is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. Her novel ''Hebi ni piasu'' (''

Snakes and Earrings is a Japanese novel by Hitomi Kanehara. The story follows Lui, a young woman in Tokyo whose fascination with body modification and BDSM, sadomasochistic sexual activity drives her to make increasingly dangerous personal choices. First published i ...

'') won the Shōsetsu Subaru Literary Prize and the

Akutagawa Prize The is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes. History The ...

, and sold over a million copies in Japan. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide.

Early life

Kanehara was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. During elementary school she spent a year in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

with her father. At age 11, she dropped out of school, and at age 15 she left home. After leaving home, Kanehara pursued her passion for writing. Her father, Mizuhito Kanehara, a literary

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

, continued to support her.

Career

Kanehara wrote her first novel, ''Hebi ni piasu'' (''

''), at the age of 21. The novel won the Shōsetsu Subaru Literary Prize and the

(judged by novelist

Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist, short story writer, essayist, and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusionment, drug use, surrealism, murder, and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are ''Al ...

), and became a Japanese bestseller, going on to sell more than one million copies. Kanehara and fellow 2003

honoree

Risa Wataya is a female Japanese novelist from Kyoto. Her short novel ''Keritai senaka'' won the Akutagawa Prize and has sold more than a million copies. Wataya has also won the Bungei Prize and the Kenzaburo Oe Prize. Her work has been translated into Ge ...

remain the youngest people ever to receive the

. In the same year that she won the

, Kanehara got married. Kanehara's novel ''Autofiction'', with a story that unfolds in reverse chronological order, was published in Japan in 2006. In 2007 an English version of ''Autofiction'', translated by David James Karashima, was published by

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...

under the same name, and her novel ''Haidora'' (''Hydra'') appeared in print in Japan. A film adaptation of ''Hebi ni piasu'', directed by

Yukio Ninagawa was a Japanese theatre director, actor and film director, particularly known for his Japanese language productions of Shakespeare plays and Greek tragedies. He directed eight distinct renditions of ''Hamlet.'' Ninagawa was also emeritus of the ...

and starring

Yuriko Yoshitaka is a Japanese actress. She has played numerous roles in film and television, including lead roles in ''Snakes and Earrings'', ''Yurigokoro'', and the NHK asadora ''Hanako to Anne''. Career At age 16, her first year of high school, Yoshitaka join ...

in the lead role, premiered in 2008. Kanehara's novel ''Torippu torappu'' (''TRIP TRAP'') was published in 2009, and won the 2010 Sakunosuke Oda Prize. When the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...

occurred in 2011, Kanehara left

for

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...

out of concerns about the effects of

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...

on her children. In 2012 she moved to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and her book ''Mazāzu'' (''Mothers'') won the Bunkamura Deux Magots Literary Prize. While living in France with her husband and two daughters, Kanehara wrote several books, including ''Keihaku'' (''Flirty'') in 2016 and ''Kuraudo gāru'' (''Cloud Girl'') in 2017. After living in France for six years, in 2018 she and her family returned to Japan, where her essay collection ''Pari no Sabaku, Tōkyō no Shinkirō'' (''Paris Desert, Tokyo Mirage''), was published in 2020.

Writing style

Kanehara's early work is known for its graphic depictions of

sexual activity Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) ...

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...

body modification Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many s ...

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

bulimia Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eate ...

, and

self-harm Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

. Kanehara has claimed that her own experiences with

have inspired her fictional settings and characters, and reviews of ''Hebi no piasu'' and ''Autofiction'' regularly focused on her own appearance and behavior. A common theme in her work is personal choice, with characters often making choices that place them outside societal norms in order to take control of their own actions and consequences. As Kanehara has explored this theme in her later work in the context of motherhood and family rather than youth and sex, media attention to her work has declined.

Recognition

* 2003 Subaru Literary Prize (

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

) for ''Hebi ni piasu'' (''

'') * 2004 130th Akutagawa Prize (2003下) for ''Hebi ni piasu'' (''

'') * 2010 Sakunosuke Oda Prize for ''Torippu Torappu'' (''Trip Trap'') * 2012 Bunkamura Deux Magots Literary Prize for ''Mazāzu'' (''Mothers'')

Films and other adaptations

* ''Hebi ni piasu'' (''Snakes and Earrings''), 2008

Bibliography

Books in Japanese

* '' Hebi ni piasu'', Shueisha, 2004, * ''Ash Baby'', Shueisha, 2004, * ''AMEBIC'', Shueisha, 2005, * ''

Autofiction In literary criticism, autofiction is a form of fictionalized autobiography. Autofiction combines two mutually inconsistent narrative forms, namely autobiography and fiction. An author may decide to recount their life in the third person, to mod ...

''. Shueisha, 2006, * ''Hydra'', Shinchosha, 2007, * ''Hoshi e ochiru'', Shueisha, 2007, * ''Torippu Torappu'' (''Trip Trap''), Kadokawa Shoten, 2009, * ''Yūutsutachi'', Bungei Shunju, 2009, * ''Mazāzu'' (''Mothers''), Shinchosha, 2011, * ''Marriage Marriage'', Shinchosha, 2012, * ''Motazaru mono'' (''The Have-Nots''), Shueisha, 2015, * ''Keihaku'' (''Flirty''), Shinchosha, 2016, * ''Kuraudo gāru'' (''Cloud Girl''), Asahi Shimbun, 2017,

Selected work in English

* ''

'', trans. David James Karashima, Dutton, 2005, * ''

'', trans. David James Karashima, Vintage Books, 2007, * "Mambo", trans. Dan Bradley, ''The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction'', 2015 * "Delira", trans. Dan Bradley, ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'', October 10, 2015 * "Aiguille" and "Pute", trans. Morgan Giles, ''

'', November 11, 2020

References

External links

J'Lit , Authors : Hitomi Kanehara* , Books from Japan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanehara, Hitomi 1983 births Living people 21st-century Japanese novelists Akutagawa Prize winners Japanese women novelists 21st-century Japanese women writers