Michio Takeyama

Takeyama Michio (1903–1984) was a Japanese author, novelist, and essayist best known internationally for Harp of Burma (Biruma no Tategoto, 1946), a lyrical, haunting novel set in the final days of World War II in Burma, following a Japanese soldier so moved by the suffering around him that he takes Buddhist vows and remains in Burma after Japan's defeat to bury the dead.

The novel — widely read in Japan as a meditation on war, Buddhism, and responsibility — was twice adapted into celebrated films by Kon Ichikawa. Takeyama also wrote extensively on German culture and philosophy and translated German texts into Japanese. Harp of Burma remains one of the most moving anti-war novels in Japanese literature.