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Kyoko Hayashi

はやし きょうこ

Hayashi Kyoko

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1930-08-28 （Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan）
Died
2017-02-19 age 86
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Shanghai (childhood) → Nagasaki (birth and after return)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Essayist
Active Years
1975-2017

Education

Nagasaki Medical College, Women's Vocational Department (affiliated) - did not complete
Women's Vocational Department / Specialized course
Period: 在学中に中退
Country: Japan
Enrolled in Nagasaki Medical College affiliated women's department but left without graduating.

Awards

Gunzō New Writers' Award
1975
Work: Matsuri no Ba
Organization: Gunzō (Kodansha)
Result: Won
Akutagawa Prize
1975
Work: Matsuri no Ba
Organization: Bungeishunjū (Akutagawa Prize selection committee)
Result: Won
Arts Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education) — offered and declined
1978
Work: Giyaman Bidoro
Category: 新人賞
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Arts Encouragement Prize)
Result: Declined
Women's Literature Award
1983
Work: Shanghai
Organization: Women's Literature Award Committee
Result: Won
Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize
1984
Work: Sankai no Ie
Organization: Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize Committee
Result: Won
Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Prize
1990
Work: Rest in Peace Now
Organization: Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Prize Committee
Result: Won
Noma Literary Prize
2000
Work: Human Experience Spanning Long Time
Organization: Noma Literary Prize Committee
Result: Won
Asahi Prize
2006
Work: Literary achievements culminating in the collected works
Organization: Asahi Shimbun Company
Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Matsuri no Ba

1975 Short story (fiction)

A short story drawing on the author's atomic-bomb experience in Nagasaki. It weaves her memories and hibakusha perspective to confront life, death, and memory.

atomic bombmemoryfamilylife and death

Giyaman Bidoro

1978 Linked short stories

A linked collection of twelve short stories addressing atomic-bomb experiences, family matters, and memories of Shanghai in her youth.

hibakusha experienceShanghaifamilyrecord/chronicle

Shanghai

1983 Novel / Short story collection

Work centered on her childhood in Shanghai, depicting memories, alienation, and connections with China.

Shanghaichildhoodmigrationmemory

Rest in Peace Now

1991 Short story collection

A collection of short stories reflecting on family, aging, and death, marked by the author's outlook on life and death and confessional novel elements.

familyagingdeathI-novel (confessional fiction)

Human Experience Spanning Long Time

2000 Essays / Short pieces

Essayistic pieces based on long-term observation and experience, reflecting on time, human experience, and her career as a writer.

timeexperienceagingrecollection

Bibliography

  • Matsuri no Ba (1975)
  • Giyaman Bidoro (1978)
  • Michelle's Lipstick (1980)
  • As If Nonexistent (1981)
  • Shanghai (1983)
  • Sankai no Ie (1984)
  • Michi / The Way (1985)
  • Valley (1988)
  • Virginia's Blue Sky (1988)
  • Town Where Dogwood Blooms (1989)
  • Rondo (1989)
  • Rest in Peace Now (1991)
  • Momentary Memories (1992)
  • Youth (1994)
  • An Era Where Elderly Children See Elderly Parents (1995)
  • The Oak Table (1996)
  • Osakini (1996)
  • Scheduled Time (1998)
  • Human Experience Spanning Long Time (2000)
  • Hope (2005)
  • Collected Works of Kyoko Hayashi (8 vols., 2005)

Adaptations

  • High-Definition Special: The Women Who Survived the Bomb (NHK, 2010)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
quiet, introspective narrationreflective prosefact-rooted descriptive style
Recurring Motifs
atomic-bomb experiencememories of Shanghaifamilylife and death

Health

  • Atomic bomb exposure (concerns about atomic-bomb-related illness)
    1945年以降
    Her atomic-bomb exposure and anxiety about related illnesses strongly influenced her work and themes, producing literature that contemplates life and death.

Legacy

Kyoko Hayashi occupies an important place in modern Japanese literature as a hibakusha writer. Her works, often based on atomic-bomb experiences and childhood in Shanghai, received wide acclaim and many literary awards, while she also became involved in controversies such as declining national honors and debates over the framing of atomic-bomb literature.

Archives

  • Nagasaki Prefectural Library (MIRAI on Library materials)
  • NHK Archives (related program materials)

In Popular Culture

  • Featured in NHK HD special 'The Women Who Survived the Bomb' (2010)

Trivia

  • In 1945, while mobilized as a student worker at a Mitsubishi munitions factory in Nagasaki, she was exposed to the atomic bomb. Her assigned paper-recycling site was about 1.4 km from the hypocenter; she was buried under rubble but miraculously survived.
  • She received a hibakusha (atomic-bomb survivor) certificate in 1963.
  • In 1975 she debuted on the literary scene with the short story 'Matsuri no Ba', winning both the Gunzō New Writers' Award and the Akutagawa Prize.
  • She received an informal offer of the Arts Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education) for 'Giyaman Bidoro' but declined it, stating that as a hibakusha she could not accept a state award.
  • She was once criticized by Kenji Nakagami, who labeled her an 'atomic-bomb fascist'.
  • She spent part of her childhood in Shanghai; several works (the Shanghai series) take Shanghai as their subject.
  • Her Collected Works (Collected Works of Kyoko Hayashi) in 8 volumes was published in 2005.