Yasushi Inoue

Japanese writer

Yasushi Inoue

Yasushi Inoue in 1955

Born| Yasushi Inoue
(1907-05-06)May 6, 1907
Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Died| January 29, 1991(1991-01-29) (aged 83)
Tokyo, Japan
Occupation| Writer
Nationality| Japanese
Alma mater| Kyoto University
Period| 1930–1991
Spouse| Fumiko Adachi (m. 1935)
Children| Shuichi Inoue (son)

Yasushi Inoue (井上靖, Inoue Yasushi, May 6, 1907 - January 29, 1991) was a Japanese writer of novels, short stories, poetry and essays, noted for his historical and autobiographical fiction. His most acclaimed works include The Bullfight (Tōgyū, 1949), The Roof Tile of Tempyō (Tenpyō no iraka, 1957) and Tun-huang (Tonkō, 1959).[1]

## Biography[edit]

Inoue was born into a family of physicians in Asahikawa, Hokkaido in 1907, and later raised in Yugashima, Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born in Hokkaido but is from Shizuoka Prefecture. In his essay "Hometown Izu", he wrote, "I was born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, but in the yearbooks and directories, most of my birthplace is Shizuoka Prefecture. When I write it myself, I write it separately from Asahikawa as my place of birth and Shizuoka Prefecture as my birthplace...". In My History of Self-Formation, he wrote, "It seems safe to assume that Izu, where I spent my childhood, was my true hometown, and that everything that would form the basis of my person was created here."

During his high school years, he was an active practitioner of judo.[2] He first studied law and literature at Kyushu University and later changed to philosophy at Kyoto University, where he graduated in 1936 with a degree in aesthetics and a thesis on Paul Valéry.[3] After winning the Chiba Kameo Prize for his early work Ryūten, Inoue started working for the Mainichi Shimbun.[1][2][4] In 1937, he was drafted into the Sino-Japanese War, but soon returned due to illness and resumed his occupation at the Mainichi Shimbun.[2] His military service in northern China brought forth his interest in Chinese history.[1]

After the end of the Pacific War, Inoue won critical acclaim with his 1949 novellas The Hunting Gun (Ryōjū) and The Bullfight, the latter earning him the Akutagawa Prize. In the following years, he published several novels and short stories in a variety of genres: contemporary love stories,[3] stories addressing social and political aspects of post-war Japan like Kuroi Ushio,[3] historical novels set in accurately depicted settings[5] like the 1957 The Roof Tile of Tempyō and the 1959 Tun-huang (Tonkō), and works with an autobiographical background like the 1975 Chronicle of My Mother (Waga haha no ki),[1][2] which documented his mother's deterioration into senility.[6][7]

Inoue was elected a member of the Japan Art Academy in 1964 and received the Order of Culture in 1976. He died in Tokyo in 1991 at the age of 83.[2] He had a deep knowledge of shrines, temples, and Japanese history, and served as a supervisor and editorial committee member at several publishing companies.

## Selected works[edit]

* 1937: Ryūten (流転) story
* 1949: The Hunting Gun (猟銃, Ryōjū) novella
* 1949: The Bullfight (闘牛, Tōgyū) novella
* 1950: Kuroi Ushio (黯い潮) novel
* 1950: Shi to koi to nami (死と恋と波と) short story collection
* 1951: Life of a Counterfeiter (ある偽作家の生涯, Aru gisakka no shōgai) short story collection
* 1953: Asunaro monogatari (あすなろ物語) novel
* 1956: Hyōheki (氷壁) novel
* 1957: The Roof Tile of Tempyō (天平の甍, Tenpyō no iraka) novel
* 1958: Kitaguni (北国) poetry collection
* 1959: Lou-Lan (楼蘭, Ro-ran) short story collection
* 1959: Tun-huang (敦煌, Tonkō) novel
* 1960: Yodo dono no nikki (淀どの日記) novel
* 1962: Chikūkai (地中海) poetry collection
* 1963: Wind and Waves (風濤, Fūtō) novel
* 1967: Kaseki (化石) novel
* 1967: Unga (運河) poetry collection
* 1968: Oroshiyakoku suimutan (おろしや国酔夢譚) novel
* 1969: Journey Beyond Samarkand (西域物語, Seiiki monogatari) novel
* 1971: Kisetsu (季節) poetry collection
* 1975: Chronicle of My Mother (わが母の記, Waga haha no ki) novel
* 1976: Enseiro (遠征路) poetry collection
* 1979: Zen shishū (全詩集) poetry collection
* 1981: Hongakubō ibun (本覺坊遺文) novel
* 1989: Confucius (孔子, Kōshi) novel

