Japanese Literary Awards

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Yoshinori Yagi

やぎ よしのり

Yagi Yoshinori

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1911-10-21 （Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan）
Died
1999-11-09 （Machida, Tokyo, Japan） age 88
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan → Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan → Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan → Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Yamasaki housing complex)

Career

Occupations
Novelist
Active Years
1934-1999
Affiliations
Japan Art Academy, Bungei Jidai (contributor)
Memberships
Japan Art Academy (member), Bungei Jidai (contributor)
Influenced By
Takeo Arishima, Riichi Yokomitsu, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Influenced
Seiji Uenishi
Nominations
Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize — nominee (multiple times)

Education

Hokkaido Imperial University — Fisheries School (Manufacturing Course)
Manufacturing
Country: Japan
Left before graduation
Waseda University
Faculty of Letters / French Literature
Period: 1935-1938
Year of Graduation: 1938
Country: Japan
Graduated
Waseda University Senior High School (Second Waseda High School)
Period: 1933-1935
Country: Japan
Attended senior high affiliated with Waseda

Awards

Akutagawa Prize
1944
Work: Liu Kōfuku (Ryu Kōfuku)
Result: 受賞
Yomiuri Literature Prize
1977
Work: Kazematsuri
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Japan Art Academy Award (Imperial Prize)
1988
Category: 恩賜賞
Organization: Japan Art Academy
Result: 受賞
Hokkaido Shimbun Cultural Award
1988
Organization: Hokkaido Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class
1989
Category: 勲章
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: 受章
Kikuchi Kan Prize
1990
Work: Collected Works of Yoshinori Yagi (in recognition of his life's work)
Result: 受賞
Honorary Citizen of Muroran
1990
Organization: Muroran City
Result: 叙勲

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Liu Kōfuku (Ryu Kōfuku)

1944 Fiction

A short work published during wartime depicting fate and human relationships in unfamiliar settings; it won the Akutagawa Prize.

warfatehuman relationships

Mother and Child Requiem

1948 Fiction

Published shortly after the war, this collection includes short and medium-length pieces exploring family and loss.

familylosspostwar

My Sonia

1949 Fiction

A work that portrays the inner life and image of a woman from a personal point of view.

personal historywomeninterior life

Lake Mashu

1971 Fiction

A story set in Hokkaido that delicately depicts landscape and human psychology.

naturenostalgiaisolation

Kazematsuri

1976 Fiction

A collection of short and medium-length pieces showing the maturity of his style; it won the Yomiuri Literature Prize.

maturityregional lifehuman dramas

Bibliography

  • Mother and Child Requiem
  • For a Beautiful Old Age
  • My Sonia
  • Wild Dance
  • Seven Women's Rooms
  • Women: Short Stories
  • The Bell That Will Ring Tomorrow
  • I Love
  • Shikoku Pilgrimage: From Tourist Sites to Mountain Temples
  • Friends and Love
  • Lake Mashu
  • My Literature
  • Kazematsuri
  • A House Falling Apart
  • Dawn at Sea
  • A Man's Place
  • Words of the North Wind
  • Liu Kōfuku (Ryu Kōfuku)
  • A Single Picture
  • Distant Horizon
  • Drifting Clouds
  • A Mistaken Birthday
  • Scenes with Family
  • Three Lives
  • Evening Rainbow
  • Collected Works of Yoshinori Yagi (8 volumes)
  • Aspiring to Be a Demon of Literature
  • An Unaccustomed Morning: Selected Essays by Yoshinori Yagi
  • Writing Workshop
  • I Resemble a Snail
  • My Sonia: Selected Works of Yoshinori Yagi
  • Distant Horizon & Liu Kōfuku (reprint)
  • Kazematsuri (reprint)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Shishosetsu (I-novel) tendencieslyrical proseskilled short-story technique
Recurring Motifs
loss of familynorthern melancholyloneliness and isolation

Health

  • Orthostatic hypotension
    1998-1999
    Suffered an episode in 1998 leading to hospitalization; an orthostatic hypotension event contributed to his death in 1999.
  • Suicide attempt (early adulthood)
    1930年代
    After a suicide attempt in Harbin, he was detained and interrogated; the incident influenced his subsequent life and thinking.

Legacy

Recognized as a master of the short story, he received major literary awards including the Akutagawa and Yomiuri prizes. As a Hokkaido-born writer he continued to depict northern landscapes and human psychology. Later elected to the Japan Art Academy, his achievements were honored with collected works and the Kikuchi Kan Prize.

Museums

  • Yoshinori Yagi Literary Museum (location details not specified)
  • Muroran City — Port Literature Museum (related exhibits) Muroran City, Hokkaido, Japan

Archives

  • Waseda University Library holdings (materials related to Yoshinori Yagi exhibitions)
  • Muroran City Port Literature Museum collections

Trivia

  • Born out of wedlock and raised in a foster family during early childhood.
  • His first wife and child perished in the 1945 Tokyo air raids.
  • Attempted suicide in Harbin, Manchuria, and was subsequently detained and interrogated.
  • Received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class (1989) and the Kikuchi Kan Prize (1990).
  • In later years he was elected to the Japan Art Academy and his collected works were published, leading to renewed recognition.