Japanese Literary Awards

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Nobuo Ishimori

いしもり のぶお

Ishimori Nobuo

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1897-06-16 （Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan）
Died
1987-08-14 age 90
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Sapporo, Hokkaido → Aichi Prefecture (worked as a junior high teacher) → Kagawa Prefecture (worked as a junior high teacher) → Dairen (Dalian), Manchuria → Tokyo (Ministry of Education, editorial and teaching activities)

Career

Occupations
children's literature author, language-education scholar, novelist, lyricist, textbook editor, university professor
Active Years
1926-1987
Affiliations
Showa Women's University (Professor), Ministry of Education (Library/Book supervision officer)

Education

Tokyo Higher Normal School
Second Division, Japanese Language and Literature / Japanese Language and Literature
Period: ～1923
Year of Graduation: 1923
Country: Japan
Engaged in poetry and oral children's stories while enrolled

Awards

Shinchosha Literary Prize (3rd)
1939
Work: Sakidasu Shonen-gun
Organization: Shinchosha
Result: winner
Mimei Literary Prize (1st)
1957
Work: The Whistle of Kotan
Organization: Mimei Literary Prize Committee
Result: winner
Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award (5th)
1957
Work: The Whistle of Kotan
Organization: Sankei Shimbun
Result: winner
Noma Children's Literature Prize (1st)
1962
Work: Ban's Souvenir Tales
Organization: Noma Cultural Foundation
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Sakidasu Shonen-gun

1939 Novel (children's/young adult)

A long novel set in Manchuria. Serialized in a newspaper and later published by Shinchosha; it became his breakthrough work.

Manchuriaportraits of youthprewar society

The Whistle of Kotan

1957 Children's literature (novel)

A two-part novel featuring Ainu characters in Hokkaido. It became a bestseller and was adapted into a film.

Ainulocalitychildren and coming of age
Adaptations
  • [film] The Whistle of Kotan / 成瀬巳喜男 (1959)

Ban's Souvenir Tales

1961 Children's literature

A collection of tales for children; recipient of the Noma Children's Literature Prize.

children's literatureeveryday life and imagination

Bibliography

  • Beloved People: Stories for Boys and Girls (1926)
  • Manchuria Library (1934)
  • Sakidasu Shonen-gun (1939)
  • The Whistle of Kotan (1957)
  • Ban's Souvenir Tales (1961)
  • Collected Works of Nobuo Ishimori (15 vols., 1971)

Adaptations

  • The Whistle of Kotan (film adaptation, 1959)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
accessible narrative for childrenstrong sense of local coloreducational and moral elements
Recurring Motifs
nature and localitychild's perspectivedepictions of indigenous (Ainu) culture

Legacy

A writer who contributed to children's literature and Japanese language education from the prewar to postwar periods. Major works such as The Whistle of Kotan were widely read; film adaptations, monuments, and collected editions have sustained his legacy.

Museums

  • Hokkaido Museum of Literature (Nobuo Ishimori Collection) Hokkaido, Japan

Academic Societies

  • Japanese Association for Children's Literature (founding chair)

Archives

  • Hokkaido Museum of Literature — Nobuo Ishimori Collection

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation of The Whistle of Kotan (1959)
  • Literary monument at Ishimori Literary Plaza near Moiwa in Sapporo

Trivia

  • His father was the poet Kazuo Ishimori, lyricist of 'We Love Hokkaido'.
  • He wrote lyrics for many school songs and anthems.
  • A 15-volume collected edition of his children's literature was published.