Michiko Ishimure

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Michiko Ishimure ( Japanese 石 牟 礼 道 子 , Ishimure Michiko ; born March 11, 1927 in Kawaura , Amakusa County , Kumamoto Prefecture as Michiko Shiraishi ; † February 10, 2018 ) was a Japanese author .

Life

Ishimure was born on the Amakusa Islands, which are on the west coast of Kyushu . When she was three months old, her family moved to Minamata . Ishimure grew up there as the oldest child in the family with three brothers. After she had finished school in 1943 at the age of 16, she got a job as a substitute teacher at a primary school in the city due to the labor shortage caused by the war. In 1947 she married a war returnees and later teacher at the Minamata High School and ended her work as a substitute teacher. In the following years Ishimure devoted himself mainly to housewife. Their son and only child was born in October 1948.

Michiko Ishimure died on February 10, 2018 at the age of 90.

Writing activity

When a series of puzzling diseases in humans and animals arose in Minamata in the mid-1950s , Ishimure tried to draw attention to human suffering. The disease , later known as Minamata disease, is damage to the central nervous system from the absorption of mercury compounds from food and drinking water. Her first essays appeared in the small literary magazine Kumamoto Fudoki published in Kumamoto Prefecture , of which Ishimure later became co-editor. In 1968 the essays were published as a book under the title Kukai Jōdo - Waga Minamata-byō ( 苦海 浄土 わ が 水 俣 病 ) and achieved first nationwide attention, which was also received by the Citizens Council of Minamata , of which Ishimure was co-founder and who was looking for a way to help the sick help, benefited. As a result, Ishimure had to face resistance from local and national authorities as well as the chemical industry and the trade union. With the Chisso chemical company being the city's largest employer, Ishimure was also pressured by other Minamata residents and even by her own relatives.

In 1968 she was proposed by the publisher Bungei Shunju ( 文藝春秋 ) for the Ōya Sōichi Nonfikushon Shō ( 大宅 壮 一 ノ ン フ ィ ク シ ョ ン 賞 ), an award for outstanding journalistic achievements. Ishimure turned down the award on the grounds that she was too busy with her literary work. 1972 appeared under the title Minamata-byō tōsō - waga shimin ( 水 俣 病 闘 争 わ が 死 民 ) a collection of other essays written by Ishimure and other writers. In March 1973 her second book Rumin no Miyako was published. Rumin no Miyako reached its third edition after just one month . Ishimure wrote in the Kumamoto dialect .

Public pressure eventually led to government investigations. The chemical company Chisso had to admit that the introduction of methyl mercury iodide into the seawater had led to the dramatic accumulation of mercury compounds in the seaweed and thus in the fish, the main food of the inhabitants of the coastal town.

Ishimure, along with the American photographer W. Eugene Smith and the Japanese documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto , whose work she held in high regard and whom she regarded as one of her best friends, played a key role in the publication and creation of public awareness of the Minamata Disease .

In 1973, Ishimure received the Ramon Magsaysay Prize in the Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts category for her tireless efforts .

In her literary work, she continued to campaign for the fishermen and the simple rural population and against the destruction of the ecosystem and the dehumanization of society through advancing industrialization. In 1993 she received the Murasaki Shikibu Literature Prize for Izayoi hashi . She received the Asahi Prize in 2001 for her creative work, which shows the crisis of the ecosystem due to environmental pollution.

Many of her works have been translated into English . Kukai Jōdo - Waga Minamata-byō was published in 1995 under the title Paradise in the Sea of ​​Torments - Our Minamata Disease in German .

Works (selection)

literature

  • Livia Monnet: Paradise in the Sea of ​​Suffering: Minamata Disease in the work of the writer Ishimure Michiko (1988, Institute for Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna )
  • Heinz-Dieter Assmann , Karl-Josef Kuschel , Karin Moser von Filseck (eds.): Limits of Life - Limits of Understanding (2009)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michiko Ishimure, author of Minamata disease books, dies at 90 , accessed February 10, 2018
  2. ↑ arsvi.com
personal data
SURNAME Ishimure, Michiko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 石 牟 礼 道 子 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese author
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Kawaura , Amakusa County , Kumamoto Prefecture
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 2018