## Awards[edit]

* 1936: Chiba Kameo Prize for Ryūten
* 1950: Akutagawa Prize for The Bullfight
* 1957: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award for The Roof Tile of Tempyo
* 1959: Mainichi Press Prize for Tun-huang
* 1959: Japan Art Academy Award for Hyōheki
* 1961: Noma Literary Prize for Yodo dono no nikki
* 1963: Yomiuri Prize for Wind and Waves
* 1969: Japanese Literature Grand Prix for Oroshiyakoku suimutan
* 1976: Order of Culture
* 1980: Kikuchi Kan Prize
* 1984: Asahi Prize
* 1989: Noma Literary Prize for Confucius

## Adaptations (selected)[edit]

* Novels portal
* Japan portal

Films

* 1954: Kuroi Ushio, directed by Sō Yamamura
* 1955: Asunaro monogatari, directed by Hiromichi Horikawa
* 1961: Ryōjū, directed by Heinosuke Gosho
* 1972: Kaseki, directed by Masaki Kobayashi
* 1989: Sen no Rikyū: Honkakubō ibun, directed by Kei Kumai
* 2012: Waga no haha no ki, directed by Masato Harada

Inoue's works have also repeatedly been adapted for television and the stage.

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "Inoue Yasushi". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
2. ^ a b c d e "井上靖 (Inoue Yasushi)". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved July 19, 2021.
3. ^ a b c Inoue, Yasushi; Searls, Damion (Preface) (2010). Tun-huang. Translated by Moy, Jean Oda. New York Review Books. ISBN 978-1-590173626.
4. ^ "井上靖文学館 企画展 (Yasushi Inoue Literary Museum – Special exhibitions)". 井上靖文学館 (Yasushi Inoue Literary Museum) (in Japanese). Retrieved July 19, 2021.
5. ^ Inoue, Yasushi (1965). The Counterfeiter and Other Stories. Translated by Picon, Leon. Tuttle Publishing.
6. ^ Milton, Edith (June 26, 1983). "As a Life Is Erased". The New York Times. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
7. ^ "A Novelist's Intimate Journalism". Japan Report. Vol. 24–33. New York: Japan Information Service, Consulate General of Japan. 1978. Retrieved January 16, 2022.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yasushi Inoue.

* Petri Liukkonen. "Yasushi Inoue". Books and Writers.
* "Yasushi Inoue". Great Catalan encyclopedia. Retrieved July 19, 2021.

* v
* t
* e

Works by Yasushi Inoue

* The Hunting Gun (1949)
* The Bullfight (1949)
* Kuroi Ushio (1950)
* Life of a Counterfeiter (1951)
* Hyōheki (1956)

* v
* t
* e

List of Akutagawa Prize winners

1935–1950|

* 1935: Tatsuzō Ishikawa / None
* 1936: Oda Takeo and Tsuruta Tomoya / Jun Ishikawa and Tomisawa Uio
* 1937: Ozaki Kazuo / Ashihei Hino
* 1938: Nakayama Gishū / Nakazato Tsuneko
* 1939: Handa Yoshiyuki and Hase Ken / Samukawa Kotaro
* 1940: None / Sakurada Tsunehisa
* 1941: Tada Yukei / Shibaki Yoshiko
* 1942: None / Kuramitsu Toshio
* 1943: Ishizuka Kikuzo / Tonobe Kaoru
* 1944: Yagi Yoshinori and Ono Juzo / Shimizu Motoyoshi
* 1949: Kotani Tsuyoshi and Yuki Shigeko / Yasushi Inoue
* 1950: Tsuji Ryoichi / None

