Matsumoto was born to a rather impoverished family in Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu. The family moved frequently while he was in school, but always within northern Kyushu. In the autobiographical work Zass no tane...