Tsuneko Nakazato

Tsuneko Nakazato (中里 恒子, Nakazato Tsuneko, 23 December 1909 – 5 April 1987) was the pen-name of a novelist in Showa period Japan. Her real name was Nakazato Tsune.

Early life

Nakazato was born in Fujisawa city, Kanagawa prefecture and graduated from the Kanagawa Girls’ Higher School. Her early submissions to literary magazines caught the attention of Yokomitsu Riichi, who encouraged her to develop her literary skills.

Literary career

In 1938, Nakazato became the first woman to win the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, with her short story Noriai bashi.^[1] After World War II, she came to be known for a number of works addressing the issue of international marriage, including Mariannu monogatari ("Maryann's Story", 1946) and Kusari ("Chain", 1959), which were drawn from her own daughter's marriage to an American.

In the 1970s and 1980s, her writings gradually evolved away from the psychology of human life to a more symbolic approach, and her novel Utamakura ("Song Pillow", 1973) was awarded the Yomiuri Prize. In 1974, she received the Japan Art Academy Prize, and became a member of that institution in 1983. She was also awarded the Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize in 1976.

Nakazato was a resident of Zushi, Kanagawa from 1932 until her death due to colon cancer in 1987. Her grave is at the temple of Engaku-ji in Kamakura.

See also

• Japanese literature
• List of Japanese authors

References