Naka Saijō (1964–) is a Japanese novelist best known for her historical fiction set in the Edo period. Her work portrays the everyday lives, work, and relationships of ordinary townspeople with warmth, compassion, and a deep understanding of human nature. She made her literary debut by winning the Japan Fantasy Novel Award in 2005 for "Konparuya Gomesu" ("Konparuya Gomez") and received the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers in 2015 for "Marumaru no Mari". In 2021, she won the 164th Naoki Prize for "Ur Sabishigawa" ("The Lonely River"), a linked collection of stories about people living along a poor riverside neighborhood in Edo who gradually find hope amid hardship and regret.