Japanese Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Asako Horikawa

ほりかわ あさこ

Horikawa Asako

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1964-07-20 （Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture, Japan → Fukuda-cho, Miyagino-ku, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan (resided)

Career

Occupations
novelist, author
Active Years
2002-
Affiliations
Japan Mystery Writers Association
Memberships
Japan Mystery Writers Association

Education

Aomori Prefectural Aomori High School
Year of Graduation: 1983
Country: Japan

Awards

Japan Fantasy Novel Award (Excellent Prize)
2006
Work: Dark Mirror
Organization: Japan Fantasy Novel Award committee
Result: 受賞
Shosetsu Subaru Newcomer Award (Finalist)
2002
Work: Hoichi — Chinzei Spell Scroll
Organization: Shueisha (Shosetsu Subaru)
Result: 最終候補

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Tamashikuru: Itako Chitose's Ayakashi Casebook

2009 Fantasy / Mystery

The first in a series following Chitose, an itako (spirit medium), who confronts ayakashi (supernatural beings) and ghostly cases. Blends local folklore with fantastical mystery.

yokaifolklorelocality

Dark Mirror

2006 Fantasy / Horror

The award-winning debut work, a collection of short and mid-length stories about strange phenomena involving mirrors and darkness, exploring human psychology and ancestral ties.

mirrorsmemoryancestral ties

The Fantastical Post Office

2011 Fantastical fiction

Set around a post office where fantastical events occur, this collection explores intersecting human emotions and time, mixing warmth and wonder.

timenostalgiamystery

Ryugu Train

2015 Fantasy

A tale revolving around a mythical train that intersects legend and otherworld, unfolding a fantastical story between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

trainsotherworldjourney

Bibliography

  • Dark Mirror
  • Tamashikuru: Itako Chitose's Ayakashi Casebook
  • Mashō: Itako Chitose's Ayakashi Casebook 2
  • The Fantastical Post Office
  • The Fantastical Electric House (aka Fantasy Cinema)
  • Diary Hall Fantasy (revised: Fantastical Diary Shop)
  • Fantastical Detective Agency
  • Fantastical Hot Spring Village
  • Fantastical Short Stories
  • Fantastical Sleeping Car
  • The Transfer Student of the Prophecy Village
  • The Reunion of the Prophecy Village
  • Three Great-Aunts and the Haunted House
  • Ryugu Train
  • Underwater Girl — Ryugu Train
  • The Meddlesome Osuzu
  • The Weatherfickle Osuzu
  • Hospitality Time-Space Hotel
  • Hospitality Time-Space Cafe
  • Tsukuyohiko
  • Hoichi
  • Wonder Production
  • The Zashiki-warashi of the Ōoku
  • Ochappei: Edo 808
  • The Little Old Man
  • Sent to the Moonlight: Okita Sōji Youth Records (Vol.1 & 2)
  • I Decided to Fall in Love Because Crying 100 Times Won't Change Anything
  • The Olympics Came: A 1964 Northern Family Story
  • The Pop-up Book Girl
  • The Magician
  • Loved, Loving, Turned, and Turned Away
  • No One Wants to Make Their Parents Cry
  • Usagi Street Marugame Real Estate: That Room Had a Backstory
  • Those Who Mess with Love: The Clumsy Diary of Kazuko and Kaoru
  • The Pop-up Book Girl: Oni and Hikari-kun
  • The Fantastical Steamship
  • On a Fine Day, Closing a Grave
  • The Fantastical Shopping Street
  • The Count and the Nouveau Riche — Teito Mayuzumi Detective Lab —

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical fantastical prosenarrative incorporating folklore and tradition
Recurring Motifs
yokai and ghoststemporal dislocationlandscape and memories of Aomori

Legacy

Asako Horikawa is known for fantasy tales rich in local color and folkloric elements. Her body of work, which draws on regional traditions, has been recognized within contemporary Japanese fantasy literature.

Academic Societies

  • Japan Mystery Writers Association

Trivia

  • Born July 20, 1964 (from Aomori City).
  • Debuted after winning the Excellent Prize in the 2006 Japan Fantasy Novel Award for 'Dark Mirror'.
  • Member of the Japan Mystery Writers Association.