Japanese Literary Awards

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Chiyo Hayafune

はやふね ちよ

Hayafune Chiyo

Profile

Gender
Female
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
author, children's literature writer

Awards

Japanese Association of Children's Literature Authors Award
1962
Work: The Town with a Cupola
Organization: Japanese Association of Children's Literature Authors
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Town with a Cupola

1961 Novel (children's literature) 264 pages

A coming-of-age drama set in Kawaguchi, Saitama, where the chimneys of cupolas at foundries are visible. Centered on Jun Ishiguro, the daughter of a foundry worker, the novel addresses poverty, family conflict, ethnic issues including resident Koreans, friendship and sexuality in a realistic manner within children's literature.

povertyfamily conflictethnic issuesfriendshipsexualitycoming of ageindustrial landscape (cupolas)
Adaptations
  • [film] The Town with a Cupola (1962)
  • [television drama] The Town with a Cupola (TV drama) (1962)

Bibliography

  • The Town with a Cupola (Yayoi Shobo, 1961)
  • The Town with a Cupola Part 1 (Rironsha, 1963)
  • The Town with a Cupola Part 2: Underage (Rironsha, 1964)
  • The Town with a Cupola Part 3: The Red Spiral Staircase (Rironsha, 1967)
  • The Town with a Cupola Part 4: Sakura Sakura (Rironsha, 1970)
  • The Town with a Cupola Part 5: Blue Storm (Rironsha, 1972)
  • The Town with a Cupola: Squirrel Volume / Cupola Ginza (Rironsha, 1975)
  • Kodansha Bunko edition (1977; Part 1 subtitled "Jun")

Adaptations

  • Film adaptation (1962)
  • Television drama adaptation (1962, Fuji TV "Sharp Tuesday Theatre")

Style & Themes

Literary Style
realistic depictionsocial realism within children's literatureensemble coming-of-age narrative
Recurring Motifs
cupolas (foundry chimneys)rusted industrial districtstairs and alleys of the townfamily and labor scenes

Legacy

Serialized in 1959-60 and published as a book in 1961, The Town with a Cupola won the Japanese Association of Children's Literature Authors Award in 1962. It was adapted for film and television and was selected as one of the "100 Books for Japanese Children (Postwar)" by the Osaka International Children's Literature Museum, marking it as an important postwar children's literature work in Japan.

Museums

  • Osaka International Children's Literature Museum (selection by predecessor) Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Academic Societies

  • Japanese Association of Children's Literature Authors

Archives

  • Osaka International Children's Literature Promotion Foundation (selection materials)

In Popular Culture

  • Became widely known through 1962 film and television drama adaptations

Trivia

  • The work was serialized in the magazine "Haha to Ko" from 1959 to 1960 under the title "The Town with a Cupola" and published as a book in 1961.
  • It won the Japanese Association of Children's Literature Authors Award in 1962.
  • From Part 3 onward the author avoids using the real place name Kawaguchi and refers to it simply as "the town with cupolas" in the text.
  • Selected for the Osaka International Children's Literature Museum's "100 Books for Japanese Children (Postwar)" list.