Shogo Imamura is a Japanese writer and the original creator of the anime television series Oedo Fire Slayer –The Legend of Phoenix–, which is an adaptation of his novel Hikuidori Ushūboro Tobigumi. Born in Kyoto on June 18, 1984, Imamura pursued an unconventional path to becoming a writer, having previously worked as a dance instructor, musical composer, and a researcher of buried cultural properties at the Moriyama Buried Cultural Properties Center. He began his literary career in 2017 with the publication of Hikuidori, the first novel in his Ushūboro Tobigumi series. This series is set in the late Edo period and follows the Boro Tobi-gumi, a firefighting brigade in the Ushū region whose members, known as Fire-Eating Birds, risk their lives battling massive fires in an era when such disasters were a constant threat to daily life.

The anime adaptation, produced by SynergySP, premiered in Japan in January 2026 and is streamed internationally by Crunchyroll. The series, which features a voice cast including Yūichirō Umehara and Shūichirō Umeda, is a direct adaptation of the first novel in the Ushūboro Tobigumi series, of which twelve volumes and a short story collection have been published as of March 2022. Prior to the anime, a manga adaptation of Hikuidori illustrated by Shinobu Seguchi began serialization in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion in April 2025.

Imamura has established himself as a significant figure in Japanese historical fiction, winning the prestigious Naoki Prize in 2022 for his novel Saiō no Tate. His body of work is substantial, with nearly fifty published titles to his name, nearly all of which fall within the historical fiction genre. His writing style is characterized by a fast-paced narrative rhythm, which he achieves by writing without a detailed plot outline and instead focusing on a desired ending while constantly imagining his readers' reactions. He cites authors Shōtarō Ikenami and Ryōtarō Shiba as major influences.

A recurring theme in Imamura's work is the exploration of modern social issues through historical settings, often by giving voice to marginalized or anonymous figures from the past. His Naoki Prize-winning novel Saiō no Tate, for example, centers on a group of masons building castle stone walls and examines their perspective on conflict and defense. His approach involves selecting a contemporary theme, such as the consequences of slander, and then researching a historical era where that issue was similarly prominent to find compelling characters through which to explore it.

Beyond literature, Imamura's work has gained significant international recognition. His novel Ikusagami, a battle royale story featuring samurai and ninja, was adapted into the Netflix live-action series Last Samurai Standing, which was released globally in 2025. The author himself has expressed approval for the adaptation, noting that the changes made for the screen added suspense and visual excitement unique to film. In addition to writing, Imamura is also involved in other media, having made his screenwriting debut on a Japanese television drama in 2022 and hosting a radio show. He is also an advocate for paper books, having purchased a struggling bookstore to renovate and reopen it, and has founded an organization to promote young writers.