1951–1975|

* 1951: Abe Kōbō and Ishikawa Toshimitsu / Hotta Yoshie
* 1952: None / Gomi Kosuke and Matsumoto Seichō
* 1953: Shōtarō Yasuoka / None
* 1954: Yoshiyuki Junnosuke / Kojima Nobuo and Shono Junzo
* 1955: Shūsaku Endō / Shintaro Ishihara
* 1956: Kondō Keitarō / None
* 1957: Kikumura Itaru / Takeshi Kaikō
* 1958: Kenzaburō Ōe / None
* 1959: Shiba Shiro / None
* 1960: Morio Kita / Miura Tetsuo
* 1961: None / Kōichirō Uno
* 1962: Kawamura Akira / None
* 1963: Goto Kiichi and Kōno Taeko / Tanabe Seiko
* 1964: Shiba Shou / None
* 1965: Tsumura Setsuko / Takai Yuichi
* 1966: None / Maruyama Kenji
* 1967: Oshiro Tatsuhiro / Kashiwabara Hyozo
* 1968: Maruya Saiichi and Oba Minako / None
* 1969: Shoji Kaoru and Takubo Hideo / KiyookaTakayuki
* 1970: Yoshida Tomoko and Komao Furuyama / Yoshikichi Furui
* 1971: None / Kaisei Ri and Mineo Higashi
* 1972: Hiroshi Hatayama and Akio Miyahara / Michiko Yamamoto and Shizuko Go
* 1973: Taku Miki / Kuninobu Noro and Atsushi Mori
* 1974: None / Keizo Hino and Hiro Sakata
* 1975: Kyoko Hayashi / Kenji Nakagami and Kazuo Okamatsu

1976–2000|

* 1976: Ryū Murakami / None
* 1977: Masahiro Mita and Masuo Ikeda / Teru Miyamoto and Shuzo Taki
* 1978: Kiichiro Takahashi and Michitsuna Takahashi / None
* 1979: Yoshiko Shigekane  and So Aono / Reiko Mori
* 1980: None / Katsuhiko Otsuji
* 1981: Rie Yoshiyuki / None
* 1982: None / Yukiko Kato and Jūrō Kara
* 1983: None / Jun Kasahara and Nobuko Takagi
* 1984: None / Satoko Kizaki
* 1985: None / Fumiko Kometani
* 1986: None / None
* 1987: Kiyoko Murata / Natsuki Ikezawa and Kiyohiro Miura
* 1988: Man Arai / Keishi Nagi and Lee Yangji
* 1989: None / Akira Ooka and Mieko Takizawa
* 1990: Noboru Tsujihara / Yōko Ogawa
* 1991: Yo Henmi and Anna Ogino / Eiko Matsumura
* 1992: Tomomi Fujiwara / Yoko Tawada
* 1993: Haruhiko Yoshimeki / Hikaru Okuizumi
* 1994: Mitsuhiro Muroi and Yoriko Shono / None
* 1995: Kazushi Hosaka / Matayoshi Eiki
* 1996: Hiromi Kawakami / Hitonari Tsuji and Miri Yu
* 1997: Shun Medoruma / None
* 1998: Mangetsu Hanamura and Shu Fujisawa / Keiichiro Hirano
* 1999: None / Gengetsu and Chiya Fujino
* 2000: Kō Machida and Hisaki Matsuura / Yuichi Seirai and Toshiyuki Horie

2001–2025|

* 2001: Sokyu Genyu / Yu Nagashima
* 2002: Shuichi Yoshida / Tamaki Daido
* 2003: Man'ichi Yoshimura / Risa Wataya and Hitomi Kanehara
* 2004: Norio Mobu / Kazushige Abe
* 2005: Fuminori Nakamura / Akiko Itoyama
* 2006: Takami Itō / Nanae Aoyama
* 2007: Tetsushi Suwa / Mieko Kawakami
* 2008: Yang Yi / Kikuko Tsumura
* 2009: Ken'ichirō Isozaki / None
* 2010: Akiko Akazome / Mariko Asabuki and Kenta Nishimura
* 2011: None / Toh EnJoe and Shinya Tanaka
* 2012: Maki Kashimada  / Natsuko Kuroda
* 2013: Kaori Fujino / Hiroko Oyamada
* 2014: Tomoka Shibasaki / Masatsugu Ono
* 2015: Keisuke Hada and Naoki Matayoshi / Yusho Takiguchi and Yukiko Motoya
* 2016: Sayaka Murata / Sumito Yamashita
* 2017: Shinsuke Numata / Chisako Wakatake and Yuka Ishii
* 2018: Hiroki Takahashi / Takahiro Ueda and Ryōhei Machiya
* 2019: Natsuko Imamura / Makoto Furukawa
* 2020: Haruka Tono and Haneko Takayama / Rin Usami
* 2021: Li Kotomi and Mai Ishizawa / Bunji Sunakawa
* 2022: Junko Takase / Iko Idogawa and Atsushi Satō
* 2023: Saō Ichikawa

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