was a Japanese poet. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1994 for his "lasting contribution to

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 ...

Biography

Mado was born as Michio Ishida in Tokuyama,

Yamaguchi prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture t ...

. He spent his childhood with his grandfather because his parents went to work in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. Later he joined his family there. He graduated from the School of Industrial Instruction in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

and then worked for the Office of the Governor-General. He died on February 28, 2014, aged 104.

Royal patronage

The

Empress Michiko is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who served as the Empress consort of Japan as the wife of Akihito, the 125th Emperor of Japan reigning from 7 January 1989 to 30 April 2019. Michiko married Crown Prince Akihito and became the Crow ...

took a keen interest in Mado's works. She has been a fan of poetry. In June 2013, two collections of the poetry of Mado, which the Empress had been asked to translate into English in the early

Heisei era The is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, ...

, ''Rainbow: Niji'' and ''Eraser: Keshigomu'', were published. Together with her previously published translations of Mado's poetry, including ''The Animals: Dobutsu-tachi'', the publication of these new books means almost all the translations by the Empress of Mado's poems, which earned him the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1994, are now published.

Awards

* Noma Children's Literature Award for the collection of poems ''Tempura Piripiri'' (1968) * Japanese Children's Literature Scholars Association Award for ''Shokubutsu no uta'' (1976) * Iwaya Sazanami Literature Award (1981) * The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award conferred by the

International Board on Books for Young People The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is an international non-profit organization committed to bringing books and children together. The headquarters of the IBBY are located in Basel, Switzerland. IBBY history In 1952, Jella Lepm ...

is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Mado won the writing award in 1994.

References

External links

Article on Michio Mado's 100th birthday

at Japanese Board on Books for Young People
Michio Mado in ''Poetry people: A practical guide to children's poets'' by Sylvi M. Vardell
at Google Books
Mado dies
1909 births 2014 deaths Japanese male poets Japanese children's writers Japanese Christians Japanese centenarians Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing winners 20th-century Japanese poets Men centenarians {{Japan-poet-stub