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{{Short description|Japanese fiction writer (1947–2016)}}
{{distinguish|Yūko Tatsushima}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Satoko Tsushima
| native_name = 津島里子
| native_name_lang = ja
| birth_date = March 30, 1947
| birth_place = [[Mitaka, Tokyo]], [[Occupation of Japan|Allied-occupied Japan]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|02|18|1947|03|30}}
| occupation = Writer
| language = Japanese
| pen_name = 津島佑子 (Tsushima Yūko)
| genre = Fiction
| education = [[Shirayuri Women's University]]
| notable_works = {{plainlist|
* ''Hikari no ryōbun'' (光の領分)
* ''Kusa no Fushido'' (草の臥所)
* ''Hi no yama – yamazaruki'' (火の山―山猿記)}}
| awards = {{plainlist|
*[[Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature]]
*[[Noma Literary Prize|Noma Literary New Face Prize]]
*[[Noma Literary Prize]]
*[[Yomiuri Prize]]
*[[Tanizaki Prize]]}}
| image = An Image of the Late Author Yūko Tsushima, Daughter of Osamu Dazai.png
| caption = Tsushima in 1995
}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
'''Satoko Tsushima''' (30 March 1947 – 18 February 2016), known by her [[pen name]] '''Yūko Tsushima''' (津島佑子 ''Tsushima Yūko''), was a Japanese fiction writer, essayist and critic.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tsushima, Yūko|url=http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/lccn-n81-69068|publisher=WorldCat Identities|access-date=30 May 2010|archive-date=29 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729062746/http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/lccn-n81-69068/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Tsushima won many of Japan's top literary prizes in her career, including the [[Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature]], the [[Noma Literary Prize|Noma Literary New Face Prize]], the [[Noma Literary Prize]], the [[Yomiuri Prize]] and the [[Tanizaki Prize]]. ''The [[New York Times]]'' called Tsushima "one of the most important writers of her generation."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/24/books/silence-is-essential.html|title=SILENCE IS ESSENTIAL|work=The New York Times|last=Kometani|first=Foumiko|date=July 24, 1988|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref> Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages.<ref name=:2>{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2018/03/31/books/territory-light-timely-translation-sheds-light-japans-marginalized/|title='Territory of Light' is a timely translation that sheds light on Japan's marginalized|work=The Japan Times|last=Kosaka|first=Kris|date=March 31, 2018|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref>

==Early life==
Tsushima was born in [[Mitaka, Tokyo]], the third child (younger of two daughters) of famed novelist [[Osamu Dazai]] and Michiko Ishihara, a teacher at a girls' school.<ref>The Osamu Saga: The Autobiographical Fiction of Dazai Osamu, Phyllis I. Lyons, University of Chicago, 1975, p. 29</ref><ref>A Biographical and Literary Study of Dazai Osamu, James A. O'Brien, Indiana University, 1969, p. 68</ref> Her father committed suicide when she was one year old;<ref>{{cite web|title=Yuko Tsushima|url=http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/380-yuko-tsushima|publisher=J'Lit Books from Japan|access-date=20 October 2013|archive-date=22 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822095953/http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/380-yuko-tsushima|url-status=dead}}</ref> she later drew on the aftermath of this experience in writing her [[short story]] "The Watery Realm".<ref name=:0>{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2018/05/26/books/book-reviews/dogs-walls-concentrated-hit-yuko-tsushima/|title='Of Dogs and Walls': A concentrated hit of Yuko Tsushima|work=The Japan Times|last=Kosaka|first=Kris|date=May 26, 2018|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref><ref>World Authors 1985-1990, ed. Vineta Colby, H. W. Wilson, 1995, p. 900</ref>

