was a Japanese writer of short stories and novels. She was awarded numerous prizes for her work, including 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 the Women's Literature Prize.

Biography

Early life

Shibaki 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 ...

on 7 May 1914 into a merchant family. From an early age on, she was trained in traditional Japanese arts like the

tea ceremony An East Asian tea ceremony, or ''Chádào'' (), or ''Dado'' ( ko, 다도 (茶道)), is a ceremonially ritualized form of making tea (茶 ''cha'') practiced in East Asia by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The tea ceremony (), literally transla ...

, writing

tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...

and

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

, and was taken to see

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

plays. She graduated from Tokyo Prefectural Daiichi High School in 1932 and started studying English at Surugadai YWCA Women's Academy. After her father's death, she aborted her studies and started working at the Mitsubishi Center for Economic Studies to support her family. In 1941, she married economist Kiyoshi Oshima.

Career

Shibaki started contributing to literary magazines such as ''Reijokai'' and ''Wakakusa'' in 1935 after her mother's death. She was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in 1941 for her short story "Seika no ichi" (青果の市, lit. "The fruit and vegetable market"), making her the second female writer to win the award. During

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 ...

, she was sent to

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

by the Japanese military government to write about Japanese settlements there, while her literary output lessened. After the war, she published stories like ''Nagareru hi'' (lit. "The coursing sun"), ''Onna hitori'' (lit. "A woman alone") and ''Ruri no uta'' (lit. "The journey song") which thematised domestic social changes. In the 1950s, she gained critical attention with ''Susaki paradaisu'' (lit. "Susaki paradise") and ''Yakoo no onna'' (lit. "Women in illumination"), both fictional accounts of Tokyo's prostitution milieu. Her trilogy of biographical stories, ''Yuba'' (lit. "Soya extract"), ''Sumidagawa'' (lit. "The river Sumida") and ''Marounuchi hachigokan'' (lit. "Marounuchi building number eight"), published between 1960 and 1962, are regarded as highlights in her literary career. She became a member of the

Japan Art Academy is the highest-ranking official artistic organization in Japan. It is established as an extraordinary organ of the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁, Bunkacho) in the thirty-first article of the law establishing the Ministry of Ed ...

in 1980, and received their Award for the Literary Arts in 1981. Her novel ''Sumidagawa boshoku'' (隅田川暮色, lit. "Dusk on the Sumida river") won the Shincho Literary Award and the Nihon Literature Prize. Shibaki died of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

on 25 August 1991.

Bibliography (selected)

* ''Seika no ichi'' (青果の市), 1941 * ''Susaki paradaisu'' (洲崎パラダイス), 1954 * ''Yuba'' (湯葉), 1960 * ''Yoru no tsuru'' (夜の鶴), 1964 * ''Katsushika no onna'' (葛飾の女), 1965 * ''Asu o shirazu'' (明日を知らず), 1968 * ''Kazahana'' (風花), 1970 * ''Kiiroi Kotei'' (黄色い皇帝), 1976 * ''Onna no shozo'' (女の肖像), 1979 * ''Sumidagawa boshoku'' (隅田川暮色), 1984 * ''Susaki no onna'' (洲崎の女), 1994

Film adaptations (selected)

* 1956: '' Suzaki Paradise: Red Light'' (dir.

Yūzō Kawashima was a Japanese film director, most famous for making tragi-comic films and satires. Career Kawashima was born in Mutsu, Aomori in the Shimokita Peninsula. From his youth, he suffered from a paralysis that affected his right leg and arm. He was ...

), based on ''Susaki paradaisu'' * 1956: ''

Street of Shame is a 1956 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It is the personal tales of several Japanese women of different backgrounds who work together in a brothel. It was Mizoguchi's last film. The film is based on the novel '' Su ...

'' (dir.

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Uget ...

), based on ''Yakoo no onna''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shibaki, Yoshiko 1914 births 1991 deaths Japanese women novelists Akutagawa Prize winners People from Tokyo