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Nagashima Minako

ながしま みなこ

Nagashima Minako

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1943 （Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
poet
Active Years
1980-
Affiliations
Japan Modern Poets Association, Kyo wa Shijin no Kai, Sutemu
Memberships
Japan Modern Poets Association
Nominations
48th H Prize — nominee (Anpan Diary, 1997), 22nd Gendai Shijin Prize — nominee (Shakashaka, 2003), 28th Gendai Shijin Prize — nominee / 12th Ono Jūsaburō Prize — nominee (Neko Warau, 2009), 33rd Gendai Shijin Prize — nominee (Hajime ni Yami ga Atta, 2014), 52nd Japan Poets' Club Prize — nominee (Ie ga Atta, 2018)

Awards

Oguma Hideo Prize
1998
Work: Anpan Diary
Organization: Oguma Hideo Prize Selection Committee
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Hyoutan Hechima

1986 poetry collection

An early collection capturing poetic slices of everyday life.

everyday lifepersonal perception

Aphasia

1991 poetry collection

A collection focusing on language and silence.

languagesilence

Kurama Tengu

1995 poetry collection

A collection that touches on historical and legendary motifs.

legendmemory

Anpan Diary

1997 poetry collection

Poems about small everyday events, food and fragments of family life. Winner of the 31st Oguma Hideo Prize.

foodfamilyeveryday life

A Little Overeating

2000 poetry collection

A collection portraying food and everyday habits with humor.

foodhumor

Shaka Shaka

2003 poetry collection

A collection featuring rhythmic wordplay. Nominee for the Gendai Shijin Prize.

wordplayrhythm

The Cat Laughs

2009 poetry collection

Uses the motif of cats to depict humor and strangeness in everyday life. Multiple prize nominations.

catshumoreveryday life

First There Was Darkness

2014 poetry collection

A collection that delves into inner darkness and light. Nominee for the Gendai Shijin Prize.

darknessinterior life

There Was a House

2018 poetry collection

Poems that carefully weave scenes of home and memory. Nominee for the Japan Poets' Club Prize.

homememory

Riding the Hippocampus

2020 poetry collection

A recent collection themed on memory and consciousness.

memoryconsciousness

Bibliography

  • Hyoutan Hechima (Seijisha, 1986)
  • Aphasia (Seijisha, 1991)
  • Kurama Tengu (Mujinkan, 1995)
  • Anpan Diary (Mujinkan, 1997)
  • A Little Overeating (Mujinkan, 2000)
  • Shaka Shaka (Mujinkan, 2003)
  • The Cat Laughs (Shichosha, 2009)
  • First There Was Darkness (Shichosha, 2014)
  • There Was a House (Soratobu Kirinsha, 2018)
  • Riding the Hippocampus (Soratobu Kirinsha, 2020)
  • Flowers Fall, People Die (Kashinja, 2016, essay)
  • Sheep's Poems: Poets Born in 1943 (co-authored anthology, 2013)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
clear depictions of everyday life with lyrical introspectiona mix of humor and allegory
Recurring Motifs
foodhomememorycatsdarkness

Legacy

Nagashima Minako is a prominent female poet active since the 1980s in contemporary Japanese poetry. She is noted for probing personal memory and feeling through everyday details. Her Oguma Hideo Prize win has cemented her position as an important postwar woman poet.

Academic Societies

  • Japan Modern Poets Association
  • Japan Poets' Club

Trivia

  • Her son is illustrator Nagashima Goro (called GonGon).
  • Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1943.
  • Active in literary magazines such as Gendai Shijin Techo, Gendai Shi La Mer, Shigaku, and Shijin Kaigi.