Nagai Michiko (1925–2023) was a Japanese historical novelist. After working as an editor at Shogakukan, she devoted herself to writing. She won the Naoki Prize for “Enkan,” which portrays the struggles surrounding the founding of the Kamakura shogunate through the perspectives of several people close to Minamoto no Yoritomo. In “Hojo Masako,” Nagai presents Masako not merely as Yoritomo’s wife but as a political figure involved in shaping Japan’s first warrior government. “Kono Yo o ba” uses the life of Fujiwara no Michinaga to examine the power structure of the Heian aristocracy. Drawing closely on historical records, Nagai reinterpreted Japanese history through women and other figures often treated as secondary, receiving the Kikuchi Kan Prize in 1984.
