YASUOKA SHOTARO

(1920–)

   Yasuoka Shotaro is an author from Kochi Prefecture. In middle school, he was banished to a Zen Buddhist temple for three years, and after multiple unsuccessful attempts was accepted into Keio University in 1941. In 1944, however, he was drafted into the military and spent a year in Manchuria before being discharged with tuberculosis. In 1948, he finally graduated and his Garasu no kutsu (1951; tr. The Glass Slipper, 1961) was nominated for an Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize, giving him exposure in literary circles. In 1953, the Akutagawa Prize committee, at an impasse over two of his works, awarded him the prize for both Warui nakama (1953; tr. Bad Company, 1984) and Inki na tanoshimi (1953; tr. Gloomy Pleasures, 1984). In addition, Yasuoka has won the Noma Prize twice (1960, 1989), the Yomiuri Prize (1973), and the Kawabata Yasunari Prize (1991).

   See also COLONIAL LITERATURE.