Tamura Toshiko

Tamura Toshiko ( Japanese 田村 俊 子 , bourgeois Satō Toshi 佐藤 と し ; born April 25, 1884 in Asakusa, (today: Taitō ) in Tōkyō ; † April 16, 1945 in Shanghai ) was one of the first Japanese feminists and writers . Other pseudonyms are: and Satō Toshiko ( 佐藤 俊 子 ).

Life

Tamura was born in Tōkyō's Asakusa district, where her father worked as a fudasashi (rice trader). At the age of 17 she started studying Japanese literature at Nihon Joshi Daigaku Women's University , but dropped out without a degree.

She started her literary career first as a student of Kōda Rohan, later with Okamoto Kidō as a mentor. Her stories Miira no kuchibeni ( 木乃伊 の 口紅 , lipstick of a mummy), for which she received the Asahi Shimbun Prize, and Hōraku no katachi ( 炮烙 の 刑 ) are considered masterpieces . Tamura is known for her sensual, decadent narrative style. As a bestselling author, she published in renowned literary magazines such as the Chūōkōrōn and the Shinchō .

In 1918 she left her husband Tamura Shōgyo and went to Vancouver with the journalist Suzuki Etsu , where she lived until 1936. From 1942 she published the literary magazine Nu-Sheng in Shanghai , which was occupied by the Japanese . She died of a brain hemorrhage in Shanghai in 1945. Her grave is in Kamakura at the Tōkei-ji temple .

After her death, the Tamura Toshiko Prize for women writers was established using her royalties .

Works

• 1911 Akirame ( あ き ら め )
• 1913 Keigen ( 誓言 )
• 1913 Onna sakusha ( 女 作者 )
• 1914 Yamabuki no hana ( 山 吹 の 花 )
• 1914 Miira no kuchibeni ( 木乃伊 の 口紅 )
• 1914 Koi musume ( 恋 む す め )
• 1915 Koi no inochi ( 恋 の い の ち )
• 1917 Kanojo no seikatsu ( 彼女 の 生活 )
• 1952 Akirame + Miira no kuchibeni ( あ き ら め ・ 木乃伊 の 口紅 )
• 1987–1988 Tamura Toshiko sakuhinshū ( 田村 俊 子 作品 集 , work edition)

Web links

• Works at Aozora

See also

• Tamura Toshiko Prize

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