Fumiko Hayashi (author)


Fumiko Hayashi was a Japanese novelist and poet.

Life and career

Hayashi was born in Shimonoseki, Japan. When Hayashi was seven, her mother ran away with a manager of her common-law husband's store, and afterwards the three worked in Kyūshū as itinerant merchants. After graduating from high school in 1922, Hayashi moved to Tokyo with a lover and lived with several men before settling into marriage with the painter Rokubin Tezuka in 1926.
Many of her works revolve around themes of free spirited women and troubled relationships. One of her best-known works is Hōrōki, which was adapted into the anime Wandering Days. Another is her late novel Ukigumo, which was made into a film by Mikio Naruse in 1955. Naruse adapted several of her books, and also directed a biographical film about her in 1962, Horoki.
and other close friends at Hayashi's funeral, 1951
Hayashi's work is notable as well for its feminist themes. She was later to face criticism for accepting sponsored-trips by the Japanese military government to occupied China, from where she reported positively on Japanese administration. In 1942–43, as part of a larger group of women writers, she also travelled to Southeast Asia, spending around half a year, primarily in Java and Sumatra. Some of her activities were reported in both the local Indonesian presses, as well as in Japan.
Joan E. Ericson's translations and analysis of the immensely popular Hōrōki and Suisen suggest that Hayashi's appeal is rooted in the clarity with which she conveys the humanity not just of women, but also others on the underside of Japanese society.

Works

Works by Hayashi include: