Yuriko Miyamoto
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese
novelist active during the Taishō
and early Shōwa
periods of Japan
. Her maiden name was Chūjō 中條 Yuriko.
district of Tokyo
(now part of Bunkyō
district) to privileged parents. Her father was a professor of architecture at Tokyo Imperial University. She was aware at an early age of the differences between her own circumstances and those of the sharecroppers who worked her family's land, and the ensuing sense of guilt over the differences in social and economic status drew her towards socialism
, and later towards the early Japanese feminist movement.
department of Japan Women's University
, she wrote a short story
, Mazushiki hitobito no mure (A Crowd of Poor People), which was accepted for publication in the prestigious Chūō Kōron (Central Forum) literary magazine
in September 1916, and which subsequently won a literary prize sponsored by the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary circle.
Leaving the university without graduating, she travelled to the United States
together with her father. She studied at Columbia University
and met her first husband. Her semi-autobiographical novel Nobuko (1924–1926) relates the failure of this marriage, her travels abroad, and finding independence as a single woman.
with her close friend Yuasa Yoshiko
(with whom she had been living with since 1924). In Moscow
, they studied the Russian language
and Russian literature
and developed a friendship with noted movie director Sergei Eisenstein
. On their return to Japan, Yuriko became editor of the Marxist
literary journal Hataraku Fujin (Working Women) and a leading figure in the proletarian literature movement. She also joined the Japan Communist Party, and married its secretary-general, the communist
literary critic Kenji Miyamoto
.
s and the increasingly severe suppression of leftist political movements, Yuriko's works were severely censored and her magazine was forbidden to publish. She was repeatedly arrested and harassed by the police, and spent more than two years in prison between 1932 and 1942. Her husband Miyamoto Kenji spent from December 1933 until August 1945 in prison. During the war period, although she was mostly unable to publish, she wrote a large number of essays.
Within a year of the end of the war she published two companion novels, The Banshū heiya (The Banshū Plain) and Fūchisō (The Weathervane Plant), both descriptive of her experiences in the months immediately following the surrender of Japan. The pair of novels received the Mainichi Cultural Prize for 1947.
" which is the major theme of the novel and which is shown as the most tragic legacy of the war.
The Weathervane Plant provides a thinly fictionalized account of Yuriko's reunion with her husband after his release from twelve years of wartime imprisonment. The couple's adjustment to living together again is shown as often painful. Despite many years of activism in the socialist women's movement, she is hurt when her husband indicates that she has become too tough and too independent after living alone during the war.
Miyamoto also published a collection of essays and literary criticism
Fujin to Bungaku (Women and Literature, 1947), a collection of some of the 900 letters between her and her imprisoned husband Juninen no tegami (Letters of Twelve Years, 1950–1952), and the novels Futatsu no niwa (Two Gardens, 1948) and Dōhyō (Mileposts, 1950).
as a complication due to acute meningitis
in 1951. Her grave is at Kodaira Cemetery in Kodaira city
, on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
novelist active during the Taishō
Taisho period
The , or Taishō era, is a period in the history of Japan dating from July 30, 1912 to December 25, 1926, coinciding with the reign of the Taishō Emperor. The health of the new emperor was weak, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen to the Diet...
and early Shōwa
Showa period
The , or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, from December 25, 1926 through January 7, 1989.The Shōwa period was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor...
periods of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Her maiden name was Chūjō 中條 Yuriko.
Early life
Miyamoto Yuriko was born in the KoishikawaKoishikawa
is a locality within Bunkyo, Tokyo. It consists of five sub-areas, . It is located nearby with the same name are two well regarded gardens: the Koishikawa Botanical Garden in Hakusan, and the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Korakuen....
district of Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
(now part of Bunkyō
Bunkyo, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. Situated in the middle of the ward area, Bunkyō is a residential and educational center. Beginning in the Meiji period, literati like Natsume Sōseki, as well as scholars and politicians have lived there...
district) to privileged parents. Her father was a professor of architecture at Tokyo Imperial University. She was aware at an early age of the differences between her own circumstances and those of the sharecroppers who worked her family's land, and the ensuing sense of guilt over the differences in social and economic status drew her towards socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, and later towards the early Japanese feminist movement.
Literary career
While in her teens and a freshman in the English literatureEnglish literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
department of Japan Women's University
Japan Women's University
is the oldest and largest of private Japanese women's universities. The university was established in 20 April 1901 by education reformist .The university has around 6000 students and 200 faculty...
