Kaik Takeshi was an extraordinary writer who expressed his thoughts with sincerity, discipline, and rigorous honesty. As a leading literary figure from the late 1950s until his death in 1989, he was a prolific novelist, short-story writer, essayist, critic, and television documentary writer. He was also endowed with a prodigious memory and was distinguished by his knowledge, intellect, sense of humor, conversational skill, compassion, and generosity, all of which were borne from his rotund body through his booming voice. Koyama Tetsur described Kaik as having "one of the three booming voices in the literary world," but Kaik protested that his voice was "sonorous"--whereas the other two were merely loud and noisy. Having visited forty-three countries in thirty years, he entertained his friends for hours with hilarious anecdotes of his travels around the world.

Born in Tennji-ku, Osaka, Kaik Takeshi was the oldest son of Masayoshi and Fumiko Kaik...