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Awa Naoko

あわ なおこ

Awa Naoko

Pen Names: Minegishi Naoko（Legal name / birth name）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1943-01-05 （Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan）
Died
1993-02-25 （Japan (place not specified)） age 50
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Religion
Catholicism (exposed in youth)
Residence History
Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan → Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan → Takasaki, Gunma, Japan → Sendai, Miyagi, Japan → Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan → Ueda, Nagano, Japan → Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan (summer cottage)

Career

Occupations
Children's writer
Active Years
1962-1993
Influenced By
Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen, Arabian Nights, Kenji Miyazawa

Education

Japan Women's University
Faculty of Literature / Department of Japanese Literature
Period: 1961-1965
Year of Graduation: 1965
Country: Japan
Graduation thesis on natural descriptions in The Tale of Genji. Joined children's literature study circle while at university.

Awards

Japan Children's Literature Association Newcomer Award
1970
Work: Sanshokko
Organization: Japan Children's Literature Association
Result: Winner
Shogakukan Literary Prize
1973
Work: Song of Wind and Trees
Organization: Shogakukan
Result: Winner
Noma Children's Literature Prize
1982
Work: The Distant Wild-Rose Village
Organization: Noma Cultural Foundation
Result: Winner
Niimi Nankichi Children's Literature Prize
1985
Work: Mountain Tales: Wind Roller Skates
Organization: Niimi Nankichi Prize Committee
Result: Winner
Hirosuke Fairy Tale Award
1991
Work: Until the Red Beans Boil: The Story of Sayo
Organization: Hirosuke Award Committee
Result: Winner
Akai Tori Literary Prize (Special Award)
1994
Work: Until the Red Beans Boil: The Story of Sayo
Category: 特別賞
Organization: Akai Tori Prize Committee
Result: Posthumous Special Award

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Tongue That Was Enchanted

1971 Children's short stories / Fairy tales

One of her debut books, a collection of short fantastical children's stories.

fantasyanimalsintersection of the everyday and the uncanny

The Handkerchief the North Wind Forgot

1971 Children's fiction

A story weaving nature and seasonal impressions into a fantastical tale.

seasonsnatureseparation and renewal

Song of Wind and Trees

1972 Short children's stories

A delicate short story collection depicting exchanges between nature and the human heart. Won the Shogakukan Literary Prize in 1973.

naturepersonal growthfolk-tale elements

The Fox's Window

1975 Children's short story

One of her representative works included in school textbooks; notable for its folk-tale-like fantasy.

foxesboundaries with other worldsgrowing up

The Distant Wild-Rose Village

1981 Children's story collection

A short story collection set in a village and the natural world. Awarded the Noma Children's Literature Prize in 1982.

villagenaturenostalgia

Wind Roller Skates (Mountain Tales)

1984 Children's literature

A collection of mountain-themed tales. Winner of the Niimi Nankichi Children's Literature Prize.

mountainsadventurefantasy

Bibliography

  • The Tongue That Was Enchanted (1971)
  • The Handkerchief the North Wind Forgot (1971)
  • Song of Wind and Trees (1972)
  • The Fox's Window (1975)
  • The Distant Wild-Rose Village (1981)
  • Wind Roller Skates (1984)
  • Until the Red Beans Boil: The Story of Sayo (1993)

Adaptations

  • TV adaptations on NHK (e.g. "Oshaberi na Curtain")
  • NHK broadcast of "Who Rings the Bell?" (1992)

Translations of Works

  • The Fox's Window and Other Stories (English collection, 2010)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
fantasticalfolk-tale like narrationconcise, poetic prose
Recurring Motifs
forestsanimalsthe moonfolk-tale motifsboundary between dream and reality

Health

  • Pneumonia
    1993
    Died of pneumonia in 1993 (aged 50)

Legacy

Awa Naoko is an important figure in Japanese children's literature; her fantastical, folk-tale influenced works have been included in textbooks and continued to be collected and reissued after her death.

Museums

  • Japan Women's University Naruse Memorial Museum (exhibitions) Japan Women's University (Tokyo, Japan)

Academic Societies

  • Japan Children's Literature Association

Archives

  • National Diet Library (holdings)
  • Japan Women's University Naruse Memorial Museum (archival exhibits)

In Popular Culture

  • "The Fox's Window" and other stories included in elementary school language textbooks
  • TV adaptations of her stories broadcast on NHK

Trivia

  • Kept a daily diary starting in the first year of middle school.
  • Learned in her fourth year at university that she had been adopted.