Hitomi Yamaguchi
- Biography
1926-1995. Writer. Yamaguchi worked in the advertising department of Kotobukiya (now Suntory) and undertook editing work for the PR magazine Yoshu Tengoku with illustrator Ryohei Yanagihara and writer Takeshi Kaiko. In 1963 he won the Naoki Award for Eburi Man Shi no Yuga na Seikatsu (The Elegant Life of Mr. Man Eburi). He became a full-time writer in the following year and published popular novels, such as Ketsuzoku (Blood Relatives) and Izakaya Choji (Tavern Owner Choji). The series of essays published in Shukan Shincho Dansei Jishin (Man Himself) continued for 32 years until just before his death.
- Association with Minato City
Boyhood spent in his playground of Azabu and Roppongi
Yamaguchi spent his boyhood in Azabu. He was chosen to play on the school’s baseball team in Higashimachi Elementary School and played as the second left fielder. He was also skilled in Shogi and was so competitive that he played a game with the school’s principal on the train during a school trip. When he advanced to Azabu Junior High School, he gradually awakened to literature. The composition he wrote about his little sister Fujiko, who died of diphtheria in Yamaguchi when he was in the second year of junior high school. is said to have made the teacher weep when reading the work. He lived in Azabu until his home was burned down in an air raid in February 1945.
In his collection of essays Shin Tokyo Hyakkei (100 Views of New Tokyo), he writes about how he threw roasted soybeans bought at Mamegen in Azabu Juban on the traditional day of the end of winter, and how he had tea at the Clover tea shop with his friends after school. For Yamaguchi, who described the everyday life of urban dwellers with joy and sorrow, the areas of Azabu and Roppongi were his nostalgic playground and promenade.
References
Nihon Jinmei Daijiten (Japanese Biographical Dictionary) (Kodansha)
Shin Tokyo Hyakkei (100 Views of New Tokyo) (Hitomi Yamaguchi / Shincho Bunko)
Henkikan no Shujin: Yamaguchi Hitomi-den, Shoshi (The Master of Henkikan; A Biography of Hitomi Yamaguchi) (Akira Nakano / Kyomonsha)
Yamaguchi spent his boyhood in Azabu. He was chosen to play on the school’s baseball team in Higashimachi Elementary School and played as the second left fielder. He was also skilled in Shogi and was so competitive that he played a game with the school’s principal on the train during a school trip. When he advanced to Azabu Junior High School, he gradually awakened to literature. The composition he wrote about his little sister Fujiko, who died of diphtheria in Yamaguchi when he was in the second year of junior high school. is said to have made the teacher weep when reading the work. He lived in Azabu until his home was burned down in an air raid in February 1945.
In his collection of essays Shin Tokyo Hyakkei (100 Views of New Tokyo), he writes about how he threw roasted soybeans bought at Mamegen in Azabu Juban on the traditional day of the end of winter, and how he had tea at the Clover tea shop with his friends after school. For Yamaguchi, who described the everyday life of urban dwellers with joy and sorrow, the areas of Azabu and Roppongi were his nostalgic playground and promenade.
References
Nihon Jinmei Daijiten (Japanese Biographical Dictionary) (Kodansha)
Shin Tokyo Hyakkei (100 Views of New Tokyo) (Hitomi Yamaguchi / Shincho Bunko)
Henkikan no Shujin: Yamaguchi Hitomi-den, Shoshi (The Master of Henkikan; A Biography of Hitomi Yamaguchi) (Akira Nakano / Kyomonsha)
- Literary Works
Eburi Man Shi no Yuga na Seikatsu (The Elegant Life of Mr. Man Eburi) (Shincho Bunko)
Ketsuzoku (Blood Relatives) (Bunshun Bunko)
Izakaya Choji (Tavern Owner Choji) (Shincho Bunko)
Kazoku (Family) (Bunshun Bunko)
Ketsuzoku (Blood Relatives) (Bunshun Bunko)
Izakaya Choji (Tavern Owner Choji) (Shincho Bunko)
Kazoku (Family) (Bunshun Bunko)
- Related Publications
Henkikan no Shujin: Yamaguchi Hitomi-den, Shoshi (The Master of Henkikan; A Biography of Hitomi Yamaguchi) (Akira Nakano / Kyomonsha)
