was a Japanese writer and laureate of 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 ...

Life

Yuki was born Shige Shinkai on 2 December 1900 in

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and in ...

, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Her mother died when Yuki was 10 years old. In 1919, she enrolled in Kobe Women's College to study music, but dropped out due to objections from her family. Even so, she continued to study music. In 1925, she married the painter Usaburo Ihara (1894–1976), with whom she had four children. The same year, the couple moved to France, where she studied composition and piano until 1929. In 1945, Yuki and Ihara separated. She would later write of her experience with marriage in ''Yasashii otto'' (やさしい良人, My Tender Husband). Rather than focus on the guilt of breaking up a marriage, Yuki writes about the need for independence in this work. Resisting tradition and striving for independence are narrative points shared by many of Yuki's female characters. After her divorce, Yuki began writing children's literature to earn her living. The editor in chief of the magazine ''Sakuhin'' (作品), Eiji Yagioka, encouraged her to write novels. With her short story ''Hon no hanashi'' (本の話, A Tale of Books), Yuki (together with Tsuyoshi Kotani) became the winner of the first postwar Akutagawa Prize in 1949. ''Hon no hanashi'' tells of a woman who tries to sell her deceased brother-in-law's books to pay for his widow's medical bills. During this time, Yuki was incorrectly diagnosed with tuberculosis, which made her feel that her life had no purpose, until the diagnosis was corrected three laters. Yuki's favourite books included the Japanese translation of ''Life and Love of the Insect'' (1911) by

Jean-Henri Fabre Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre (21 December 1823 – 11 October 1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, and author known for the lively style of his popular books on the lives of insects. Biography Fabre was born on 21 December 1823 in Saint-L ...

, as well as the thesis on ''Kansoku no riron'' (A Theory of Observation) by

Hideki Yukawa was a Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate for his prediction of the pi meson, or pion. Biography He was born as Hideki Ogawa in Tokyo and grew up in Kyoto with two older brothers, two older sisters, and two ...

. The latter motivated Yuki to enroll in a course on theoretical physics at

Rikkyo University , also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Rikkyo is known as one of the six leading universities in the field of sports in Tokyo (東京六大学 "Big Six" — Rikkyo University, University of ...

in 1954. In 1955, Yuki's novel ''Jochūkko'' (女中ッ子, Au Pair) was made into a film by

Tomotaka Tasaka was a Japanese film director. Career Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, he began working at Nikkatsu's Kyoto studio in 1924 and eventually came to prominence for a series of realist, humanist films made at Nikkatsu's Tamagawa studio in the late 193 ...

. In addition to adaptations of her own work by Tasaka and Yūzō Kawashima, she co-wrote the screenplay for

Heinosuke Gosho was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed Japan's first sound film, ''The Neighbor's Wife and Mine'', in 1931. His films are mostly associated with the shomin-geki (lit. "common people drama") genre. Among his most noted works ...

's '' Elegy of the North'' and worked on the dialogue for Gosho's ''

Yellow Crow is a 1957 Japanese drama film directed by Heinosuke Gosho. Plot Kiyoshi Yoshida is a 9 years old boy. The boy loves to draw and he has some talent, but his teacher is worried because he draws only in black and yellow (that's where the title is fr ...

''. Yuki died on 30 December 1969 of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

and

pyaemia Pyaemia (or pyemia) is a type of sepsis that leads to widespread abscesses of a metastatic nature. It is usually caused by the staphylococcus bacteria by pus-forming organisms in the blood. Apart from the distinctive abscesses, pyaemia exhibit ...

Selected works

* ''Yagurumasō'' (Forest Carnations), 1947 * ''Hon no hanashi'' (本の話, A Tale of Books), 1949 * ''Kokubetsu'' (Farewell), 1951 * ''Yubiwa no hanashi'' (The Tale of a Ring), 1951 * ''Jochūkko'' (女中ッ子, Au Pair), 1951 * ''Fuyu no ki'' (Bushes in Winter), 1953 * ''Hyōhakku'' (Wandering), 1954 * ''Akasaka no kyōdai'' (赤坂の姉妹, The Akasaka Sisters), 1960 * ''Keiyaku kekkon'' (契約結婚, Marriage by Contract), 1961 * ''Yasashii otto'' (やさしい良人, My Tender Husband), 1963

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuki, Shigeko 1900 births 1969 deaths Deaths from diabetes People from Sakai, Osaka Japanese expatriates in France 20th-century Japanese women writers 20th-century Japanese writers