, she wrote a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, Mazushiki hitobito no mure (A Crowd of Poor People), which was accepted for publication in the prestigious Chūō Kōron (Central Forum) literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
in September 1916, and which subsequently won a literary prize sponsored by the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary circle.
Leaving the university without graduating, she travelled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
together with her father. She studied at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and met her first husband. Her semi-autobiographical novel Nobuko (1924–1926) relates the failure of this marriage, her travels abroad, and finding independence as a single woman.
Russia
In 1927, she traveled together to the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
with her close friend Yuasa Yoshiko
Yuasa Yoshiko
was a Russian language scholar and translator of Russian literature in Shōwa period Japan.-Biography:Born in Kyoto, Yuasa was an early supporter of the feminist movement in late Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan. Moving to Tokyo, she was also drawn to leftist political movements and became...
(with whom she had been living with since 1924). In Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, they studied the Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
and developed a friendship with noted movie director Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
. On their return to Japan, Yuriko became editor of the Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
literary journal Hataraku Fujin (Working Women) and a leading figure in the proletarian literature movement. She also joined the Japan Communist Party, and married its secretary-general, the communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
literary critic Kenji Miyamoto
Kenji Miyamoto (politician)
was a Japanese politician who led the Japanese Communist Party from 1958 until 1977.- Early life :Kenji Miyamoto was born in Japan in 1908. He was originally from Yamaguchi Prefecture....
.
Imprisonment
After 1932, with the government enforcement of the Peace Preservation LawPeace Preservation Law
The Public Security Preservation Laws were a series of laws enacted during the Empire of Japan. Collectively, the laws were designed to suppress political dissent.-the Safety Preservation Law of 1894:...
s and the increasingly severe suppression of leftist political movements, Yuriko's works were severely censored and her magazine was forbidden to publish. She was repeatedly arrested and harassed by the police, and spent more than two years in prison between 1932 and 1942. Her husband Miyamoto Kenji spent from December 1933 until August 1945 in prison. During the war period, although she was mostly unable to publish, she wrote a large number of essays.
Post war
In the post-war period, she was reunited with her husband, and resumed her Communist political activities. This period was also the most prolific in her literary career.Within a year of the end of the war she published two companion novels, The Banshū heiya (The Banshū Plain) and Fūchisō (The Weathervane Plant), both descriptive of her experiences in the months immediately following the surrender of Japan. The pair of novels received the Mainichi Cultural Prize for 1947.
Writings
The Banshū Plain is a soberly detailed account of Japan in August and September 1945. The opening chapter of The Banshū Plain depicts the day of Japan's surrender. The setting is a rural town in northern Japan, where Yuriko, represented by the protagonist Hiroko, was living as an evacuee at the war's end. The chapter captures the sense of confusion with which many Japanese received the news of surrender—Hiroko's brother cannot explain what is happening to his children, while local farmers become drunk. Miyamoto depicts a "moral bankruptcyMoral bankruptcy
Moral bankruptcy is a synonym for immorality that has gained popular usage in the fields of business and politics, in which it specifically implies some instance of political corruption or corporate crime...
" which is the major theme of the novel and which is shown as the most tragic legacy of the war.
The Weathervane Plant provides a thinly fictionalized account of Yuriko's reunion with her husband after his release from twelve years of wartime imprisonment. The couple's adjustment to living together again is shown as often painful. Despite many years of activism in the socialist women's movement, she is hurt when her husband indicates that she has become too tough and too independent after living alone during the war.
Miyamoto also published a collection of essays and literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
Fujin to Bungaku (Women and Literature, 1947), a collection of some of the 900 letters between her and her imprisoned husband Juninen no tegami (Letters of Twelve Years, 1950–1952), and the novels Futatsu no niwa (Two Gardens, 1948) and Dōhyō (Mileposts, 1950).
Death
She died of sepsisSepsis
Sepsis is a potentially deadly medical condition that is characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state and the presence of a known or suspected infection. The body may develop this inflammatory response by the immune system to microbes in the blood, urine, lungs, skin, or other tissues...
as a complication due to acute meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
in 1951. Her grave is at Kodaira Cemetery in Kodaira city
Kodaira, Tokyo
Kodaira redirects here. For the mathematician, see Kunihiko Kodaira. is a city located in the western region of Tokyo, Japan.The city has an estimated population of 180,049 with 82,179 households and a population density of 8,800.05 persons per km² as of July 1, 2011...
, on the outskirts of Tokyo.
External links
- listing of e-texts at Aozora BunkoAozora BunkoAozora Bunko is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that the authors wish to make freely available....