==Career==
While attending [[Shirayuri Women's University]] she published her first fiction. At age 24 she published her first collection of stories, ''Carnival'' (''Shaniku-sai''). A prolific writer, she was the winner of several literary prizes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mainichi.jp/articles/20160219/k00/00m/040/065000c|title=訃報：作家の津島佑子さん死去６８歳太宰治の次女 - 毎日新聞|work=毎日新聞}}</ref> In 1972 her story ''Pregnant with a Fox'' (''Kitsune wo haramu'') was a runner-up for the [[Akutagawa Prize]]. She was awarded the [[Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature]] in 1977 for ''Kusa no Fushido'' (''Bedchamber of Grass''),<ref name=izumi>{{cite web|url=http://www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp/11020/bungaku/kyouka/index.html|language=ja|title=泉鏡花文学賞|work=City of Kanagawa|access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=10 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110072857/http://www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp/11020/bungaku/kyouka/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the first annual [[Noma Literary Prize|Noma Literary New Face Prize]] for ''Hikari no ryōbun'' (''[[Territory of Light]]'') in 1979.<ref name=noma>{{cite web|url=http://www.kodansha.co.jp/award/noma_n/51260.html|language=ja|title=過去の受賞作品|work=Kodansha|access-date=June 20, 2018}}</ref> In 1983 she was awarded the Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize for her short story ''Danmari ichi'' (''The Silent Traders''),<ref name=kawabata>{{cite web|url=https://www.shinchosha.co.jp/prizes/kawabatasho/archive.html|language=ja|title=川端康成文学賞過去の受賞作品|trans-title=Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize Past Winning Works|publisher=[[Shinchosha]]|access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref> and in 1986 she won the [[Yomiuri Prize]] for her novel ''Yoru no hikari ni owarete'' (''Driven by the Light of the Night'').<ref name=yomiuri>{{cite web|url=https://info.yomiuri.co.jp/contest/clspgl/detail/720.html|language=ja|title=読売文学賞第３１回（１９７９年度）～第４０回（１９８８年度）|work=[[Yomiuri Shimbun]]|access-date=June 21, 2018|archive-date=22 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622032635/https://info.yomiuri.co.jp/contest/clspgl/detail/720.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1998 she was awarded the 34th [[Tanizaki Prize]] and the 51st [[Noma Literary Prize]] for her novel ''Hi no yama – yamazaruki'' (''Mountain of Fire: Account Of A Wild Monkey'').<ref name=tanizaki>{{cite web|url=http://www.chuko.co.jp/aword/tanizaki/|language=ja|title=谷崎潤一郎賞受賞作品一覧 (List of Tanizaki Prize Award Winners)|work=Chuo Koron Shinsha|access-date=June 20, 2018}}</ref><ref name=noma /> In 2002 she won the Osaragi Jiro Prize for ''Warai ookami'' (''Laughing Wolf'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/380-yuko-tsushima|title=Authors: Yuko Tsushima|work=Books from Japan|access-date=June 18, 2018|archive-date=22 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822095953/http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/380-yuko-tsushima|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Writing style==
Tsushima's work is often characterized as [[feminism|feminist]], though she did not apply this label to her own work.<ref>{{cite book|title=Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature|editor1-last=Hutchinson|editor1-first=Rachael|editor2-last=Morton|editor2-first=Leith Douglas|chapter=Chapter 6: Feminism and Japanese Literature|last=Hartley|first=Barbara|pages=82–94|date=June 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name=:1 /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/08/08/books/book-reviews/shooting-gallery-reveals-yuko-tsushimas-existential-feminism/|title='The Shooting Gallery' reveals Yuko Tsushima's existential feminism|work=The Japan Times|last=Kosaka|first=Kris|date=August 8, 2015|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref> Her writing explores the lives of marginalized people, usually women, who struggle for control of their own lives against societal and family pressures.<ref name=:1>{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/12/16/books/book-reviews/child-fortune-yuko-tsushimas-prize-winning-feminist-novel-womanhood/|title='Child of Fortune': Yuko Tsushima's prize-winning and feminist novel on womanhood|work=The Japan Times|last=Kosaka|first=Kris|date=December 16, 2017|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/territory-of-light-by-yuko-tsushima-review-bracing-often-breathtaking-1.3456866|title=Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima review – Bracing, often breathtaking|work=The Irish Times|last=Self|first=John|date=April 14, 2018|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref> She has cited [[Tennessee Williams]] as a literary influence.<ref name=:3>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-01-22-8902270344-story.html|title=Yuko Tsushima: 'I Am Not Pessimistic About The Future Of Women'|work=Chicago Tribune|last=Tsushima|first=Yuko|translator-last=Kuriki|translator-first=Chieki|date=January 22, 1989|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813014746/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-01-22-8902270344-story.html|access-date=June 18, 2018|archive-date=13 August 2019}}</ref> Unlike many of her contemporaries, whose writing about women tended to assume a nuclear family, Tsushima wrote about women who had been abandoned by family members.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://apjjf.org/2018/12/McKnight.html|title=Memento libri: New Writings and Translations from the World of Tsushima Yūko (1947~2016)|author1-last=McKnight|author1-first=Anne|author2-last=Bourdaghs|author2-first=Michael|work=The Asia Pacific Journal|volume=16}}</ref> Her stories, several of which draw on her own experience as a single mother,<ref name=:3 /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories|editor-last=Goossen|editor-first=Theodore|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> focus on the [[psychological]] impact of abandonment on those left behind.<ref name=:0 /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/04/a-single-mother-hits-rock-bottom-in-tokyo-territory-of-light-reviewed/|title=A single mother hits rock bottom in Tokyo: Territory of Light reviewed|work=The Spectator|last=Langley|first=Lee|date=April 28, 2018|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref>

