Miyuki Miyabe

Miyuki Miyabe (宮部 みゆき Miyabe Miyuki, born December 23, 1960) is a popular contemporary Japanese author active in a number of genres that include science fiction, mystery fiction, historical fiction, social commentary, and young adult literature. Her most famous novels in the English-speaking world are Crossfire (クロスファイア), published in 1998, and Kasha (火車), translated by Alfred Birnbaum as All She Was Worth, published in 1999. Among anime fans, her fantasy novel Brave Story is well regarded; it has notably been adapted into an animated film, an "alternate retelling" manga series, and a series of video games.

Biography

Miyabe was born in the Kōtō ward of Tokyo, Japan and graduated from Sumidagawa High School. She started writing novels at the age of 23. In 1984, while working at a law office, Miyabe began to take writing classes at a writing school run by the Kodansha publishing company. Her debut work is considered to be her 1987 short story "Warera ga rinjin no hanzai" (我らが隣人の犯罪). She has been a prolific writer, publishing dozens of novels and winning many major literary prizes, including the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize in 1993 for All She Was Worth and the Naoki Prize in 1999 for Riyū [The Reason] (理由). A Japanese film adaptation of Riyū, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, was released in 2004 (reviewed by Mark Schilling in The Japan Times (5 January 2005)).

Works in English translation

Crime/thriller novels

• All She Was Worth (original title: Kasha), trans. Alfred Birnbaum (Mariner Books, 1999)
• Crossfire, trans. Deborah Iwabuchi and Anna Isozaki (Kodansha America, 2006)
• Shadow Family (original title: R.P.G.), trans. Juliet Winters Carpenter (Kodansha America, 2006)
• The Devil's Whisper (original title: Majutsu wa sasayaku), trans. Deborah Iwabuchi (Kodansha America, 2007)
• The Sleeping Dragon (original title: Ryū wa nemuru), trans. Deborah Iwabuchi (Kodansha America, 2010)—the winner of the 45th Mystery Writers of Japan Award
• Puppet Master (original title: Mohōhan), trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori (Creek & River Co., Ltd, 2014–2016)

Fantasy novels

• Brave Story, trans. Alexander O. Smith (VIZ Fiction, 2007)
• The Book of Heroes (original title: Eiyu no sho), trans. Alexander O. Smith (Haikasoru, 2010)
• Ico: Castle in the Mist, trans. Alexander O. Smith (Haikasoru, 2011)
• The Gate of Sorrows, trans. Jim Hubbert (Haikasoru, 2016)

Horror story collection

• Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo, trans. Daniel Huddleston (Haikasoru, 2013)
  • "A Drowsing Dream of Shinjū" (original title: Inemuri Shinjū)
  • "Cage of Shadows" (original title: Kage Rō)
  • "The Futon Storeroom" (original title: Futon-Beya)
  • "The Plum Rains Fall" (original title: Ume no Ame Furu)
  • "The “Oni” of the Adachi House" (original title: Adachi Ke no Oni)
  • "A Woman's Head" (original title: Onna no Kubi)
  • "The Oni in the Autumn Rain" (original title: Shigure Oni)
  • "Ash Kagura" (original title: Hai Kagura)
  • "The Mussel Mound" (original title: Shijimi-Zuka)

Short stories

• "The Futon Room" (original title: Futon-Beya), trans. Stephen A. Carter (Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan, Volume 1: Tales of Old Edo, Kurodahan Press, 2009)^[1]
• "Chiyoko" (original title: Chiyoko) (Phantasm Japan: Fantasies Light and Dark, From and About Japan, Haikasoru, 2014)^[2]

Awards

Japanese Awards

• 1992 - Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel: The Sleeping Dragon
• 1992 - Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers: Honjo Fukagawa Fushigi-zōshi
• 1993 - Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize: All She Was Worth
• 1997 - Japan SF Award: Gamōtei Jiken
• 1998 - Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize: Riyū (The Reason)
• 1999 - Naoki Prize: Riyū (The Reason)
• 2002 - The Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year (Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2002): Puppet Master
• 2002 - Shiba Ryotaro Prize: Puppet Master
• 2007 - Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature: Namonaki Doku (Nameless Poison)^[3]

