was 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. He has been called a "writer's writer", which is used as both a compliment and criticism.

Biography

Shimao was born in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, but his family moved to

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

when he was eight. His mother died when he was seventeen and soon after he had a period of study in

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

. He later traveled to Taiwan and the Philippines, but returned to education and graduated from

Kyushu University , abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university located in Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu. It was the 4th Imperial University in Japan, ranked as 4th in 2020 Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings, one of the top 10 Design ...

in 1943. In 1944 he entered the military and was sent to Japan's southern

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is an archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest o ...

as an officer for a naval suicide attack (

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

) squadron in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The war ended while he was still waiting for his orders. His wartime experiences inspired his earliest works, including ''Shima no hate'' (1946) and ''Shutsukotō-ki'' (A Tale of Leaving a Lonely Island, 1949), as well as several later works including ''Shuppatsu wa tsui ni otozurezu'' (1962) and ''Gyoraitei gakusei'' (Student on the Torpedo Boat, 1985). His wartime period is also where he met his wife, Miho, a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. A second major theme in his work is that of madness in women, with notable examples in ''Ware fukaki fuchi yori'' (1954) and ''Shi no toge'' (The Sting of Death, 1960). This theme was related to his wife's mental illness. At some point in 1955, the date is unclear, his wife became mentally ill to the point of requiring hospitalization. He then chose to live with her at the mental hospital, which was seen as a highly unusual action yet praised by

Yutaka Haniya was a noted Japanese writer and critic. Biography Haniya was born in Taiwan, then a Japanese colony, to a samurai family named Hannya after the ''Hannya Shingyo'' ( Heart Sutra). He had a sickly childhood and suffered from tuberculosis in his ...

's wife as showing "extraordinarily deep love." Although Shimao seems to have felt somewhat to blame for his wife's illness due to his past affairs and what he describes as his own selfishness. In 1955 he took her back to

Amami Ōshima , also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa. It is one of the Satsunan Islands. The island, 712.35 km2 in area, has a population of approximately 73,000 people. Administratively it is ...

, the largest of the Amami Islands; his novella ''The Sting of Death'' describes this period using his own name and that of his wife. That work was adapted for the film ''

The Sting of Death is a 1990 Japanese film directed by Kōhei Oguri and based on the novel by Toshio Shimao. It tells the story of a writer with a wandering eye and his jealous wife. The film was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at ...

'' in 1990. A possible third aspect is that in 1956 he converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and his interest is said to be present with the title "The Sting of Death" being a reference to

1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus. The first eleven verses contain the earliest account o ...

:55.

Major prizes

* 1950 Postwar Literature Prize for ''Shutsukotō-ki'' (A Tale of Leaving a Lonely Island) * 1960 Minister of Education Award for Art for novella ''Shi no toge'' (The Sting of Death) * 1972 Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for ''Garasu shoji no shiruetto'' (Silhouette through Frosted Glass) * 1977 Yomiuri Literary Prize for collection ''The Sting of Death'' * 1977

Tanizaki Prize The Tanizaki Prize (谷崎潤一郎賞 ''Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Shō''), named in honor of the Japanese novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, is one of Japan's most sought-after literary awards. It was established in 1965 by the publishing company Chūō K� ...

for ''Hi no utsuroi'' (日の移ろい) * 1985 Noma Literary Prize for ''Gyoraitei gakusei'' (Student on the Torpedo Boat)

English translations and studies

* ''The Sting of Death and Other Stories'', trans. Kathryn Sparling, Michigan Papers in Japanese Studies,

University of Michigan Press The University of Michigan Press is part of Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan Library. It publishes 170 new titles each year in the humanities and social sciences. Titles from the press have earned numerous awards, including L ...

, 1985. * J. Philip Gabriel, ''Mad Wives and Island Dreams: Shimao Toshio and the Margins of Japanese Literature'',

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, 1999.

Selected works

* ''Amami Kyōdo Kenkyukai ho'' (奄美鄉土硏究会報), Nase-shi : Amami Kyōdo Kenkyūkai, began in 1959. * ''Tōhoku to Amami no mukashibanashi'', 1973. * ''Yaponeshia josetsu = Japanesia'', 1977. * ''Shimao Toshio ni yoru Shimao Toshio'', Tokyo : Seidōsha, 1981. * ''Sugiyuku toki no naka de'', Tōkyō : Shinchōsha, 1983. * ''Gyoraitei gakusei'', (魚雷艇学生), Tōkyō : Shinchōsha, 1985. * ''Yumekuzu'', (夢屑), Tōkyō : Kōdansha, 1985. * ''Shinʾyō hasshin'', (震洋発進), Tōkyō : Ushio Shuppansha, 1987. * ''Kimushi'', (記夢志), Tōkyō : Chūsekisha, 1993.

References

External links

Synopsis of ''The Sting of Death'' (Novel)
at JLPP (Japanese Literature Publishing Project) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shimao, Toshio 1917 births 1986 deaths People from Yokohama Japanese writers Kyushu University alumni Japanese Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism Yomiuri Prize winners Christian novelists