Fumiko Hayashi (author)
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was a Japanese writer of novels, short stories and poetry, who has repeatedly been included in the
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
literature canon. Among her best-known works are ''Diary of a Vagabond'', '' Late Chrysanthemum'' and ''Floating Clouds''.


Biography

Hayashi was born in
Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū is a Japanese Wards of Japan, ward of the city of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture. It is the former city of Moji which was one of five merged to create Kitakyūshū in 1963. It faces the city of Shimonoseki across the Kanmon Straits between Hon ...
, Japan, and raised in abject poverty. In 1910, her mother Kiku Hayashi divorced her merchant husband Mayaro Miyata (who was not Fumiko's biological father) and married Kisaburo Sawai. The family then worked as itinerant merchants in
Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...
. After graduating from high school in 1922, Hayashi moved to
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
and lived with several men, supporting herself with a variety of jobs, before settling into marriage with painting student Rokubin Tezuka in 1926. During this time, she also helped launch the poetry magazine ''Futari''. Her autobiographical novel ''Diary of a Vagabond'' (''Hōrōki''), published in 1930, became a bestseller and gained her high popularity. Many of her subsequent works also showed an autobiographical background, like '' The Accordion and the Fish Town'' or ''Seihin no sho''. In the following years, Hayashi travelled to China and Europe. Starting in 1938, Hayashi, who had joined the ''
Pen butai The was a Japanese government organisation which existed between 1938 and 1942. It was composed of Japanese authors who travelled the front during the Second Sino-Japanese War to write favourably of Japan's war efforts in China. History The Pen ...
'' ("Pen corps"), war correspondents who were in favour of Japan's militarist regime, wrote reports about the Sino-Japanese War. In 1941, she joined a group of women writers, including
Ineko Sata , also , born , was a Japanese writer closely connected to the Proletarian Literature Movement. An advocate of women's rights, she has also repeatedly been linked to the feminist movement. Biography Early life and career Born in Nagasaki to y ...
, who went to Manchuria in occupied China. In 1942–43, again as part of a larger group of women writers, she travelled to Southeast Asia, where she spent eight months in the Andaman Islands, Singapore, Java and Borneo. In later years, Hayashi faced criticism for collaborating with state-sponsored wartime propaganda, but, unlike Sata, never apologised or rationalised her behaviour. Writer
Yoshiko Shibaki was a Japanese writer of short stories and novels. She was awarded numerous prizes for her work, including the Akutagawa Prize and the Women's Literature Prize. Biography Early life Shibaki was born in Tokyo on 7 May 1914 into a merchant family. ...
observed a shift from poetic sentiment towards harsh reality in Hayashi's post-war work, which depicted the effects of the war on the lives of its survivors, as in the short story ''Downtown''. In 1948, she was awarded the 3rd Women Literary Award for her short story ''Late Chrysanthemum'' (''Bangiku''). Her last novel ''Meshi'', which appeared in serialised form in the ''
Asahi Shimbun is a Japanese daily newspaper founded in 1879. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. The ''Asahi Shimbun'' is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan along with the ''Yom ...
'', remained unfinished due to her sudden death. Hayashi died of
myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
on June 28, 1951, survived by her husband and her adopted son. Her funeral was officiated by writer and friend
Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and ...
. Hayashi's house in
Shinjuku Ward , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropolit ...
, Tokyo, was later turned into a museum, the Hayashi Fumiko Memorial Hall. In
Onomichi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 129,314 in 64055 households and a population density of 450 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Onomichi is loca ...
, where Hayashi had lived in her teen years, a bronze figure was erected in her memory.


Themes and legacy

Many of Hayashi's stories revolve around free spirited women and troubled relationships. Joan E. Ericson's 1997 translations and analysis of the immensely popular ''Diary of a Vagabond'' and ''Narcissus'' suggest that Hayashi's appeal is rooted in the clarity with which she conveys the humanity not just of women, but also others on the underside of Japanese society. In addition, Ericson questions the factuality of her autobiographical writings and expresses a critical view of scholars who take these writings by word instead of, as has been done with male writers, seeing a literary imagination at work which transforms the personal experience, not simply mirrors it. In ''Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction'', Noriko Mizuta Lippit and Kyoko Iriye Selden point out that, other than her autobiographical portrayals of women, Hayashi's later stories are "pure fiction finished with artistic mastery". Hayashi herself explained that she took this step to separate herself from the "retching confusion" of ''Diary of a Vagabond''. Her writings have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Finnish and other languages.


