is a Japanese writer. She has won the ''Bungakukai'' Prize and the

Naoki Prize The Naoki Prize, officially , is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. It was created in 1935 by Kikuchi Kan, then editor of the ''Bungeishunjū'' magazine, and named in memory of novelist Naoki Sanjugo. Sponsored by the Society for t ...

, and her works have been adapted for television and film.

Biography

Masumi Oshima was born in 1962. She was raised 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 po ...

and grew up reading science fiction. At the age of 20 she started writing a script for a play, but eventually turned to writing novels. In 1992, she submitted her story ''Haru no Tejinaji'' (lit. ''Spring Magician'') to ''Bungakukai'' magazine's new writer contest, and won the 74th ''Bungakukai'' Prize. Oshima's 2003 novel ''Chocolietta'', about a young woman who uses the Federico Fellini film ''

La Strada ''La strada'' () is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Federico Fellini and co-written by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano. The film tells the story of Gelsomina, a simple-minded young woman ( Giulietta Masina) bought from her mothe ...

'' to recover from her grief, was adapted into a film by screenwriter and director Shiori Kazawa. The film premiered at the 2014

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...

and was released nationally in 2015. Oshima's 2009 novel ''Nijiiro Tenki Ame'' (lit. ''Rainbow Weather'') and its 2010 sequel ''Bitter Sugar'', about three women whose friendship is tested as they approach the age of 40, were adapted into a 2011

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

drama called ''Bitter Sugar'', starring

Ryō The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre- Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the '' yen''. Origins The ''ryō'' was originally a unit of weight from China, the ''tael.'' It came into use in Jap ...

Emi Wakui is a Japanese actress. She has won three Japanese Academy Awards: the 1994 Best Actress award for her performance in ''Rainbow Bridge (Niji no Hashi)'', and the 1992 awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Newcomer for her performance as Sei ...

, and

Sawa Suzuki , Tower Records (October 24, 2013) better known by her stage name , is a Japanese actress represented by the talent agency Horipro. Biography After dropping out of Joshibi University of Art and Design Junior College, Suzuki became a research s ...

. Oshima was first nominated for the

in 2015 for her novel ''Anata no Hontō no Jinsei wa'' (lit. ''Your Real Life''), a story about a young writer who discovers that a famous author's works are actually written by someone else. In 2019, Oshima won the 161st Naoki Prize for her novel ''Uzu: Imoseyama Onna Teikin, Tamamusubi'' (lit. ''Whirlpool: Husband and Wife Mountains, A Mirror of Virtuous Women, Requiem''), a work of historical fiction about 18th century playwright and puppeteer Hanji Chikamatsu.

Awards and recognition

* 1992: 74th ''Bungakukai'' Prize * 2019: 161st

(2019上)

Selected works

* ''Chocolietta'', 2003, Kadokawa Shoten, * ''Nijiiro Tenki Ame'', 2009,

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...

, * ''Bitter Sugar'', 2010, Shogakukan, * ''Anata no Hontō no Jinsei wa'', 2014,

Bungeishunjū is a Japanese publishing company known for its leading monthly magazine '' Bungeishunjū''. The company was founded by Kan Kikuchi in 1923. It grants the annual Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Japan, as well as ...

, * ''Uzu: Imoseyama Onna Teikin, Tamamusubi'', 2019, Bungeishunjū,

Adaptations

* ''Bitter Sugar'', 2011,

* ''Chocolietta'', 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshima, Masumi 1962 births Living people 20th-century Japanese novelists 20th-century Japanese women writers 21st-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese women writers Japanese women novelists Naoki Prize winners People from Nagoya