was the

pen-name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of a novelist of the

Shōwa period Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...

Japan. Her maiden name was Kotegawa Yae.

Early life

Nogami was born in Usuki in

Oita prefecture Oita often refers to: * Ōita Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan *Ōita (city), the capital of the prefecture Oita or Ōita may also refer to: Places * Ōita District, Ōita, a former district in Ōita Prefecture, Japan *Ōita Stadium, a multi-use stadi ...

as the daughter of a wealthy ''

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

'' brewer. She was taught at home by private tutors, including Kubo Kaizo, who introduced her to classic

Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...

, classic

Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japa ...

and taught her the art of writing ''tanka'' poetry. She met the novelist Kinoshita Naoe, who persuaded her to enter the Meiji-Jogakkō, a Christian-orientated girls’ school in

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 ...

. While a student in Tokyo, she met Nogami Toyoichirō, a student of Noh drama and

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

under

Natsume Sōseki , born , was a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his novels ''Kokoro'', ''Botchan'', ''I Am a Cat'', ''Kusamakura (novel), Kusamakura'' and his unfinished work ''Light and Darkness (novel), Light and Darkness''. He was also a scholar of Br ...

. They were married in 1906, but she continued to work towards literary recognition. Her first published work was a short story ''Enishi'' ("Ties of Love") in the literary magazine '' Hototogisu'' in 1907.

Literary career

In the 1910s, Nogami submitted poems and short stories to the mainstream literary journal '' Chuo Koron,'' ''Shincho'', and to 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 ...

magazine ''Seito'', and gained a substantial following with fans of the proletarian literature movement. She maintained a correspondence with fellow female writers Yuasa Yoshiko and Miyamoto Yuriko, with whom she shared the sentiment that literature must serve a purpose towards increasing morality and social activism. In 1922, she published ''Kaijin maru'' ("The Neptune", tr. 1957), a shocking semi-factual account of four men in the crew of a wrecked fishing boat who must struggle with the choice of starvation or

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...

. This novel was adapted into the 1962 film '' Ningen'' directed by

Kaneto Shindo was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include '' Children of Hiroshima'', '' The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', '' Kuroneko'' a ...

. Nogami started to explore

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

in the 1920s, with ''Oishi Yoshio'', a story about one of the

Forty-seven Ronin 47 (forty-seven) is the natural number following 46 and preceding 48. It is a prime number. It is the adopted favorite number of Pomona College, a liberal arts college in Southern California, whose alumni have added cultural references to it in ...

in 1926. That same year, she and her husband translated Jane Austen's novel ''Pride and Prejudice'' into Japanese, which was the first translation of Austen into Japanese. Nogami liked ''Pride and Prejudice'' so much that in 1928 she published a novel, ''Machiko'', that reset ''Pride and Prejudice'' in Taishō era Japan, with the heroine Machiko who was inspired by Elizabeth Bennet, the hero Mr. Kawai who was based on Mr. Darcy, and the villain Seki who was based on Wickham. As the Japanese government turned increasingly toward

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

and it appeared that war was inevitable, she and her husband traveled to Europe where they witnessed the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and ominous signs that would lead up to World War II. They returned to Japan prior to the outbreak of World War II, and she concentrated on her writing. In the post-war period, she resumed her contacts with Miyamoto Yuriko, and joined her in the foundation of the ''Shin Nihon Bungakukai''. Her postwar output was prolific and varied, including the Yomiuri Prize-winning 1957 novel and ''Hideyoshi to Rikyu'' ("Hideyoshi and Rikyu", 1962–1963), in which she explores the relationship between artist and patron (in this case

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

and

Sen no Rikyū , also known simply as Rikyū, was a Japanese tea master considered the most important influence on the ''chanoyu'', the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of '' wabi-cha''. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspect ...

). The latter novel was adapted into the film '' Rikyu'' by Japanese director

Hiroshi Teshigahara was a Japanese avant-garde filmmaker and artist from the Japanese New Wave era. He is best known for the 1964 film ''Woman in the Dunes''. He is also known for directing other titles such as '' The Face of Another'' (1966), ''Natsu no Heitai'' ...

External links

Nogami Yaeko Memorial Museum site (Japanese)

References

* Copeland, Rebecca. ''The Modern Murasaki, Writing by Women of Meiji Japan''. Columbia University Press (2006). {{DEFAULTSORT:Nogami, Yaeko 1885 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Japanese novelists Japanese women short story writers Writers from Ōita Prefecture Yomiuri Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Culture Japanese women essayists Japanese women novelists 20th-century Japanese women writers 20th-century Japanese short story writers 20th-century Japanese essayists Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers People from Usuki, Ōita

Early life

Literary career

See also

External links

References