Soichi Kawagoe (born 1978) is a Japanese novelist born in Kagoshima Prefecture and raised in Osaka. He made his debut in 2018 with “Tenchi ni Santari,” which won the Matsumoto Seicho Prize. His second novel, “Netsugen,” received the Naoki Prize in 2020. Set largely on Sakhalin, it intertwines the lives of the Ainu man Yayomanekuh and the Polish exile Bronislaw Pilsudski. Both experience pressure to assimilate into imperial societies, and their encounters raise questions about preserving language and culture while choosing how to live. In “Pashiyon,” Kawagoe follows the Japanese Catholic priest Konishi Mansho through an era of religious persecution. The story begins with a boy whose family’s position collapses after the Battle of Sekigahara and explores the competing demands of family restoration and faith. The novel won the Chuo Koron Literary Prize in 2023. Kawagoe’s historical fiction focuses on people caught between nations, religions, and cultures, examining what they seek to protect when political power restricts their choices.
