Yamada, Bimyō, 1868-1910

Yamada Bimyō (山田 美妙), born Yamada Taketarō (山田 武太郎; 1868–1910), was a Japanese novelist. Jim Reichert, author of Yamada Bimyō: Historical Fiction and Modern Love, wrote that Bimyō was "one of the most influential literary reformers of the 1880s" who had "an instrumental role" in producing rekishi shōsetsu, the modern form of a Japanese historical novel. According to Reichert, during the 1880s the public perceived Bimyō "to be at the forefront of the literary reform movement, offering a fresh and exciting strategy for reforming Japanese literature." Louis Frédéric, author of the Japan Encyclopedia, wrote that Bimyō was, along with Kōda Rohan, "the most representative authors" of the first modern school of literature to appear in Meiji Japan.