Ryutaro Abe (born 1955) is a Japanese historical novelist from Fukuoka Prefecture. After graduating from Kurume National College of Technology, he worked for the Ota City government in Tokyo and later as a librarian while pursuing his writing. He made his literary debut in 1990 with "Chi no Nihonshi," received the Nakayama Yoshihide Prize for "Tenma, Kakeru," and won the Naoki Prize in 2013 for "Tohaku." His major novel "Tohaku" portrays the life of the painter Hasegawa Tohaku, who left his provincial home in Noto for Kyoto and struggled to establish himself against the dominant Kano school and its master, Kano Eitoku. Through Tohaku’s separation from his family, his rivalry with Eitoku, and the fierce artistic world of the age of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the novel traces the journey of a provincial painter who eventually created the celebrated "Pine Trees" screens.