==Works translated into English==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=108419965}}
*[[Child of Fortune (novel)|''Child of Fortune'']] (寵児, ''Chōji'', 1978) (translation by [[Geraldine Harcourt]])
*''[[Territory of Light]]'' (光の領分, ''Hikari no ryōbun'', 1979) (translation by Geraldine Harcourt)
*''[[Woman Running in the Mountains]]'' (山を走る女, ''Yama wo hashiru onna'', 1980) (translation by Geraldine Harcourt)
*''The Shooting Gallery & Other Stories'' (射的ほか短編集, 1973–1984) (translation by Geraldine Harcourt)
*''A Sensitive Season'' (発情期)
*''South wind'' (南風)
*''The Silent Traders'' (黙市)
*''The Chrysanthemum Beetle'' (菊虫)
*''Missing'' (行方不明)
*''The Shooting Gallery'' (射的)
*''Clearing the Thickets'' (草叢)
*''An Embrace'' (抱擁)
*''Laughing Wolf'' (笑い狼, ''Warai Okami'', 2001) (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, 73; translation by [[Dennis Washburn]])
*''Of Dogs and Walls'' (犬と塀について, ''inu to hei nitsuite '', 2018),(translation by Geraldine Harcourt, Penguin Classics)
*''Wildcat Dome''(ヤマネコ・ドーム, ''Yama Neko Domu'', 2013),(translation by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda, Penguin Classics)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.jlpp.go.jp/en/works/03_11.html Synopsis of ''Laughing Wolf''] at JLPP (Japanese Literature Publishing Project) {{in lang|en}}
* [https://apjjf.org/2018/12/McKnight.html Memento libri: New Writings and Translations from the World of Tsushima Yūko (1947~2016)], ed. by Anne McKnight and Michael Bourdaghs, ''The Asia-Pacific Journal. Japan Focus'' 16, 12, 2 (15 June 2018)
* Yūko Tsushima, ''[https://apjjf.org/2018/12/Harcourt.html Home Ground]'', tr. by Geraldine Harcourt, ''The Asia-Pacific Journal. Japan Focus'' 16, 12, 3 (15 June 2018)
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/books/review/territory-of-light-yuko-tsushima.html A 1970s Japanese Novel Leading the Way to Ferrante by Jiayang Fan], ''The New York Times'' (15 March 2019)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsushima, Yuko}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Japanese writers]]
[[Category:People from Mitaka, Tokyo]]
[[Category:Yomiuri Prize winners]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Japanese women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]

Yūko Tsushima - Revision history

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