He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both the Akutagawa and Naoki Prize for popular literature.

He came to prominence for the plays "Madame Pearl" and "Father Returns", but his ample support for the Imperial Japanese war effort led to his marginalization in the postwar period.

Building from the famous and classic works from the West, which include diaries and autobiographies, Japanese writers formulated a style of fictional writing that is eventually called shinkyo-shosetsu.

Other major influences from Western countries in Europe in addition to works from India and China contributed to the creation of modern literature in Japan.

Kan was widely claimed as "a playwright who transformed Irish plays into a Japanese context," including John Millington Synge's Deirdre of the Sorrows.

After graduating from the University of Kyoto, Kan wrote detailed articles on Synge and Irish plays for Teikoku-Bungaku (帝国文学, Imperial Literature) and New Current of Thought.

In 1925, Kan also published a book with Shuji Yamamoto, Eikoku Airan Kindaigeki Seizui (Quintessence of Modern Plays in England and Ireland).

[5] One of his early works, Kayano Yane (茅の屋根, Thatched Cottage), represents one of Kikuchi Kan's portrayal of societal issues during his time, which increased his popularity in modern Japanese literature.

In that limited time, the play must have the power to "physically bind the audience to the theatre seat," as opposed to stories that "the reader can put into his pocket.

"[8] One of his most famous works, Chichi Kaeru (Father Returns), is a one-act play that mainly portrays the struggles of a father-son relationship.

The ending drove Takeda and Ennosuke to alter it to avoid ambiguity, but was changed back to the original to preserve the main message of the play.

The main character, a woman named Karasawa Ruriko 唐沢瑠璃子 is a baron's daughter who is forced into an arranged marriage with the rich Shōda Katsuhei 荘田勝平 to save the family from bankruptcy.

Before and after Ruriko's arranged marriage to Katsuhei, she remained faithful to her feelings for Sugino Naoya 杉野直也, her first love, and decided to preserve her virginity.

[13] Suzuki further argues that many audience members believed that Ruriko was inspired by Yanagihara Byakuren 柳原白蓮, who was widely known for her beauty, her talent in poetry, her relation to the emperor, and her marriage to coalmine magnate Itō Den'emon 伊藤傳右衞門.

Suzuki argues that, like the goddess of revenge, Ruriko wanted to avenge the women who have fallen victim to the "violence and self-centered desires of men.

[19] The Akutagawa Prize committee in 1934 consisted of the members: Bungei Shunjusha, Yamamoto Yuzu, Haruo Satō, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Murō Saisei, Kōsaku Takii, Riichi Yokomitsu and Yasunari Kawabata.

After Kikuchi Kan's death, the prize was brought back and is currently open to art, literature, film, and other genres.