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Yoshiko Shibaki

しばき よしこ

Shibaki Yoshiko

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1914-05-07 （Oji (now Kita-ku), Tokyo, Japan）
Died
1991-08-25 （National Cancer Center, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan） age 77
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Oji (now Kita-ku), Tokyo, Japan → Asakusa Higashinakacho (now Kaminarimon, Taito-ku), Tokyo, Japan

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Essayist
Active Years
1941-1991
Affiliations
Japan Art Academy, Member of Bungai Shuto (literary circle)
Memberships
Member of the Japan Art Academy

Education

Tokyo Prefectural First Girls' High School (now Tokyo Metropolitan Hakuo High School)
Country: Japan

Awards

Akutagawa Prize (14th)
1942
Work: Seika no ichi (The Produce Market)
Organization: Akutagawa Prize Selection Committee
Result: Winner
Female Writers' Award
1960
Work: Yuba
Organization: Female Writers' Award Committee
Result: Winner
Shincho Prize for Fiction
1965
Work: Yoru no Tsuru (Night Crane)
Organization: Shinchosha
Result: Winner
Women's Literature Award
1972
Work: Seiji Kinuta (青磁砧)
Organization: Women's Literature Award Committee
Result: Winner
Japan Art Academy Prize
1981
Organization: Japan Art Academy
Result: Winner
Imperial Gift Award (Japan Art Academy)
1982
Organization: Japan Art Academy
Result: Winner
Japan Literature Grand Prize
1984
Work: Sumidagawa Boshoku (Evening Hues of the Sumida River)
Organization: Japan Literature Grand Prize Committee
Result: Winner
Mainichi Art Award
1987
Work: Yukimai
Organization: Mainichi Newspapers
Result: Winner
Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class
1986
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: Recipient
Person of Cultural Merit
1989
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs
Result: Honored

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Seika no ichi (The Produce Market)

1941 Novel

Set in the Tsukiji produce market during wartime, the novel follows Yaé's struggle to restore her family's fortunes and explores the tensions between social constraints and personal desire.

downtown Tokyowartime lifefemale independencefamily restoration

Suzaki Paradise

1954 Novel

Set in the entertainment district of Suzaki, the work depicts the lives and inner worlds of women there. It served as the basis for the film 'Suzaki Paradise: Akashingo'.

entertainment districtswomen's livesurban periphery
Adaptations
  • [Film] Suzaki Paradise: Akashingo

Yuba

1960 Novel (autobiographical)

Part of an autobiographical trilogy published after the war. Drawing on the author's upbringing and feelings for downtown Tokyo, it delves into a woman's inner life and choices.

autobiographydowntown Tokyofemale psychology

Seiji Kinuta (青磁砧)

1972 Novel

A novel portraying women devoted to crafts and the arts, and the poignant romances surrounding them. It won the Women's Literature Award in 1972.

craftsvisual artsmelancholy romance

Sumidagawa Boshoku (隅田川暮色)

1984 Novel

One of her late masterpieces, carefully portraying downtown life and the people who inhabit it. It received the Japan Literature Grand Prize.

downtown Tokyomemoryhuman relationships

Bibliography

  • Seika no ichi (The Produce Market)
  • Suzaki Paradise
  • Yuba
  • Sumidagawa
  • Marunouchi Building No.8
  • Yako no Onna
  • Katsushika no Onna
  • Seiji Kinuta
  • Yukimai
  • Gunjō no Mizuumi (Ultramarine Lake)
  • Winter Plum
  • Farewell Melody
  • Skies of the Downtown
  • Marunouchi Building No.8
  • Yuba; Sumidagawa
  • Collected Works of Yoshiko Shibaki (5 vols.)

Adaptations

  • Suzaki Paradise: Akashingo (film adaptation)
  • Akasen Chitai (one of the sources for Kenji Mizoguchi's posthumous film)

Translations by Author

  • Shakespeare — The Merchant of Venice (retelling)
  • Frances Hodgson Burnett — A Little Princess (retelling)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
melancholic prose rooted in downtown Tokyo depictiondelicate psychological portrayal of womensymbolic use of crafts and visual arts
Recurring Motifs
downtown landscapesconflict between love and artfemale solitude and independence

Health

  • Breast cancer
    1991年（死没）
    Diagnosed with breast cancer and died in 1991 at the National Cancer Center. Affected late-period activities.

Legacy

Yoshiko Shibaki is regarded as one of the leading postwar female writers in Japan, known for her depictions of downtown Tokyo and poignant portrayals of women's lives and conflicts between love and art. She was a member of the Japan Art Academy and honored as a Person of Cultural Merit.

Academic Societies

  • Japan Art Academy

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation 'Suzaki Paradise: Akashingo' (based on 'Suzaki Paradise')
  • One of the source texts for Kenji Mizoguchi's film 'Akasen Chitai'

Trivia

  • Won the 14th Akutagawa Prize (1942)
  • Received the Japan Art Academy Prize (1981) and the Imperial Gift Award (1982)
  • Awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class (1986)
  • Named a Person of Cultural Merit (1989)
  • Burial site: Aoyama Cemetery
  • Spouse: Kiyoshi Oshima (economist)
  • Died of breast cancer in 1991 (aged 77)