was a Japanese writer.

Biography

Yasuoka was born in pre-war Japan in Kōchi, Kōchi, but as the son of a veterinary corpsman in the Imperial Army, he spent most of his youth moving from one military post to another. In 1944, he was conscripted and served briefly overseas. After the war, he became ill with spinal

caries Tooth decay, also known as caries,The word 'caries' is a mass noun, and is not a plural of 'carie'.'' is the breakdown of teeth due to acids produced by bacteria. The resulting cavities may be a number of different colors, from yellow to black ...

, and it was "while he was bedridden with this disease that he began his writing career." Yasuoka died in his home at age 92 in Tokyo, Japan.

Awards

As an influential Japanese writer, Yasuoka's work has won him various prizes and awards. Notably, he received 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 Th ...

for ''Inki na tanoshimi'' (''A Melancholy Pleasure'', 1953) and ''Warui nakama'' (''Bad Company'', 1953); ''Kaihen no kōkei'' (''A View by the Sea'', 1959) won him the

Noma Literary Prize The Noma Literary Prize (''Noma Bungei Shō'') was established in 1941 by the Noma Service Association (''Noma Hōkō Kai'') in accordance with the last wishes of Seiji Noma (1878–1938), founder and first president of the Kodansha publishing c ...

; and his ''Maku ga orite kara'' (''After the Curtain Fell'', 1967) won the Mainichi Cultural Prize. He also received the Yomiuri Literary Prize for ''Hate mo nai dōchūki'' (''The Never-ending Traveler's Journal'', 1996); and the Osaragi Jirō Prize for ''Kagamigawa'' (''The Kagami River'', 2000). A leading figure in

post-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

Japanese literature, in 2001 Yasuoka was recognized by the Japanese government as a

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honour which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of ...

. "Cultural Highlights; From the Japanese Press (August 1–October 31, 2001),"
''Japan Foundation Newsletter'', Vol. XXIX, No. 2, p. 7.

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References

External links

Shotaro Yasuoka
at J'Lit Books from Japan {{DEFAULTSORT:Yasuoka, Shotaro 1920 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese novelists Japanese male short story writers People from Kōchi, Kōchi Akutagawa Prize winners Yomiuri Prize winners 20th-century Japanese short story writers 21st-century Japanese short story writers 20th-century Japanese male writers 21st-century Japanese male writers Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II Writers from Kōchi Prefecture