Yutaka Hayauchi

Yutaka Hayauchi was born in Masuda, Japan, in 1951 and attended school there until high school. At 18, he began studying chemistry at the University of Osaka, Japan. At the age of 20, he moved to Hamburg and studied chemistry at the University of Hamburg, where he also obtained a doctorate in organic chemistry after graduating. During his studies, he worked as a translator for scientific literature and patent specifications, an interpreter for business negotiations, and a simultaneous interpreter for congresses. In 1984, he joined Bayer AG in Leverkusen as a chemist with a doctorate, was responsible for drug approval for Bayer in Japan (1988 to 1991). He worked in various development laboratories for new drugs in Leverkusen and Wuppertal until his retirement (1991 to 2016). He is married, has two daughters, and lives in Leverkusen. He has been a German citizen since 1998. Yutaka Hayauchi became acquainted with Eiji Yoshikawa's novel The New Tale of Taira when he lived with his family in Kyoto. Even as a schoolboy, he had heard stories about the tragic General Yoshitsune from his mother and was immediately fascinated by the novel. Moreover, the story happened in Kyoto, a city he remembers fondly. He worked on translating this long story into German from 1991 to full length and published 21 volumes from 2016 till 2023. He has recently turned to English and published four books.