Ogawa Mimei

Ogawa Mimei ( Japanese 小川 未 明 , Ogawa Mimei , actually Ogawa Kensaku; * 1882 in Takada in the Japanese prefecture of Niigata ; † 1961 in Tokyo ) is the author of short stories, children's stories and fairy tales.

Life

Ogawa Mimei studied English literature at Waseda University . In 1905 Ogawa published his first literary works. Waseda was the academic center of Japanese naturalism at the time . Since Ogawa leaned towards the ideal of romanticism, his writing success initially failed. In 1910 he published his first fairy tales .

plant

Memorial stone for Ogawa Mimei behind the sports hall of a primary school in Jōetsu with an excerpt from the poem "Nobara"

Natural romance and pure love are reflected in his fairy tales . Ogawa is known in Japan as the founder of modern children's literature . Its importance is comparable to that of Hans Christian Andersen . Ogawa's stories are often poignant and of considerable artistic accomplishment. They helped set a new benchmark for children's and young adult literature in Japan . For his children's stories, Ogawa primarily chooses materials from everyday life; many reflect his strong social concern.

Ogawa's peculiarity lies in the expression of religious and philosophical symbolism , which shows an everlasting cycle of life. Death is not final.

In 1946 he received the Noma Literature Prize .

selection

• Kūchū no geitô ( 空中 の 芸 当 )
  • German bet in the ether, translated by Monique Humbert, in: Nippon, 1965, pp. 215-238

Sources and literature

• Ivan Morris (Ed.): Nippon . Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 1965
• Donald Keene : Japanese Literature . Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1962 (Original title: Japanese Literature, John Murray, London 1953)

Web links

• Literature by and about Ogawa Mimei in the catalog of the German National Library

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Ogawa is the family name, Mimei the first name.