Japanese Literary Awards

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Masatsugu Ono

おの まさつぐ

Ono Masatsugu

Pen Names: Makoto Masaki（Used for early short fiction）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1978-04-12 （Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Kyoto (birthplace) → Tokyo (residence)

Career

Occupations
novelist, translator, screenwriter
Active Years
2004-
Affiliations
Japan Writers' Association
Memberships
Japan PEN Club
Influenced By
Osamu Dazai, Yasunari Kawabata, Haruki Murakami

Education

Waseda University
Faculty of Letters / Department of Japanese Literature
Degree: 文学士
Period: 1997-2001
Year of Graduation: 2001
Country: Japan
Short-term study abroad in the UK

Awards

Contemporary Literature Prize
2018
Work: City of Yūgen
Organization: Japan Contemporary Literature Association
Result: Winner
New Authors' Literary Prize
2006
Work: Compositions of Dawn
Organization: Young Writers Foundation
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

City of Yūgen

2017 Short story collection 240 pages

A collection of short stories exploring memory and loss among city dwellers. Reality and fantasy intertwine throughout the pieces.

memorylossurban lifeloneliness
Adaptations
  • [Film] City of Yūgen / Kenta Mori (2019)
Translations
  • English edition 'City of Yūgen' (2019)

Lights on the Border

2014 Novel 320 pages

Set in a small border town, this novel unravels family secrets and the past.

familymemoryreckoning with the past

Compositions of Dawn

2006 Novella 120 pages

A coming-of-age novella about youth and loss; one of the author's early acclaimed works.

coming-of-agelossyouth

Bibliography

  • Compositions of Dawn (2006)
  • Lights on the Border (2014)
  • City of Yūgen (2017)
  • Short Story Collection 'Voices of Shadow' (2021)

Adaptations

  • City of Yūgen (film adaption, 2019)

Translations by Author

  • Japanese translation of the English work 'Night Garden' (2012)

Translations of Works

  • City of Yūgen (English translation, 2019)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical, poetic descriptiona style that blurs fantasy and reality
Recurring Motifs
nightrainalleysfragments of memory

Legacy

Renowned for exploring urban loneliness and memory, with strengths in short and mid-length fiction; considered a model for younger writers.

Academic Societies

  • Japan Contemporary Literature Association

Archives

  • Author materials held at the National Diet Library

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation screened at film festivals

Quotes

  • Memory is left forgotten on the corner of the city.
    Source: Short story 'City of Yūgen' (2017)
  • Words always remain as lights.
    Source: Novel 'Lights on the Border' (2014)

Trivia

  • Wrote radio drama scripts during university.
  • Born in Kyoto, but many works are set in Tokyo.
  • Has a habit of keeping hand-drawn maps in a favorite notebook.