Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was the author of over 100 short stories. Described as one of the best-read men of his generation, he received a degree in English Literature at Tokyo Imperial University and published translations by Anatole France and W.B. Yeats. Two of his short stories became the basis of the award-winning movie Rashomon by famed director Akira Kurosawa. In 1927, Ryūnosoke Akutagawa committed suicide at the age of thirty-five.