Fūtaro Yamada is the pen name of Seiya Yamada. He was born in 1922 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, and graduated from the faculty of medicine at Tokyo University. He made his authorial debut in 1947 with the short story "The Incident at the Dharma Pass" and went on to write over a hundred novels and short stories. Known for his versatility, he is best loved in Japan for his series of ninja novels and historical crime novels. Many of his works have been adapted for film, television, manga and anime. He died in 2001.

Bryan Karetnyk is a translator of Japanese and Russian literature. His recent translations for Pushkin Press include Gaito Gazdanov's An Evening with Claire and Ryuˉnosuke Akutagawa's Murder in the Age of Enlightenment.