Born in Tokyo in 1967. Graduated from Waseda University's School of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Department of Archaeology. After working as an editor at a publishing company, in 2002 his work "The Struggle of the Gods - A Discussion of Orikuchi Shinobu" was selected as the Gunzo New Writer's Prize winner, and he began his creative endeavors as a critic. His major works include "The Struggle of the Gods: A Study of Orikuchi Shinobu" (Kodansha, 2004), which won the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists, "Mandala of Light: A Study of Japanese Literature" (Kodansha, 2008), which won the Oe Kenzaburo Prize and the Ito Sei Literature Prize, "Orikuchi Shinobu" (Kodansha, 2014), which won the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities and the Kadokawa Foundation Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, as well as "D.T. Suzuki" (Kodansha, 2018), "A Study of the Archipelago Festival" (Sakuhinsha, 2019), "A Study of the Jomon Period" (Sakuhinsha, 2022), and "Izutsu Toshihiko: Philosophy of Origins" (Keio University Press, 2023). He has also supervised the translation of Izutsu Toshihiko's "Language and Magic" (Keio University Press, 2018), and his latest publication is "Offerings to the Dead" (Seidosha, 2023). He is currently serializing "Kukai" in the literary magazine Gunzo and "Golden Road" in Subaru.