Kaho Nakayama (Japanese: 中山可穂, born 1960) is a Japanese writer. Her debut novel, ''The Stoop-Shouldered Prince'' (猫背の王子, Nekoze no Ouji), was published in 1993, and her subsequent novels have won and been nominated for a number of Japanese literary awards including the

Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize The is a Japanese literary award established in 1988 in memory of author Shūgorō Yamamoto. It was created and continues to be sponsored by the Shinchosha Publishing company, which published Yamamoto's ''Complete Works''. The prize is awarded ann ...

. In the 2015 edition of the ''Routledge Handbook of Sexuality Studies in East Asia'', she was identified as "Japan's only contemporary self-identified lesbian novelist". Her short story, "Sparkling Rain", was the titular short story of Barbara Summerhawk's anthology of queer Japanese women writers, '' Sparkling Rain: and other fiction from Japan of women who love women.'' This short story, and a selection from her novel ''Sentimental Education'', translated by Allison Markin Powell, are her only works to have been translated into English.

Life and works

Nakayama was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

in 1960 and graduated from the Faculty of Education at

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

's Department of English. Between graduation and the publication of her first novel, she directed a theatrical troupe, including acting, writing, and directing. For five years, to get through the void after quitting acting, she worked in her thirties as an office worker while beginning to write her first novel. In 1993, after winning a short story prize from Tokyo FM,

Magazine House is a Japanese publisher, formerly named Heibon Shuppan Co., Ltd. History The company was founded in October 1945 by Kinosuke Iwahori and Tatsuo Shimizu. Its first publications were the magazines ''Heibon'' and ''Heibon Weekly''. In 1964, it l ...

published her debut novel, ''The Stoop-Shouldered Prince''. Her 1995 novel, ''Angel Bones'' (天使の骨, ''Tenshi no Hone'') won the Asahi New Writers' Literary Award, and her 2001 novel, ''To the Depths of a White Rose'' (白い薔薇の淵まで, ''Shiroi Bara no Fuchi Made'') was awarded the

Lesbian and homosexual themes

Nakayama's works, such as her 2000 novel ''Sentimental Education'' (感情教育, sharing a title with Gustav Flaubert's novel), are known for their frequent motifs of heartrending

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

love and relationships. ''To the Depths of a White Rose'' and ''Sentimental Education'' were both published at the end of what has been described as Japan's 'gay boom', spanning the late 1980s and 1990s, where novels such as ''To the Depths of a White Rose'' and

Chiya Fujino is a Japanese writer of literary fiction. She has published several novels and short stories, and has been awarded three major Japanese literary prizes. Fujino is a transgender woman who reflects the difficulties of her own life journey in the ...

's ''A Promise for Summer'', both won major Japanese literary awards. The title of her novel ''Love-Suicide in Marrakesh'' (マラケシュ心中, ''Marakeshu shinju'') referenced the trope of love-suicide seen in 17th century Japanese literature, while the content more evoked the contemporary expressions and representations of same-sex female love and relationships seen in

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

. In the early period of her career, her body of work was known for its radical portrayal of sex and gender, together with full and nuanced expressions of lesbianism. With the 2006 publication of ''Kehheru'' (ケッヘル), Nakayama's work expanded into depictions of love and relationships between

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including ' ...

as well as heterosexuals, parents, and children. Despite this, she strongly disliked being called a 'lesbian writer' by the public, striving to continue publishing fleshed-out novels that keenly examined the foundational nature of human existence.

Works

* ''The Stoop-Shouldered Prince (猫背の王子, Nekoze no ouji)'', 1993 * ''Angel Bones'' (天使の骨, ''Tenshi no hone''), 1995 * ''La Sagrada Familia'' (サグラダファミリア : 聖家族, ''Sagurada famiria : seikazoku''), 1998 * ''Sentimental Education (''感情教育, ''Kanjo kyōiku),'' 2000 * ''Cut to the Quick'' (深爪, ''Fukadzume''), 2000 * ''To the Depths of a White Rose'' (白い薔薇の淵まで, ''Shiroi Bara no Fuchi Made''), 2001 * ''The Flower Temple'' (花伽藍 ''Hana-garan''), 2002 * ''Love-Suicide in Marrakesh'' (マラケシュ心中, ''Marakeshu shinju''), 2002 * ''Gigolo'' (ジゴロ, ''Jigoro''), 2003 * ''Kehheru'' (ケッヘル), 2006 * ''The Blind Young Man (''弱法師'', Yoroboshi,'' likely a reference to the legend of Shuntokumaru and the 1960

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...

Noh play is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

of the same name), 2007 * Saigon Tango Cafe (サイゴン・タンゴ・カフェ, ''Saigon・Tango・Kafe''), 2008 * ''Elegy'' (悲歌, Hika), 2009 * ''The Cat Who Writes Novels'' (小說を書く猫, ''Shōsetsu o kaku neko''), 2011 * ''The Country of Love'' (愛の国'', Ai no kuni'') 2014 * ''Male Roles'' (男役, ''Otokoyaku''), 2015 * ''Daughter Roles'' (娘役, ''Musumeyaku''), 2016 * ''Zero Hour'' (ゼロ・アワー, ''Zero・awā''), 2017 * ''Silver Bridge'' (銀橋, ''Ginkyō''), 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakayama, Kaho 1960 births Living people Waseda University alumni Japanese women novelists Writers from Nagoya Japanese LGBT novelists Japanese lesbian writers 20th-century Japanese women writers 21st-century Japanese women writers 20th-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese novelists Lesbian novelists