Noma Literary Newcomer Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 7 (1985) award
Mizuko Masuda
ますだ みずこ
Masuda Mizuko
Aliases:
榛名みず子 / Haruna Mizuko
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- 1948-11-13 （Senju Sekiyamachi, Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan）
- Nationality
- Japan
- Languages
- Japanese
- Residence History
- Senju Sekiyamachi, Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan (birthplace) → Tokyo, Japan (residence / base of activity)
Career
- Occupations
- Novelist
- Active Years
- 1977-
- Affiliations
- Nippon Medical School — Second Biochemistry Laboratory (former staff), Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College (creative writing instructor)
- Nominations
- 79th Akutagawa Prize nominee (1978): 'Koshitsu no Kagi' ('Key to the Private Room'), 80th Akutagawa Prize nominee (1979): 'Sakuraryo', 81st Akutagawa Prize nominee (1979): 'Two Springs', 82nd Akutagawa Prize nominee (1980): 'Until the Memorial Service', 86th Akutagawa Prize nominee (1982): 'Little Prostitute', 89th Akutagawa Prize nominee (1983): 'Shy Nightscape', 20th Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize nominee (1993): 'Face', 21st Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize nominee (1994): 'Kazekusa', 29th Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize nominee (2003): 'Soiné' ('Sleeping Beside')
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo Metropolitan Hakuo High School | — | — | — | — | Japan |
| Tokyo Metropolitan Ueno High School (night school) | — | — | — | — | Japan |
| Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology | Faculty of Agriculture | Department of Plant Protection | — | — | Japan |
Tokyo Metropolitan Hakuo High School
Country:
Japan
Enrolled but dropped out
Tokyo Metropolitan Ueno High School (night school)
Country:
Japan
Re-enrolled as a night/part-time student
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Faculty of Agriculture
/ Department of Plant Protection
Country:
Japan
Graduated
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Noma Literary New Face Award | Free Time | — | Noma Literary New Face Award | 受賞 |
| 1986 | Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature | Single Cell | — | Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature | 受賞 |
| 1992 | Art Encouragement Prize (New Artist) | Dream Insect | — | Art Encouragement Prize (New Artist) | 受賞 |
| 2001 | Ito Sei Literary Prize | Tsukuyomi | — | Ito Sei Literary Prize | 受賞 |
Noma Literary New Face Award
1985
Work:
Free Time
Organization:
Noma Literary New Face Award
Result:
受賞
Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature
1986
Work:
Single Cell
Organization:
Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature
Result:
受賞
Art Encouragement Prize (New Artist)
1992
Work:
Dream Insect
Organization:
Art Encouragement Prize (New Artist)
Result:
受賞
Ito Sei Literary Prize
2001
Work:
Tsukuyomi
Organization:
Ito Sei Literary Prize
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Izumi Kyoka Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 14 (1986) award
Art Encouragement Newcomer Award of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
1 appearances
-
Edition 42 (1992) award
Ito Sei Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 12 (2001) award
Works
Major Works
Relations After Death
1977 Short fictionDebut work; a short piece that was a candidate for the Shincho New Writers' Award and marked her literary debut.
deathhuman relationshipsloneliness
Free Time
1984 Novel / FictionA representative work dealing with single life and interiority; notable for detailed observation of women's lives and daily minutiae.
single lifefemale psychologyurban life
Single Cell
1986 NovelA novel centered on single life. After publication the term 'single' attracted attention and the book became one of her landmarks.
singlehoodvocabulary and social discoursewomen's independence
Dream Insect
1991 Short story collectionA collection of short stories delicately portraying fragments of life and inner movements. Won the Art Encouragement Prize (New Artist).
interioritydream vs. realitysubtle emotions
Tsukuyomi
2001 NovelA maturely written novel that received the Ito Sei Literary Prize.
memoryfamilytime
Bibliography
- Two Springs
- Shy Nightscape
- Free Time
- Scent of Home
- Single Cell
- A Family of One
- Night Robot
- Come Home
- Dream Insect
- My Tokyo Story
- Kazekusa
- Tsukuyomi
- Fiction (2020)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- introspective and meticulous descriptionobservational, reality-based proserestrained narration
- Recurring Motifs
- singlehoodboundaries between city and homememory and fragments of the pastwomen's interiority
Legacy
Mizuko Masuda is a Japanese novelist active from the late 1970s to the present. She is known for delicate portrayals of single life and women's interiority, and was recognized for works such as Free Time (1985) and Single Cell (1986). She received awards including the Noma Literary New Face Award, Izumi Kyoka Prize for Literature, the Art Encouragement Prize (New Artist), and the Ito Sei Literary Prize, establishing her place as a writer of urban life and personal psychology.
Archives
- National Diet Library (Japan) — holdings / authority
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) — authority data
In Popular Culture
- After the publication of Single Cell (1986), the term 'single' attracted attention and briefly became a buzzword.
Trivia
- Birth name is Haruna Mizuko.
- Was nominated six times for the Akutagawa Prize but did not win (counted among the most frequent unsuccessful nominees).
- After Single Cell (1986), the term 'single' briefly became a topical buzzword.