Although little known in the West Kajiyama Toshiyuki was one of Japan s most prolific and popular writers The son of a civil engineer Kajiyama was born in Seoul in 1930 and remained there until his family was repatriated to Japan at the end of World War II The Clan Records Five stories of Korea not only offers a sampling of Kajiyama s work in English for the first time but also represents the first English translations from the Japanese that deal with Korea under Japan s harsh military rule which lasted from 1910 to 1945