Fumio Niwa

Fumio Niwa (丹羽 文雄, Niwa Fumio; November 22, 1904 Japan, died April 20, 2005 in Musashino, Tokyo) was a Japanese novelist with a long list of works, the most famous in the West being his novel The Buddha Tree (Japanese Bodaiju, "The Linden", or "The Bodhi Tree", 1956). He was ordained as a Shin Buddhist priest in his youth, but abandoned the priesthood two years after his ordination.

Source: “Fumio Niwa”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt