Bungakukai Newcomer Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 20 (1965) honorable mention
Makiko Mori
もり まきこ
Mori Makiko
Aliases:
松浦栄子
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- 1934-12-19 （Sakata, Yamagata, Japan）
- Died
- 1992-11-17 （Misato, Saitama, Japan） age 57
- Nationality
- Japan
- Languages
- Japanese
- Residence History
- Sakata, Yamagata (birthplace) → Kobe (lived; attended English school) → Tokyo (lived; worked as a proofreader) → Misato, Saitama (later life)
Career
- Occupations
- Novelist
- Active Years
- 1965-1992
- Nominations
- Akutagawa Prize nominee: 'Tandokusha' (1965), Akutagawa Prize nominee: 'Kyori' (Distance) (1965), Akutagawa Prize nominee: 'Mitsuyaku' (Secret Pact) (1969), Akutagawa Prize nominee: 'Kiiroi Shōfu' (The Yellow Prostitute) (1971)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yamagata Prefectural Sakata Higashi High School | — | — | — | 〜1953 | Japan |
Yamagata Prefectural Sakata Higashi High School
Period:
〜1953
Year of Graduation:
1953
Country:
Japan
After high school she worked at supermarkets, attended English school and worked as a proofreader while beginning to write.
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Bungakukai Newcomer Prize | Tandokusha (The Lone One) | — | Bungakukai | 佳作 |
| 1980 | Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize | Yuki-onna (Snow Woman) | — | Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize Committee | 受賞 |
Bungakukai Newcomer Prize
1965
Work:
Tandokusha (The Lone One)
Organization:
Bungakukai
Result:
佳作
Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize
1980
Work:
Yuki-onna (Snow Woman)
Organization:
Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize Committee
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Izumi Kyoka Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 8 (1980) award
Works
Major Works
Tandokusha (The Lone One)
1965 Short storyDebut piece. A short story on solitude and alienation; it won an honorable mention in the Bungakukai Newcomer Prize and was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize.
lonelinessalienationpsychological introspection
Mitsuyaku (Secret Pact)
1970 NovelA novel focused on the shadows of interpersonal relations and secret pacts. Noted for its fantastical elements and portrayal of women's inner lives; nominated for the Akutagawa Prize.
secrecybetrayalfantasy
Kiiroi Shōfu (The Yellow Prostitute)
1971 NovelA novel about a woman living on the margins of society. Contrasts external social gaze with the individual's inner world.
marginalityfemale figuressociety vs individual
Hi no Michi (Scarlet Road)
1976 NovelA mid/long-length work intertwining fantastical imagery to depict characters' fates.
fatefantasyloneliness
Kaze no Fuku Machi (Town Where the Wind Blows)
1977 NovelA work centered on townscapes and memories; the wind carries pasts and layered recollections of people.
memorylandscapenostalgia
Yuki-onna (Snow Woman)
1980 NovelA long novel themed on the Japanese legend of the 'snow woman'. Its fantastical style fuses female interiority with mythic elements; this representative work won the Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize.
snowmythfemale interiorityfantasy
Unga no Aru Machi (Town with a Canal)
1985 NovelSet in a canal town, this work examines place, memory and interpersonal relationships.
placememoryhuman relationships
Ashioto (Footsteps)
1988 Novel / Short storiesA work that uses footsteps and traces as cues to depict the uncertainty of past and existence; contains short-story and long-form elements.
tracesthe pastexistence
Toraware (Captivity)
1989 NovelA novel on psychological and social confinement, portraying tensions in relationships and isolation.
confinementisolationrelationships
Akuun (Bad Luck)
1992 NovelA late-career work dealing with fate and misfortune; it was published near the end of her life (or posthumously).
fatemisfortunelife and death
Bibliography
- Tandokusha (The Lone One)
- Mitsuyaku (Secret Pact)
- Kiiroi Shōfu (The Yellow Prostitute)
- Hi no Michi (Scarlet Road)
- Kaze no Fuku Machi (Town Where the Wind Blows)
- Yuki-onna (Snow Woman)
- Unga no Aru Machi (Town with a Canal)
- Ashioto (Footsteps)
- Toraware (Captivity)
- Akuun (Bad Luck)
- Yoshida Tomoko / Makiko Mori / Yoshiyuki Rie / Kato Sachiko (Women Writers Series)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- fantastical and symbolic imageryintrospective, subdued prose
- Recurring Motifs
- snowlonelinessdeathfemale interiority
Health
-
misanthropy / tendency toward solitude晩年Characterized by marked misanthropy and a tendency toward solitude; reportedly lived alone and socially isolated, and was found dead alone.
Legacy
Recognized for a fantastical style and depictions of female interiority. Winner of the Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize for 'Yuki-onna', she is regarded as a representative female writer of the introspective generation. Her works and authority records are held in national library catalogues.
Archives
- National Diet Library (NDL) catalogue entry
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) catalogue entry
- German National Library (DNB) catalogue entry
- Library of Congress (LC) authority record
Trivia
- Legal name: Eiko Matsuura.
- Born into a family of a private practitioner in Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture.
- Graduated from Yamagata Prefectural Sakata Higashi High School in 1953.
- Debuted with 'Tandokusha', winning an honorable mention in the Bungakukai Newcomer Prize (1965).
- 'Yuki-onna' (1980) won the Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize.
- In later life she lived alone in the Misato housing complex in Misato, Saitama, and was reportedly found dead in 1992.
- Reportedly a classmate of singer Yoko Kishi.