Nobel Prize-winning Japanese novelist Oe Kenzaburo has died at the age of 88.

Publishing house Kodansha announced on Monday that Oe died of natural causes on March 3.

Born in 1935 in the western prefecture of Ehime, Oe caught attention for his literary work while he was still a student at the University of Tokyo.

His work "Shiiku," known as "The Catch" in English, won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1958.

He went on to win a series of awards and became a leader of the new generation of postwar Japanese writers.

Oe won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994, becoming the second Japanese author to receive the honor after Kawabata Yasunari.

Oe was also a peace activist. He interviewed survivors of the 1945 US atomic bombing of Hiroshima City and doctors who treated victims. His book "Hiroshima Notes" became a bestseller.

He was one of the founders of a group opposing amendments to Japan's pacifist Constitution and led campaigns calling for the end to nuclear power generation.