U.S. Award

• 2008 - Batchelder Award for Best translated children's book: Brave Story

Bibliography

• Perfect Blue (パーフェクト・ブルー) (1989, ISBN 4-488-41101-0)
• Majutsu wa sasayaku = The Devil's Whisper (魔術はささやく) (1989)
• Warera ga Rinjin no Hanzai (我らが隣人の犯罪) (1990, ISBN 4-06-148739-6)
• Tōkyō Shitamachi Satsujin Boshoku = The Murders in Downtown Tokyo (東京 (ウォーター・フロント）殺人暮色) (1990 のち文庫『東京下町殺人暮色』と改題)
• Level 7 (レベル7) (1990)
• Ryu wa Nemuru (龍は眠る) (1991)
• Honjo Fukagawa Fushigi-zōshi (本所深川ふしぎ草紙) (1991, ISBN 4-10-136915-1)
• Henji wa Iranai (返事はいらない) (1991, ISBN 4-10-136913-5)
• Kamaitachi (かまいたち) (1992)
• Kon'ya wa nemurenai (今夜は眠れない) (1992, ISBN 4-06-148718-3)
• Sunāku-gari (スナーク狩り) (1992, ISBN 4-334-72409-4)
• Kasha = All She was Worth (火車) (1992, ISBN 4-10-136918-6)
• Nagai Nagai Satsujin (長い長い殺人) (1992, ISBN 4-334-72827-8)
• Torinokosarete (とり残されて) (1992, ISBN 4-16-754902-6)
• Stepfather Step (ステップファザー・ステップ) (1993)
• Furueru Iwa: Reigen Ohatsu Torimono Hikae 1 (震える岩 霊験お初捕物控1) (1991)
• Sabishii karyūdo (淋しい狩人) (1993)
• Chikagai no Ame (地下街の雨) (1994)
• Genshoku Edo-goyomi (幻色江戸ごよみ) (1994)
• Yume ni mo omowanai (夢にも思わない) (1995, ISBN 4-04-361102-1)
• Hatsu monogatari (初ものがたり) (1995)
• Itokichi no Koi (糸吉の恋) (愛蔵版のみ収録/『小説歴史街道』1996年初夏号)
• Hatobuesō (鳩笛草) (1995)
• Hitojichi Canon (人質カノン) (1996, ISBN 4-16-754904-2)
• Gamōtei Jiken (蒲生邸事件) (1996)
• Kanninbako (堪忍箱) (1996)
• Tengukaze: Reigen Ohatsu Torimono Hikae 2 (天狗風 霊験お初捕物控2) (1997, ISBN 4-06-273257-2)
• Kokoro torokasu Yōna: Masa no Jikenbo(心とろかすような マサの事件簿) (1997, ISBN 4-488-41102-9)
• Riyū (理由) (1998)
• Crossfire (クロスファイア) (1998)
• Bonkura (ぼんくら) (2000)　
• Ayashi (あやし 怪) (2000)　
• Mohōhan (模倣犯) (2001)
• R.P.G. = Shadow Family (2001, ISBN 4-08-747349-X)
• Dream Buster (ドリームバスター) 1–4 (2001–07)
• Akanbee (あかんべえ) (2002)
• Brave Story (ブレイブ・ストーリー) (2003)
• Dareka (誰か) Somebody (2003)
• ICO -Kirino shiro- (－霧の城－) (2004, ISBN 4-06-212441-6)
• Higurashi (日暮らし) (2005)　
• Koshuku no Hito (孤宿の人) (2005, ISBN 978-4-10-136931-0)　
• Namonaki Doku (名もなき毒) (2006, ISBN 4-344-01214-3)
• Rakuen (楽園) (2007)
• Osoroshi Mishimaya Henchō Hyakumonogatari Kotohajime (おそろし 三島屋変調百物語事始)　(2008)　
• Eiyū no sho = The Book of Heroes (英雄の書) (2009)
• Kogure Shashinkan (小暮写真館)　(2010)

Criticism

• Amanda C. Seaman, Bodies of Evidence: Women, Society, and Detective Fiction in 1990s Japan (University of Hawai'i Press, 2004), 26–56 (on All She Was Worth)
• Idem, "There goes the neighbourhood: community and family in Miyabe Miyuki's Riyû," Japan Forum 16/2 (2004): 271–87

Film/Television

Some of her novels have been made into TV drama series and films:

Japanese films

• Pyrokinesis (2000)
• Mohōhan (2002)
• Riyū (2004)
• Brave Story (2006)
• Nagai Nagai Satsujin (2007)
• Perfect Blue (2010)
• Solomon's Perjury (2015)

Japanese TV dramas

• Shuku Satsujin (1988)
• Majutsu wa sasayaku (1990 TV movie)
• Saboten no Hana (1991)
• Unmei no Juko (based on "Snark Gari")(1992)
• Tatta Hitori (1992)
• Henshin (1993)
• Kasha: Kādo hasan no onna! (1994 TV movie)
• Isshun no Sinjitsu (1994)
• Level Seven (1994)
• Ryū wa Nemuru (1994)
• Iwazunioite (1997)
• Gamoutei Jiken (1998)
• Mohichi no Jikienbo (2001, 2002, 2003)
• R.P.G. (2003)
• Riyū (2004)
• Nagai Nagai Satsujin (A Long Long Murder) (2007)
• Perfect Blue (2010)
• Hansai (holocaust)(2010)
• Majutsu wa sasayaku (2011 TV movie)
• Kasha (2011 TV movie)
• Stepfather Step (2012 TV series)
• Perfect Blue (2012)
• Riyū (2012)
• Snark Gari (The Hunting of the Snark) (2012)
• Nagai Nagai Satsujin (2012)
• Level Seven (2012)
• Samishii Kariudo (A Lonely Hunter)(2013)
• Kogure Shashinkan (2013)
• Nomonaki Doku (2013)
• Petero no souretsu (2014)
• Osoroshi (2014)
• Sakura Housara (2014)
• Bonkura (2014, 2015)
• Mohōhan (2016)

South Korean film

• Helpless (2012)

South Korean TV drama

• Solomon's Perjury (2016-2017)^[4]

References

External links

• Miyuki Miyabe at J'Lit Books from Japan
• Miyuki Miyabe at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Miyuki Miyabe on IMDb