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Noichi Takase

たかせ のいち

Takase Noichi

Pen Names: Nokaze（Used in early poetry and tanka）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1986-04-15 （Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan → Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Translator, Essayist
Active Years
2008-
Affiliations
Japan Writers Association, Japan Association of Translators
Influenced By
Hiromi Kawakami, Takeo Arishima
Influenced
Sakura Onodera, Wataru Nishiyama

Education

Kyoto University
Faculty of Letters / Department of Japanese Literature
Degree: 文学士
Period: 2004-2008
Year of Graduation: 2008
Country: Japan
Published short stories during undergraduate studies and debuted in the literary world.

Awards

Wakaba Literary Prize
2015
Work: The Green Garden
Category: 短編
Organization: Wakaba Foundation
Result: 受賞
Future Writers Award
2019
Work: Winter Glass
Category: 長編
Organization: Literary Promotion Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Green Garden

2014 Short story collection 184 pages

A collection of short stories centered on a small garden in a corner of the city, exploring family and memory. It quietly depicts loss and renewal found in the details of everyday life.

familymemoryeveryday life
Adaptations
  • [Stage] The Green Garden — Stage Play / 中井真也 (2017)
Translations
  • English translation: The Green Garden (trans. Emi Sato)

Winter Glass

2018 Novel 312 pages

Set in a snowbound coastal town, this novel traces a family's secrets and a process of recovery from loss. The narrative weaves together distance in time and fragments of memory.

lossrecoveryfamily
Adaptations
  • [Film] Winter Glass / 藤原直也 (2020)
Translations
  • English translation: Winter Glass (trans. Haruka Tanaka)

Night Passage

2021 Novella 96 pages

A novella following characters wandering through sleepless nights. It portrays urban loneliness and the incidental intersections between people.

lonelinessinsomniachance encounters
Adaptations
  • [Audio drama] Night Passage — Audio Drama / 石田潤 (2022)
Translations
  • English translation: Night Passage (trans. Lucy Wang)

Bibliography

  • The Green Garden (short stories) — 2014
  • Winter Glass (novel) — 2018
  • Night Passage (novella) — 2021
  • Contours of Light (essays) — 2016
  • Quiet Harbor (short stories) — 2012

Adaptations

  • Winter Glass — film adaptation (2020)
  • The Green Garden — stage adaptation (2017)

Translations of Works

  • Winter Glass — English translation (trans. Haruka Tanaka)
  • Night Passage — English translation (trans. Lucy Wang)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
quiet, lyrical proserealistic depiction focusing on detail
Recurring Motifs
windowsgardensvacant housesthe passage of seasons

Health

  • Depression
    2012-2013
    Caused a period of reduced output and a shift toward more introspective themes

Legacy

Her work, praised for depicting memory and loss through everyday detail, has influenced younger writers and reached a wider audience through a television adaptation.

Museums

  • Noichi Takase Memorial Room Inside Kyoto Central Library Opened in 2024

Academic Societies

  • Japan Writers Association

Archives

  • Noichi Takase Collection (Kyoto Prefectural Library)

In Popular Culture

  • The TV drama adaptation increased popularity among younger readers

Quotes

  • It is the small fragments of memory that shape our lives.
    Source: Interview (Asahi Shimbun) (2019)
  • Words are windows and also keys.
    Source: Essay collection 'Contours of Light' (2016)

Trivia

  • Always drinks tea from the same purple cup while writing.
  • Keeps a cat named 'Fuyu'.
  • Has a habit of drafting ideas by hand in a notebook.