Over the course of his 35 years, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa became a leading intellectual and literary artist in Japan. A writer of the Taisho Period, which lasted from 1912 to 1926, he is considered the first Japanese author to become well known in the West. He was born on March 1, 1892, in Tokyo, Japan and died by suicide on July 24, 1927.

As a young child, he was adopted by his uncle when his mother became unable to care for him due to mental illness. He did very well in school despite anxiety and poor health. His family immersed him in classical art and literature, such that Akutagawa was surrounded by tradition in a modern world, growing up on kabuki and calligraphy while Japan rapidly westernized around him. He studied English and Chinese, and he would go on to study English literature at the University of Tokyo from 1913 to 1916. Akutagawa was still a student when he first published “Rashōmon,” which did not receive acclaim, or even notice, until many years later.

His enthusiasm for reading translated into his adulthood. As a young child, he was fascinated by classical Chinese literature and Western short stories, and he believed that literature was a way to marry different cultures.