Japan has a tradition of women's literature that developed from the 11th century, then subsided from the 13th century until the Meiji period in the late 19th century when it was revived.
Literature since 1945: The Women's Literary Tradition
Japan has a tradition of women's literature that developed from the 11th century (Heian period), then subsided from the 13th century until the Meiji period in the late 19th century when it was revived.
Here are some contemporary female writers:
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| Writer Hayashi Fumiko. |
Hayashi Fumiko (1903-1951) wrote novels, short stories, and poetry. She wrote realistically and sympathetically about the lower classes in postwar Tokyo from a bleak perspective.
Her best known works are The Wanderer's Diary (Hōrōki, 1930), Late Chrysanthemums (Bangiku, 1948), and Drifting Clouds (Ukigumo, 1951).
She died of a heart attack in 1951, and her house in Tokyo was later turned into a museum and memorial hall. A bronze statue was erected in her memory in Onomichi, where Hayashi spent her childhood.
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Enchi Fumiko (1905-1986) began writing in 1926, but became famous after the war. She is known for her exploration of ideas about sexuality, gender, identity, and spirituality, and for her writings about the intimate psychology of women, both victims and accomplices of men in their abuse. She was one of the most prominent Japanese female writers of Japan's Shōwa period (1926-1989).
Enchi's novel Himojii Tsukihi (1953), which won the 1954 Women's Literature Prize, tells a violent, harrowing story of family misfortune and physical and mental deprivation; The Waiting Years ( Onna Zaka, 1949-1957), set in the Meiji period and analyzing the plight of women who had no choice but to accept the demeaning roles assigned to them in the patriarchal social order. Some of her other works : Words Like the Wind (Kaze no Gotoki Kotoba, 1939), Treasures of the Sky and the Sea (Ten no Sachi, Umi no Sachi, 1940), Spring and Autumn (Shunju, 1943), Masks (Onna Men, 1958)…
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Ariyoshi Sawako (1931-1984) was a prolific novelist and one of Japan's most famous female writers.
Her works dramatize important social issues, such as the suffering of the elderly, the impact of environmental pollution, and the impact of social and political change on Japanese family life and values, with a particular focus on women's lives. She studied at Tokyo Women's Christian University.
The novel Twilight Years (Kōkotsuno Hito, 1972) describes the life of a working woman caring for her dying father-in-law, The River Ki (Kinokawa, 1959) is a poignant portrait of the lives of three rural women: mother, daughter and granddaughter, The Doctor's Wife (Hanaoka Seishū no Tsuma, 1966) is a historical novel dramatizing the roles of 19th-century Japanese women, a work that marked her as one of the most prominent female writers in postwar Japan.
Some of her other major works: White People (Masshirokenoke, 1957), Dance of Links (Tsudaremei, 1962), Time of Distrust (Fushin no Toki, 1967), Complex Pollution (Fukugō Osen, 1975), Japanese Islands: Past and Present (Nihon no Shimajima, Mukashi to Ima, 1981)...
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Kurahashi Yumiko (1935-2005) appeared in the 60s, during the protest movement against the Japan-US Security Treaty. She studied French literature, influenced by Sartre. Her novels often use symbols and metaphors to evoke the melancholy in people, cutting off the connection with reality, with elements of satire, parody and other elements typical of postmodernist writing.
In 1960, Kurahashi published the short novel End of Summer (Natsu no Owari), which was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize, The Adventures of Sumiyakisto Q (Sumiyakisuto Q no Bōken, 1969), the fantasy and dystopian novel Anti-tragedy ( Hanhigeki, 1971), The Bridge of Dreams (Yume no Ukihashi, 1971).
In addition, she wrote both short stories and novels such as The Castle Within the Castle (Shiro no Naka no Shiro, 1981), Wicked Fairy Tales for Adults (Otona no Tame no Zankoku Dōwa), and Kurahashi's Short Ghost Stories (Kurahashi Yumiko no Kaiki Shōhen), her most famous work during her lifetime. In her later years, despite her declining health, she wrote several books, including: Kôkan (Kōkan, 1989), Dream Road (Yume no Kayoiji, 1989), Collection of Imaginary Images (Gensō Kaiga - Kan, 1991), Yomotsuhirasaka Round Trip (Yo Motsu Hira-sa ka ōkan, 2002), Wicked Fairy Tales for the Elderly (Rōjin no Tame no Zankoku Dōwa, 2003).
Her final work was a new translation she completed the day before her death: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
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Ayako Sono (born 1931) came from a modern bourgeois family and became famous at the age of 22 with The Visitor from a Distant Place (Enrai no Kyaku-Tachi, 1954). Readers after 1945 were amused to see the 19-year-old female protagonist treating an American soldier with such impudence.
Some of her major works are the novels When Sugar Candy Breaks (Satōgashi ga Kowareru Toki); The Wounded Reed (Kizutsuita Ashi), a stark depiction of the life of a Catholic father; The House of Fiction (Kyokō no Ie) depicting domestic violence; The Color of the Blue Sky (Tenjō no Ao), a crime novel based on serial murder and rape cases, depicting the extremes of love; Lamentation (Aika) chronicling a nun's dramatic experience facing the Rwandan genocide; the short story The Long Dark Winter (Nagai Kurai Fuyu), a frequently anthologized masterpiece; Tadami River (Tadami Gawa), about love torn apart by World War II.
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