Selected works

* 1929: ''I Saw a Pale Horse'' (''Aouma o mitari'') – poetry collection. Translated by Janice Brown. * 1930: ''Diary of a Vagabond'' (''Hōrōki'') – novel. Translated by Joan E. Ericson. * 1931: '' The Accordion and the Fish Town'' (''Fukin to uo no machi'') – short story. Translated by Janice Brown. * 1933: ''Seihin no sho'' – short story * 1934: ''Nakimushi kozo'' – novel * 1936: ''Inazuma'' – novel * 1947: ''Uzushio'' – novel * 1947: ''Downfall'' (''Rinraku'') – short story. Translated by J.D. Wisgo. * 1948: ''Downtown'' (''Daun taun'') – short story. Translated by Ivan Morris. * 1948: '' Late Chrysanthemum'' (''Bangiku'') – short story. Translated twice by John Bester and Lane Dunlop. * 1949: ''Shirosagi'' – short story * 1949: ''Narcissus'' (''Suisen'') – short story. Translated twice by Kyoko Iriye Selden and Joan E. Ericson. * 1950: ''Chairo no me'' – novel * 1951: ''Floating Clouds'' (''Ukigumo'') – novel. Translated twice by Y. Koitabashi and Lane Dunlop. * 1951: ''Meshi'' – novel (unfinished)


Adaptations (selected)

Numerous of Hayashi's works have been adapted into film: * 1938: ''Nakimushi kozo'', dir.
Shirō Toyoda was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed over 60 films during his career which spanned 50 years. He was denoted for his high-quality adaptations of works of many important twentieth-century Japanese writers. Career Born in Kyo ...
* 1951: '' Repast'' (based on ''Meshi''), dir.
Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily Shoshimin-eiga, shōshimin-eiga ("common people drama") films with f ...
* 1952: ''
Lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...
'' (based on ''Inazuma''), dir. Mikio Naruse * 1953: ''
Wife A wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment; or until death, depending on the kind of marriage. On t ...
'' (based on ''Chairo no me''), dir. Mikio Naruse * 1954: ''
Late Chrysanthemums is a 1954 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse. It follows four retired geisha and their struggles to persevere in post World War II Tokyo. The film is based on three short stories by writer Fumiko Hayashi. Plot ''Late Chrysanthemums'' ...
'' (also incorporating the short stories ''Narcissus'' and ''Shirosagi''), dir. Mikio Naruse * 1955: ''
Floating Clouds is a 1955 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse. It is based on the novel ''Ukigumo'' by Japanese writer Fumiko Hayashi, published just before her death in 1951. The film received numerous national awards upon its release and remains on ...
'', dir. Mikio Naruse * 1962: ''
A Wanderer's Notebook , also titled '' Her Lonely Lane'', is a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse starring Hideko Takamine. It is based on the autobiographical book ''Diary of a Vagabond'' by Fumiko Hayashi and its stage adaptation by Kazuo Kikuta. Pl ...
'' (based on ''Diary of a Vagabond''), dir. Mikio Naruse * 1986: ''Wandering Days'' (anime short, based on ''Diary of a Vagabond'') Hayashi's biography also served as the basis for theatre plays, notably Kazuo Kikuta's 1961 ''Hourou-ki'', about her early life, and
Hisashi Inoue was a Japanese playwright and writer of comic fiction. From 1961 to 1986, he used the pen name of Uchiyama Hisashi. Early life Inoue was born in what is now part of Kawanishi in Yamagata Prefecture, where his father was a pharmacist. His fa ...
's 2002 ''Taiko tataite, fue fuite'', based on her later years, including her entanglement with the militarist regime.


Notes


References


Bibliography

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External links


J'Lit , Authors : Fumiko Hayashi , Books from Japan
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Full text
of an English translation of Hayashi Fumiko's fairy tale ''The Crane’s Flute'' (鶴の笛) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayashi Fumiko 1951 deaths Japanese women poets Japanese women novelists Japanese women short story writers Japanese feminist writers 20th-century Japanese poets 20th-century Japanese novelists 20th-century Japanese women writers People from Moji, Kitakyūshū People from Shimonoseki 20th-century Japanese short story writers 1903 births