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Yuko Yamao

やまお ゆうこ

Yamao Yūko

Pen Names: Yuko Yamao（Pen name (real name not publicly disclosed)）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1955-03-25 （Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Tsukubo District, Okayama Prefecture, Japan (as of 2018) → Okayama City (birthplace, childhood)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Fantasy/Speculative fiction writer, Tanka poet
Active Years
1975-
Affiliations
Japan Writers' Association
Memberships
Japan Writers' Association, Japan SF Writers Club (was a member; not listed in membership as of 2020)
Influenced By
Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, Kunio Tsukamoto, Mutsuo Takahashi, C. S. Lewis, Jorge Luis Borges

Education

Doshisha University
Faculty of Letters / Department of Japanese Literature
Country: Japan
Began publishing works while at university (debut around 1975)

Awards

Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize
2018
Work: Flying Peacock
Organization: Izumi Kyōka Literary Prize Committee
Result: Winner
Japan SF Award
2019
Work: Flying Peacock
Organization: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan (organization)
Result: Winner
Art Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) - Literature
2019
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan)
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The City Where Dreams Dwell

1978 Fantasy / Speculative fiction

A collection of short and medium-length stories set in a poetic, surreal city. The works present symbolic, allegorical incidents in meticulously constructed fantastical settings.

decayruinallegoryotherworlds

Kamen Monogatari (or Records of the Mirror Kingdom)

1980 Novel (fantasy)

A full-length novel using motifs of masks and mirrors to develop otherworldly allegory.

mirrorstransformationidentity

Flying Peacock

2018 Novel / Fantasy

A novel published in 2018 that demonstrates Yamao's mature post-return style, a fantastical tale combining ruin and beauty.

ruin and beautyallegorical landscapescollapse

Bibliography

  • The City Where Dreams Dwell (1978)
  • Kamen Monogatari (1980)
  • Sugar Cube Days (tanka collection, 1982)
  • Collected Works of Yuko Yamao (2000)
  • Distorted Pearl (2010)
  • Lapis Lazuli (2003)
  • Flying Peacock (2018)
  • Mountain Mermaid and the Hollow King (2021)

Translations by Author

  • White Fruit (by Jeffrey Ford), translated with Mizuhito Kanbara and Akemi Tanigaki (Kokusho Kankokai, 2004)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
cool, poetic prosemeticulously constructed fantastical worldshighly symbolic depictions
Recurring Motifs
decay / collapsemirrors and masksallegorical landscapespainterly imagery

Legacy

Regarded as a writer who constructs unique fantastical worlds through language. After a period of relative silence she returned and was reappraised, winning major prizes such as the Izumi Kyōka Prize and the Japan SF Award.

Academic Societies

  • Japan Writers' Association

Quotes

  • I wondered whether my novels were out of place in SF; I sometimes thought I might have been better off starting from modern poetry.
    Source: Interview by Masao Azuma in Fantasia Literature 58 (2000) (2000)

Trivia

  • Real name not publicly disclosed (reportedly revealed once in the past)
  • Debuted around 1975 (about age 20)
  • Had a long publishing hiatus after 1985 and resumed writing in 1999
  • Participated in translation work (Jeffrey Ford's White Fruit, 2004)