Occupation journalist, novelist Name Toyoko Yamasaki Language Japanese Role Novelist | Period 1957-2013 Genre novel | |
Born Toyoko Sugimoto
3 November 1924
Osaka, Japan ( 1924-11-03 ) Alma mater Kyoto Women's University Subject Osaka merchants, social issues Died September 29, 2013, Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan Spouse Kikuo Sugimoto (m. 1961–1992) Books Shiroi Kyoto, Fumo Chitai, Two homelands, Bonchi Movies The Unbroken, The Great White Tower, Fumo Chitai Similar People Satsuo Yamamoto, Sawako Ariyoshi, Ken Watanabe, Kyoka Suzuki, Shinobu Hashimoto | ||
Education Kyoto Women's University | ||
Toyoko Yamasaki (山崎 豊子, Yamasaki Toyoko, real name Sugimoto Toyoko; 3 November 1924 – 29 September 2013) was a Japanese novelist.
A native of Osaka, Yamasaki worked as a journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun from 1945 to 1959 after graduating from Kyoto Women's University in Japanese literature. She published her first story, Noren (1957), a story of a kelp trader, based on the experiences of her family's business. The following year, she won the Naoki Prize for her second novel Hana Noren, the story about the founder of an entertainment group. A major influence on her writings of that period was Yasushi Inoue, who was deputy head of the Mainichi Shimbun's cultural news desk.
Yamasaki wrote some stories based on actual events. For example, Futatsu no Sokoku is derived from the biography of a Japanese American David Akira Itami, and Shizumanu Taiyō is based on the Japan Airlines Flight 123 accident. Several works of hers were featured in films and television dramas.