Born in 1862 in Tsuwano, Iwami Province (today Tsuwano, Shimane), as the eldest son of Mori Shizuo, physician-in-ordinary to the Tsuwano domain; his given name was Rintaro. Excelling from boyhood in Chinese and Dutch studies, he went up to Tokyo at ten, entered the preparatory course of the Tokyo Medical School at twelve, and graduated at nineteen as its youngest. He became an army surgeon and from 1884 spent four years studying in Germany (Leipzig, Dresden, Munich, Berlin), mastering hygiene and military medicine while steeping himself in Goethe and Schiller. His tragic Berlin romance with Elise Wiegert became the wellspring of his first novel 'Maihime' (The Dancing Girl, 1890). In 1907 he was promoted to Army Surgeon General. In literature he produced 'Vita Sexualis' and 'Seinen' (1909), 'The Wild Goose' (1911); after the junshi of General Nogi in 1912 he turned to historical fiction with 'The Abe Clan' (1913), 'Sansho the Steward' (1915), and 'The Boat on the Takase River' (1916). His late biographical 'Shibue Chusai' (1916) perfected his own style grounded in rigorous historical research. He died at his Sendagi home in 1922, aged 60. By his will his gravestone bears only the name 'Mori Rintaro.'

A rare personality holding in one body the encyclopedic learning of East and West, the bureaucratic severity of a military surgeon, and the delicate lyricism of a writer. A rationalist whose heart nonetheless leaned deeply into the fine grain of human feeling and the absurdity of fate. Proud to the last, he left as his testament, 'I wish to die as Mori Rintaro, a man of Iwami,' and had every office and honor barred from his gravestone.

Together with Natsume Soseki, one of the twin peaks of Meiji-Taisho literature. 'The Dancing Girl,' 'The Boat on the Takase River,' 'The Abe Clan,' 'Sansho the Steward,' and 'Shibue Chusai' are Japanese classics. As a translator he introduced Andersen, Goethe, Shakespeare and more, leading the Japanese reception of Western literature. The Mori Ogai Memorial Museums in Bunkyo, Tokyo, and in Tsuwano, Shimane, preserve his life.