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Katsunori Miyauchi

みやうち かつのり

Miyauchi Katsunori

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1944-10-04 （Harbin, Manchukuo (now China)）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Harbin (Manchukuo; now China) → Ibusuki, Kagoshima Prefecture (formerly Yamakawa Town), Japan → California, United States → New York, United States → Tokyo, Japan → Long-term travel/residence across 60+ countries

Career

Occupations
novelist, essayist, university professor, lecturer
Active Years
1979-
Affiliations
Waseda University (Visiting Professor), Nihon University, College of Art (Lecturer), Osaka University of Arts, Department of Literary Arts (Professor), Minami-Nippon Literary Prize Selection Committee (former member)
Memberships
Writers Aiming for a Nuclear-Free Society (founding signatory/organizer), Minami-Nippon Literary Prize Selection Committee (former member)
Influenced
Yusuke Miyauchi
Nominations
85th Akutagawa Prize nominee ('The Golden Elephant', 1981), 86th Akutagawa Prize nominee ('The Day Fire Fell', 1982)

Education

Kagoshima Prefectural Konan High School
Period: 1959-1963
Year of Graduation: 1963
Country: Japan
Member of the school's literary club.

Awards

Bungei Prize
1979
Work: South Wind
Organization: Bungei Prize Selection Committee
Result: winner
Akutagawa Prize
1981
Work: The Golden Elephant
Organization: Akutagawa Prize Selection Committee
Result: nominee
Noma Literary New Face Award
1981
Work: The Golden Elephant
Organization: Noma Cultural Foundation
Result: winner
Akutagawa Prize
1982
Work: The Day Fire Fell
Organization: Akutagawa Prize Selection Committee
Result: nominee
Yomiuri Literary Prize
2006
Work: Self-Immolation
Organization: The Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: winner
Arts Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education Award)
2006
Work: Self-Immolation
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Arts Award Selection Committee)
Result: winner
Itō Sei Literature Prize
2011
Work: The Love of the Demon King
Organization: Itō Sei Literature Prize Selection Committee
Result: winner
Minami-Nippon Cultural Award (Academic/Education Division)
2023
Category: 学術教育部門
Organization: Minami-Nippon Shimbun
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

South Wind

1979 Novel

Debut novel. Against a backdrop of travel and return, it examines memory and relations with others to pose questions of identity.

identitytravelmemory

Leaving the Light of Greenwich

1980 Novel

A work reflecting overseas experiences, characterized by contrasting foreign landscapes with the self.

foreign landsself-exploration

The Golden Elephant

1981 Short stories / Novellas

A collection of short and mid-length stories addressing alienation and cultural friction, depicting domestic and foreign scenes.

alienationcultural clash

The Day Fire Fell

1983 Novel

A work that addresses human violence and fate, using metaphorical imagery to depict the intersection of society and the individual.

violencefate

Self-Immolation

2005 Novel

A long novel addressing politics and personal crisis. Its focus on self-sacrifice and corporeality, framed by international perspectives, received critical acclaim.

politicsself-sacrificecorporeality

The Love of the Demon King

2010 Novel

A work that handles complex human relationships and desires. It has award recognition and is seen as a sign of the author's maturity.

desirehuman relationships

The Eternal Road Winds and Twists

2017 Novel

A long novel about the continuities of life and history. Notable for its attempts to portray overlapping time and memory.

timememoryhistory

Two Hundred Billion Fruits

2021 Novel

A recent work that ambitiously captures the interaction between contemporary society and the individual from a broad perspective.

contemporary societythe individual

Bibliography

  • South Wind (1979)
  • Leaving the Light of Greenwich (1980)
  • The Golden Elephant (1981)
  • The Day Fire Fell (1983)
  • LOOK AT ME (1983)
  • The Age of Cosmic Nonsense (1986)
  • Nicaragua Stowaway Plan (1986)
  • This Planet Is Truly Paradise (1991)
  • Eros of the Warrior (1992)
  • Days in Bali (1995)
  • I Want to Be an Archaeopteryx (1998)
  • Beyond Good and Evil (2000)
  • Sea Turtle Correspondence (2001)
  • The Naked King, America (2002)
  • The Golden Tiger (2002)
  • Self-Immolation (2005)
  • Straw Hat and Laptop (2006)
  • Planetary Thought: Living After 9/11 (2007)
  • The Love of the Demon King (2010)
  • The Eternal Road Winds and Twists (2017)
  • Two Hundred Billion Fruits (2021)
  • To the Sea of Psyche: Dialogues on Psychic Power (co-authored, 1986)
  • Message from E.T.: Lectures on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (co-authored, 1987)
  • Until Our Wisdom Ends (co-authored, 1995)
  • Japanese Society Gave Birth to Aum (co-authored, 1999)
  • Anti-War (edited/overseen, 2001)
  • Translation: Jiddu Krishnamurti's Diary (1983)
  • Translation: Atsuk — What the Boy Found (2002)

Translations by Author

  • Jiddu Krishnamurti's Diary (translation, 1983)
  • Atsuk — What the Boy Found (translation, 2002)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Large-scale narratives rooted in travel and pilgrimageCalm, observational proseA style that weaves philosophical and social questions into fiction
Recurring Motifs
identitytravel and foreign landsmemory and the pastaesthetics and violenceencounters with others

Legacy

An author acclaimed for large-scale works grounded in extensive travel and for persistent thematic inquiry into identity. He has contributed to the literary world as a university educator and prize committee member, and has received multiple major literary awards.

Archives

  • National Diet Library authority record
  • Registered in VIAF and other international authority databases

Trivia

  • Born in Harbin (then Manchukuo) the year before the end of the war and raised in Kagoshima after repatriation.
  • Traveled to the United States in 1967 and lived in California and New York (approximately two years each).
  • Debuted with the Bungei Prize for 'South Wind' (1979).
  • Won the Noma Literary New Face Award for 'The Golden Elephant' (1981) and was a nominee for the Akutagawa Prize for that work and others.
  • Received the Yomiuri Literary Prize (2006) and the Arts Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education Award) for 'Self-Immolation'.
  • Won the Itō Sei Literature Prize in 2011 for 'The Love of the Demon King'.
  • Received the 74th Minami-Nippon Cultural Award (Academic/Education Division) in 2023.
  • His wife is the poet Kimiko Miyauchi; his son, Yusuke Miyauchi, is also a novelist.
  • Has been active as a signatory/organizer in anti-nuclear writer initiatives.
  • Has traveled to and stayed in over 60 countries, using travel experience as material for his fiction.