Japanese Literary Awards

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Shotaro Yasuoka

やすおか しょうたろう

Yasuoka Shoutarou

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1920-04-18 （Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, Japan）
Died
2013-01-26 （Tokyo, Japan (details not public)） age 92
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Religion
Catholicism Baptized in 1988
Residence History
Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, Japan (birthplace) → Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan (early infancy) → Keijo (present-day Seoul, Korea) (childhood) → Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan (elementary school period) → Tokyo (Aoyama, Meguro, Koiwa, etc.) → Fujisawa (Kugenuma), Kanagawa, Japan (1945–1952) → Nashville, Tennessee, USA (study abroad/stay)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Essayist, Literary critic
Active Years
1951-2013
Affiliations
Japan Art Academy, Mita Bungaku Society
Memberships
Member, Japan Art Academy, Mita Bungaku Society (served as chair)
Influenced By
Shusaku Endo
Nominations
Akutagawa Prize nominee (1951) — Glass Shoes, Akutagawa Prize nominee (1952) — Homework, Akutagawa Prize nominee (1952) — Pet/Plaything

Education

Keio University
Department of English / English Literature
Period: 1941–1948（学徒動員による中断あり）
Year of Graduation: 1948
Country: Japan
Entered university prewar, was conscripted and served in Manchuria, then returned and graduated in 1948 while recovering from tuberculosis and spinal caries.

Awards

Akutagawa Prize
1953
Work: Bad Company; Gloomy Pleasure
Organization: Bungeishunju
Result: winner
Arts Encouragement Award
1960
Work: Scenes by the Sea
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs
Result: winner
Noma Literary Prize
1960
Work: Scenes by the Sea
Organization: Noma Cultural Foundation
Result: winner
Mainichi Publishing Culture Prize
1967
Work: After the Curtain Fell
Organization: Mainichi Newspapers
Result: winner
Yomiuri Literary Prize (Fiction)
1974
Work: Run, Tomahawk
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: winner
Japan Art Academy Award
1976
Organization: Japan Art Academy
Result: winner
Japan Literature Grand Prize
1981
Work: The Wandering Tale
Organization: Japan Literature Grand Prize Committee
Result: winner
Noma Literary Prize
1989
Work: My Showa History (3 vols.)
Organization: Noma Cultural Foundation
Result: winner
Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize
1991
Work: My Uncle's Cemetery
Organization: Kawabata Yasunari Prize Committee
Result: winner
Asahi Prize
1992
Work: Contributions from the 1950s onward
Organization: Asahi Shimbun
Result: winner
Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class
1993
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: conferred
Yomiuri Literary Prize (Essay/Travel)
1996
Work: Endless Travelogue
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: winner
Osaragi Jiro Prize
2000
Work: Kagami River
Organization: Osaragi Jiro Prize Committee
Result: winner
Person of Cultural Merit
2001
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: honor

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Glass Shoes

1951 Short story

Written while ill and recuperating; a debut short story that garnered Akutagawa Prize attention. It probes the inner life and alienation of young people.

I-novel introspectionillness and the bodyalienation

Bad Company

1953 Short/Novella

One of the works that won the 1953 Akutagawa Prize. A representative piece depicting fragile friendships and the vulnerability of youth.

friendship and betrayalportrayals of youthexistential anxiety

Scenes by the Sea

1959 Novel / Short story collection

A representative work of his 1950s output, delicately portraying inner life and everyday scenes.

everyday life and memoryI-novel traditionnostalgia

After the Curtain Fell

1967 Novel

Using theatrical metaphor, this work examines human relationships and society; it won the Mainichi Publishing Culture Prize.

human relationshipssocial critiquetheatricality

The Wandering Tale

1981 Novel

A long work drawing on his family history and the history of the Tosa domain; winner of the Japan Literature Grand Prize.

family historyhistory and selfmemories of home

My Showa History (3 vols.)

1984 Memoir / Autobiography

A multi-volume memoir recounting his experiences and memories of the Showa era; awarded the Noma Literary Prize.

recollection and historypostwar experienceliterary self-awareness

Kagami River

2000 Novel

A late-career work depicting local landscapes and family memories; recipient of the Osaragi Jiro Prize.

nostalgia and landscapefamilymemory

Bibliography

  • Bad Company
  • Glass Shoes / Pet
  • Scenes by the Sea
  • Pawnshop Wife
  • After the Curtain Fell
  • The Wandering Tale
  • Kagami River
  • Run, Tomahawk
  • My Showa History (3 vols.)
  • Endless Travelogue
  • Emotional Travels in America
  • Emotional Travels in the Soviet Union
  • Sticking-Out-Tongue Angel
  • Thick with Green Leaves
  • Autobiographical Travels
  • After the Curtain Fell
  • My Tokyo Map
  • Phantom River
  • Facing Death: Living the Moment

Translations by Author

  • Roots (Alex Haley, co-translator)
  • Enrico (Marcel ???, co-translator)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
I‑novel introspective prosecolloquial, clear narrative voicesharp essayistic criticism
Recurring Motifs
illness and the bodywar experience and returnees' perspectivefamily history and local memorydetailed portrayals of city life and everyday scenes

Health

  • Spinal caries (tuberculous spondylitis)
    1945頃〜1954（自然治癒が報告されるまで）
    Extended convalescence with corset use and periods of being bedridden, strongly influencing his writing and worldview.
  • Pulmonary tuberculosis
    1944–1945（学徒動員中に発病し除隊）
    Led to discharge from military service; subsequently wrote while undergoing treatment.

Legacy

One of the representative postwar Japanese writers, praised for introspective I‑novel style fiction and wide-ranging essays and criticism. Admired by writers such as Haruki Murakami. Manuscripts and papers are preserved as the Shotaro Yasuoka Archive at the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature.

Museums

  • Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature (Shotaro Yasuoka Archive) Kanagawa Prefecture (Yokohama, etc.), Japan
  • Kochi Prefectural Literary Museum (holds/hosts exhibitions) Kochi Prefecture, Japan

Academic Societies

  • Mita Bungaku Society
  • Japan Art Academy

Archives

  • Shotaro Yasuoka Archive (Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature)
  • Yasuoka Family House (Yamakita, Konan City — related to national important cultural property)

In Popular Culture

  • 2016 special exhibition "Shotaro Yasuoka Exhibition — From the Self to History" at the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature
  • Haruki Murakami contributed to the exhibition catalogue, helping raise posthumous recognition.

Quotes

  • Among postwar Japanese novelists, he is the most skillful writer of prose.
    Source: Haruki Murakami (exhibition catalogue contribution; cited in BRUTUS etc.) (2021)
  • A writer who might have received the Akutagawa Prize at any time; it would not have been surprising.
    Source: Ango Sakaguchi (Akutagawa Prize selection commentary) (1953)

Trivia

  • Official family register gives May 30 as his birthdate, but he recorded April 18 as his birthday.
  • Conscripted to serve in Manchuria but was discharged due to pulmonary tuberculosis and repatriated.
  • Suffered spinal caries and underwent long convalescence with a corset and bed rest; these illnesses influenced his writing motives.
  • Broke into the literary world with "Glass Shoes" and won the Akutagawa Prize in 1953 for works including "Bad Company."
  • His family donated about 4,000 manuscripts and letters to the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature; these are kept as the Shotaro Yasuoka Archive.
  • Converted to Catholicism in 1988, influenced by Shusaku Endo.
  • He translated works such as Alex Haley's "Roots" into Japanese.
  • Was a member of the postwar literary group known as the "Third Newcomers" (第三の新人).