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Ueda Akinari was a creative figure of unique talent ineighteenth-century Japan -- a prolific writer of fiction, poetry, andpersonal and scholarly essays. He is best known as the author ofUgetsu Monogatari, a collection of short stories which numbersamong the most beloved of Japanese classics. After the appearance of anaward-winning film based on these tales in the 1950s and the discoveryof his last manuscript, Harusame Monogatari, internationalattention was drawn to Akinari and his remarkable career. This biography is the first to examine Akinari's personal lifein detail. Although much of his life remains obscure, Young evaluatesthe existing evidence to create a comprehensive portrait of thisenigmatic man and of the people and events which influenced hiswork.