Yoshie Hotta Explained

Yoshie Hotta
Birth Date:	17 July 1918
Birth Place:	Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, Japan
Occupation:	Writer
Nationality:	Japanese

^[1] was a Japanese writer of novels, short stories, poetry and essays, noted for his political consciousness.^[2] His most acclaimed works include Hiroba no kōdoku (lit. "Solitude in the Public Square", 1951), which was awarded the Akutagawa Prize, and Kage no bubun (Shadow Pieces, 1952). Hotta has also been associated with the Atomic bomb literature genre.^[3]

Biography

A graduate from Keio University, Hotta already published poems and essays in the literary journal Hihyō during his student years.^[4] He experienced the end of the Pacific War in Shanghai, where he stayed for two years to write for the Chinese Nationalist Party before returning to Japan in 1947. His early works centered on Japan's recent history, thematising events like the bombing of Hiroshima (in Kage no bubun, 1952, or Shimpan, 1963) or the Nanjing Massacre (in Jikan, 1955),^[5] and life in Japan during the early post-war years. Later, he turned his attention also to International relationships and history, attending meetings of the Afro-Asian Writers' Association and writing books about historic figures like Goya, Montaigne and François de La Rochefoucauld.^{[6] [7]}

Selected works

• 1951: Hiroba no kōdoku
• 1952: Kage no bubun (Shadow Pieces)
• 1952: Kankan
• 1952: Rekishi
• 1955: Jikan
• 1957: Indo de kangaeta koto
• 1963: Shimpan (Judgment)
• 1971: Hōjōki shiki
• 1974–77: Goya
• 1991–94: Misheru jōkan no hito
• 1998: Ra Roshufūkō kōshaku densetsu

Awards

• 1951: Akutagawa Prize for Hiroba no kōdoku
• 1971: Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for Hōjōki shiki
• 1977: Jirō Osaragi Prize for Goya
• 1977: Lotus Prize for Literature
• 1994: Asahi Prize
• 1998: Japan Art Academy Prize for Literature

Adaptations

Hiroba no kōdoku was adapted into a film in 1953, written by Katsuhito Inomata and directed by and starring Shin Saburi.^[8]

Together with Shin'ichirō Nakamura and Takehiko Fukunaga, Hotta wrote the original story which was later adapted into the kaiju film Mothra, first published in Asahi Shimbun.^{[9] [10]}

Bibliography

• Book: Yoshie . Hotta . Judgment . Tsukui . Nobuko . Kansai Gaidai University . Osaka . 1994.
• Book: J. Thomas . Rimer . Van C. . Gessel . The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the present . Hotta Yoshie (includes one translated chapter of Kage no bubun) . Columbia University Press . 2007 . 9780231138048.
• Book: O'Neill, P.G. . Collected Writings of P.G. O'Neill: The Collected Writings of Modern Western Scholars on Japan . 4 . Shadow Pieces (Kage no bubun) . Japan Library and Edition Synapse . Tokyo . 2001 . 1-873410-50-6.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 堀田善衛 (Hotta Yoshie) . Kotobank . ja . 28 August 2021.
2. Book: J. Thomas . Rimer . Van C. . Gessel . The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the present . Columbia University Press . 2007 . 9780231138048 . 107.
3. Web site: 原爆文学 (Atomic bomb literature) . Kotobank . ja . 28 August 2021.
4. Book: Miller, J. Scott . The A to Z of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater . 2010 . 37 . Scarecrow Press . 9780810876156.
5. Web site: Heftarchiv – Autoren: Hotta, Yoshie . Sinn und Form . de . 28 August 2021.
6. Book: Katō, Shūichi . A History of Japanese Literature: From the Man'yōshū to Modern Times . Japan Library . 1997 . 347.
7. Web site: Hotta Yoshie Bunko . Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien . de . 28 August 2021.
8. Web site: 広場の孤独 (Hiroba no kōdoku) . Kinenote . ja . 29 August 2021.
9. Web site: モスラ (Mosura) . Kinenote . ja . 29 August 2021.
10. Book: Galbraith IV, Stuart . The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography . 2008 . 183–184 . Scarecrow Press . 978-1461673743.