Japanese Literary Awards

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Kazumi Saeki

さえき かずみ

Saeki Kazumi

Aliases: 佐伯 亨
Pen Names: Kazumi Saeki（Pen name used for literary works）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1959-07-21 （Sendai, Miyagi, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Sendai, Miyagi, Japan (current) → Moved to Tokyo (worked various jobs) → Norway (one-year stay in 1997)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Electrician, Magazine reporter
Active Years
1984-
Affiliations
Sendai Literature Museum (Director, 3rd), Selection committee member, Ōfusa Jirō Prize (37th–45th), Selection committee member, Noma Literary Prize (from 63rd)
Influenced By
Vincent van Gogh, I-novel tradition (Japanese autobiographical fiction)

Education

Miyagi Prefectural Sendai First High School
Country: Japan
After high school he moved to Tokyo and worked as a magazine reporter and electrician before debuting as a writer.

Awards

Kawasaki Literary Prize (Honorable Mention)
1983
Work: Shizukana Netsu
Organization: Kawasaki Literary Prize Committee
Result: 入賞
Kaiun New Literary Prize
1984
Work: Ki o Tsugu
Organization: Kaiun New Literary Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Noma Literary Newcomer Award
1990
Work: Short Circuit
Organization: Noma Literary Newcomer Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Mishima Yukio Prize
1991
Work: A Loose Boy
Organization: Mishima Yukio Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Kiyama Shōhei Literary Prize
1997
Work: Tōki Yama ni Hi wa Orite
Organization: Kiyama Shōhei Literary Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Ōfusa Jirō Prize
2004
Work: Tettō Kazoku
Organization: Ōfusa Jirō Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Noma Literary Prize
2007
Work: Norge
Organization: Noma Literary Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Mainichi Art Award
2014
Work: Kaerenu Ie
Organization: The Mainichi Newspapers
Result: 受賞
Itō Sei Literary Prize
2014
Work: Watarase
Organization: Itō Sei Literary Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Agency for Cultural Affairs Award (Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Prize)
2020
Work: Sankai-ki
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Ki o Tsugu

1984 Fiction (short story)

Debut piece; an autobiographical short story depicting work and family life.

laborfamilyautobiographical elements

Short Circuit

1990 Short story collection

A collection of stories based on his experience working as an electrician.

workthe bodyregional life

Ichirin

1990 Fiction (novella/short story)

Published in 1990. A short piece demonstrating his attention to everyday detail.

everyday lifememoryinterpersonal relationships
Adaptations
  • [V-cinema] F. Health Woman's Diary (1996)

A Loose Boy

1991 Fiction

A novel about a young man who becomes a father early; features strong autobiographical (I-novel) elements.

familyfatherhoodcoming-of-age
Adaptations
  • [Film] A Loose Boy (film; completed but not widely released) / 細野ひで晃
  • [TV drama] I Will Be Eighteen Tomorrow (2001)

Norge

2007 Novel

A novel based on his stay in Norway accompanying his wife; explores landscape and inner life.

foreign placelandscapefamily

Light's Darkness

2013 Linked short stories / collection

A multi-chapter work; a series of short pieces juxtaposing light and darkness.

memorylight and darknesscity and people
Adaptations
  • [Film] Light's Darkness — 'Waiting for the Twenty-Sixth Night' (film segment) / 越川道夫 (2017)

Kaerenu Ie

2013 Fiction

A work about family and regional memories; received the Mainichi Art Award in 2014.

familymemoryregion

Watarase

2013 Fiction

A finely observed novel about place and people; winner of the Itō Sei Literary Prize.

hometownlocal communityfamily

Sankai-ki

2019 Novel

A sweeping novel touching on mountains and seas; published in 2019 and awarded the Agency for Cultural Affairs prize in 2020.

naturehistoryhuman endeavor

Bibliography

  • Hina no Suika (Fukutake Shoten, 1987)
  • Short Circuit (Fukutake Shoten, 1990)
  • Ichirin (Fukutake Shoten, 1990)
  • A Loose Boy (Shinchōsha, 1991)
  • Ki no Ichizoku (Shinchōsha, 1994)
  • Tōki Yama ni Hi wa Orite (Shueisha, 1996)
  • Shōnen Shihen (Shinchōsha, 1997)
  • Kawasujimonogatari (Asahi Shimbunsha, 1998)
  • Maboroshi no Natsu (Kōdansha, 2000)
  • My Seasons (Gentosha, 2001)
  • Buji no Hi (Shueisha, 2001)
  • Tettō Kazoku (Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha, 2004)
  • Kusa no Kagayaki (Shueisha, 2004)
  • Norge (Kōdansha, 2007)
  • Pilotis (Shueisha, 2008)
  • Dareka ga Sore wo (Kōdansha, 2010)
  • Kaerenu Ie (Shinchōsha, 2013)
  • Light's Darkness (Fusōsha, 2013)
  • Watarase (Iwanami Shoten, 2013)
  • Hiyoriyama: Selected Short Stories by Kazumi Saeki (Kōdansha Bungei Bunko, 2014)
  • Sora ni Mizūmi (Chūōkōron-shinsha, 2015)
  • Sankai-ki (Kōdansha, 2019)
  • Asbestos (Bungeishunjū, 2021)
  • Michino Oku (Shinchōsha, 2024)

Adaptations

  • Ichirin → V-cinema 'F. Health Woman's Diary' (Toei Video, 1996)
  • A Loose Boy → TV drama 'I Will Be Eighteen Tomorrow' (NHK, 2001)
  • Light's Darkness (chapter 'Waiting for the Twenty-Sixth Night') → Film (2017)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
I-novel (autobiographical) approachlyrical, restrained proseattention to everyday detail
Recurring Motifs
Tohoku landscapes and hometown lifefamily and intergenerational relationswork and the bodyillness and memory

Health

  • Pleurisy, asthma (asbestos-related)
    20代に発症、以後持病として継続
    Developed asbestos-related pleurisy in his 20s and has chronic asthma; continued writing and published reportage 'Ishi no Hai' on asbestos victims.

Legacy

A writer in the I-novel tradition who carefully depicts Tohoku landscapes and labor experience. He has received multiple major literary awards and, through roles such as prize committee member and director of the Sendai Literature Museum, is an active figure in regional literary culture.

Museums

  • Sendai Literature Museum Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Archives

  • ISNI: 0000000082656222
  • VIAF: 73707036
  • WorldCat Entities ID: E39PBJtCDGYt3wXFdQ8Vw9Xjmd
  • National Diet Library ID: 00171036

In Popular Culture

  • A Loose Boy → NHK TV drama 'I Will Be Eighteen Tomorrow' (2001)
  • Ichirin → V-cinema 'F. Health Woman's Diary' (1996)
  • Light's Darkness (chapter 'Waiting for the Twenty-Sixth Night') → Film (2017)

Trivia

  • The pen name 'Ichimugi' (一麦) is inspired by Vincent van Gogh's fondness for painting wheat fields.
  • His early work as an electrician strongly influenced his early fiction.
  • He developed asbestos-related pleurisy and chronic asthma but continued to write and published reportage such as 'Ishi no Hai' about asbestos victims.
  • From the 2010s he served on literary prize selection committees and became the 3rd director of the Sendai Literature Museum in 2020.