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Kazue Matsubara

まつばら かずえ

Matsubara Kazue

Pen Names: Kazue Furuta（birth name）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1916-01-31 （Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan）
Died
2011-01-31 （Minato, Tokyo, Japan (hospital)） age 95
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan → Dalian (then Manchuria), China → Tokyo (Minato), Japan

Career

Occupations
Writer, Poet, Government official
Active Years
1942-2010

Education

Dalian Yayoi Girls' High School
Country: Manchuria (then), present-day China
Graduated from a former secondary education institution (pre-war)
Fukuoka Women's College (now Fukuoka Women's University)
Country: Japan
Graduated from a predecessor of Fukuoka Women's University

Awards

Tamura Toshiko Prize
1970
Work: A Voice Saying 'Be Beautiful, O You'
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Hometown: Irises Blooming

1942 Fiction (short story collection)

An early collection of stories centered on hometown and family themes.

nostalgiafamilywomen's perspective

Clouds Bearing the Wind

1943 Fiction

Works depicting feelings and scenes from the wartime period.

life during wartimememory

Wisteria Mirror

1963 Fiction

A 1960s work focusing on character portrayal in a novel-like format.

human relationshipsfemale figures

A Voice Saying 'Be Beautiful, O You'

1970 Biographical novel

A portrayal of the poet Tetsuji Yayama; winner of the Tamura Toshiko Prize in 1970.

poetryartist's lifememory and reevaluation

The End of Colonel Fujita

1972 Non-fiction

A reportage-style account treating the final days of Colonel Fujita Sanetsugu.

end of a military officerwar responsibilityhistorical inquiry

Nights at the Dalian Dance Hall

1994 Memoir / Essays

A memoir-like work recounting experiences and memories in Dalian, Manchuria.

Manchuria / Dalianreminiscencepostwar memory

The Tonghua Incident: The 'Kwantung Army Revolt' and the End of Staff Officer Fujita

2003 Historical non-fiction

A research-oriented book examining the Tonghua Incident, based on documents and interviews, focusing on the Kwantung Army and Staff Officer Fujita.

Tonghua IncidentKwantung Armywar history

The Private Lives of Men of Letters: Showa Literary Circle Reminiscences

2010 Essays / Recollections

An essay collection recounting literary friendships and private aspects of writers during the Showa era.

literary circlesfriendshipsreminiscence

Bibliography

  • Hometown: Irises Blooming (Ten'yū Shobō, 1942)
  • Clouds Bearing the Wind (Ten'yū Shobō, 1943)
  • Wisteria Mirror (Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1963)
  • A Voice Saying 'Be Beautiful, O You' (Shueisha, 1970; later Chō Bunko)
  • The End of Colonel Fujita (Bungeishunjū, 1972)
  • Manyo Woman (Sankei Shimbunsha Publishing, 1974)
  • The Light Blinked Three Times... (Age Publishing, Mar 1982)
  • Someday I Will Return to My Country (Kodansha, Apr 1983)
  • Traveler Henceforth (Bungeishunjū, Feb 1985)
  • I Will Not Return Now: Forty Years of Japanese Wives Left in China (Kairyūsha, Jul 1986)
  • Nights at the Dalian Dance Hall (Arechi Shuppansha, Oct 1994; later Chūōkōron Bunko)
  • Learning from Nakamura Tempū's 'Maxims': Recommendations for a Positive Life (co-edited with Nobuyoshi Akashi, Nisshin Hōdō, May 1994)
  • Master Tempū Nakamura: Principles of Positive People (Kairyūsha, May 1995)
  • Talents That Invite Good Fortune Learned from Master Tempū Nakamura (Kairyūsha, Mar 1997)
  • Tempū Nakamura: A Man Who Lived Fully (Chūōkōron Shinsha, Apr 1999)
  • Kaizōsha and Yamamoto Sanesuke (Nanpō Shinsha, Apr 2000)
  • The Tonghua Incident: The 'Kwantung Army Revolt' and the End of Staff Officer Fujita (Chikuma Shūhansha, Aug 2003)
  • Phantom Dalian (Shinchō Shinsho, Mar 2008)
  • The Private Lives of Men of Letters: Showa Literary Circle Reminiscences (Shinchō Shinsho, 2010)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
memoiristic prosedocumentary/reportage-like tonelyrical description
Recurring Motifs
nostalgiamemories of Manchuria/Dalianwar and its aftermathwomen's lives

Health

  • heart failure
    2011-01-31
    Died in a Tokyo hospital due to heart failure

Legacy

Known for works drawing on her experiences in Dalian and for writings on the Tonghua Incident and wartime/postwar history. She continued creative work while employed as a government official and produced biographical and historical books on poets and military figures. She was recognized with awards such as the Tamura Toshiko Prize (1970).

Trivia

  • Birth name: Kazue Furuta.
  • Born January 31, 1916; died January 31, 2011 at age 95 (born and died on the same day).
  • Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture and raised in Dalian (then Manchuria).
  • In 1944 she traveled alone in Manchuria and is said to have met Colonel Fujita at Lake Jingpo.
  • She worked as a Ministry of Finance official while continuing her literary activities.
  • Married in 1945 and widowed about five years later.
  • Authored several books concerning the Tonghua Incident.