Matsumoto Seicho was a Japanese author born on February 12, 1909 but his birthday is listed as December 21 on his family register. His real name is Matsumoto Kiyoharu. While Matsumoto himself stated he was born in Hiroshima, official records state he was born in Itaku Village, Kiku District, Fukuoka Prefecture (now Kokurakita Ward, Kitakyushu City). Not much is known about his past beyond what he wrote about in "Hanseinoki".

In 1922, Seicho's first published poem was "Kaze to Ine" while he was still attending high school. After his graduation from high school, he began working for Kawakita Denki Kogyo with a salary of 11 yen. In 1927, he lost his job when the branch office he worked for closed. He attempted to gain employment with a local newspaper but was turned down due to not being a university graduate. He started helping out at his family's restaurant when business began to deteriorate. He eventually found work with a printing house and became self employed in 1937. In 1943, he became a full time employee for the design division of Asahi Shimbun's advertisting department, a job he described as "boring" and "empty".

From 1944 until the war ended, Matsumoto served in the army as a medic. He returned to Kanzaki and returned to working at Asahi Shimbun.

In March 1952's issue of "Sanda Bungaku", Matsumoto's short story "Hi no Kioku" was published for the first time. 1953's "Aru "Oguranikki" Den" would go on to win the Akutagawa Award.

Matsumoto's career included best selling detective and mystery novels, nonfiction works, as well as essays on ancient history. His works are most notable for social criticisms and for creating a new tradition in Japanese crime fiction that include psychologic elements and ordinary life.

In April of 1992, he was admitted to Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital due to a cerebral hemorrhage. While his surgery went well, it was discovered that he had liver cancer. He died on August 4, 1992 at the age of 82. Edit Biography