He was awarded the Kikuchi Kan Prize in 1962 for a series of works set at the end of the Tokugawa period and the Meiji era.
Kan Shimozawa was born Umetani Matsutaro[1] in Atsuta, Hokkaido on February 1, 1892.
He graduated from the law school of Meiji University in 1914 and initially returned to his hometown where he worked for a lumber company.
He moved back to Tokyo in 1918 to work for an electric company, and in 1919 joined the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun as a reporter.
While working as a reporter, he collected interviews with former Shinsengumi under the guidance of jurist Takeshi Osatake.