Maki Kaji
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Early life
Kaji was born in Sapporo on 8 October 1951.[3][4] His father worked as an engineer at a telecom company; his mother was employed by a kimono shop. Kaji attended Shakujii High School in his hometown. He later studied literature at Keio University, but dropped out during his first year.[3][5] After a succession of jobs including being a roadie, a waiter and a construction worker, he started a publishing business.[5]
Career
Kaji launched a quarterly puzzle magazine in 1980 called Nikoli,[6] together with two friends from his childhood.[3] They named the magazine after a race horse that had won the 1980 2000 Guineas Stakes race in Ireland.[5][7] Three years later, he founded a company under the same name.[4] The magazine, the company's main product, grew to have 50,000 quarterly readers.[8]
The number game Sudoku appeared in early issues of Nikoli.[6] He formulated the name "Sudoku" while he was scrambling to get to a horse race.[3][9] He shortened it from Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru ("numbers should be single") at the urging of his fellow workers.[9] After the game spread to Britain[10][11] and the United States,[7] it became wildly popular.[6]
Kaji also invented or introduced various other puzzle games, such as Masyu.[8] He resigned as head of Nikoli on 31 July 2021,[12] ten days before his death.[3][13] He was succeeded as president by Nikoli's editor in chief, Yoshinao Anpuku.[12]
Personal life
Kaji was married to Naomi until his death. Together, they had two children.[3]
Kaji died on 10 August 2021 at his home in Tokyo at age 69, from bile duct cancer.[3][14] Nikoli's staff held a memorial gathering for him on 2 November in Tokyo.[15]
References
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External links
- "Maki Kaji: First he gave us sudoku"—Daily Independent (UK) newspaper article