How a Japanese word for villain became the pen name of Russia's most hunted author.

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Grigory Chkhartishvili, a renowned translator and expert on Japan, adopted the pseudonym Boris Akunin to write historical mysteries. The name Akunin, meaning bad person or villain in Japanese, became a global sensation. Yet, his literary success eventually led to his branding as a terrorist and exile from his homeland.

Born in 1956, Grigory Chkhartishvili spent years as a scholar and translator before finding fame as Boris Akunin. His transition to fiction in 1998 yielded the Erast Fandorin series, a collection of historical mysteries set in Imperial Russia that each explore a distinct subgenre of detective fiction. By the time his identity was revealed, he had already achieved critical acclaim, winning the 2000 Antibooker prize for his novel Coronation, or the Last of the Romanovs.

The author’s pseudonym is deeply rooted in his expertise in Japanese culture. He chose Akunin—a term for a great evil man who creates his own rules—as a deliberate nod to his background. This intellectual depth extended to his professional life, where he served as an editor for the 20-volume Anthology of Japanese Literature and received awards for his translations of Yukio Mishima. His work, spanning novels, plays, and essays, earned him international recognition, including a 2009 prize from the Japan Foundation.

However, his political outspokenness shifted his trajectory. A critic of the Russian government since the 2008 invasion of Georgia, Akunin faced severe repercussions following his support for Ukraine. By 2024, he had been designated a foreign agent, placed on a wanted list, and sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison for alleged terrorism and spreading false information. Now living in London, the author remains a prominent voice in exile, while his books have been pulled from distribution across Russia.

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