Background
Kenjiro Tokutomi was born on December 8, 1868 in Kumamoto, Japan to a samurai family. He was the younger brother of journalist and historian Tokutomi Sohō.
健次郎 徳富
Kenjiro Tokutomi was born on December 8, 1868 in Kumamoto, Japan to a samurai family. He was the younger brother of journalist and historian Tokutomi Sohō.
Kenjiro Tokutomi converted to Christianity in 1885, and moved to Imabari, Ehime, where he lived with Shiro Sokabe and was a student of Tokio Yokoi. This is also where he received the nickname "Roka". He later attended Doshisha University.
Kenjiro Tokutomi wrote for newspapers owned by his brother, Sohō, until his novel The Cuckoo, was published and became successful enough that Tokutomi could make a living as a writer on his own. It was translated 15 times between 1904 and 1918, and is one of the first Japanese works to be widely translated and distributed internationally. After meeting Leo Tolstoy, Tokutomi became inspired to move to the countryside.
From February 27, 1907 until his death, he lived in a house in Musashino (Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan).
Tokutomi died on September 18, 1927, in Ikaho, Gunma, one day after reconciling with Sohō. After his wife's death the property was donated to the City of Tokyo to be used as a park. It was named Roka Kōshun-en in his honor.