Chiyo Uno
Chiyo Uno was a prominent Japanese author born on November 28, 1897, in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture. After initially becoming a teacher, she relocated to Tokyo to pursue her writing career following the end of her first marriage. Uno gained recognition with her short story "Shifun no kao" in 1921 and further established herself with "Haka wo abaku" in 1922. Her writing often reflects her own experiences, particularly the journey of a rural girl seeking fame in the city, and she became known for her exploration of romance and personal themes. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Uno was involved in various relationships, including a significant affair with painter Togo Seiji, which influenced her work. Despite challenges during the Pacific War that limited her romantic storytelling, she found success in other ventures, including launching Japan's first Western-style fashion magazine, Sutairu. Uno's later years saw a shift to writing memoirs, with her best-selling work "Ikite yuku watakushi" gaining widespread acclaim. She received numerous accolades for her contributions to literature and culture before passing away on June 10, 1996, in Tokyo.
Subject Terms
Chiyo Uno
Japanese novelist, short fiction writer, magazine publisher, and kimono designer.
- Born: November 28, 1897
- Birthplace: Iwakuni, Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan
- Died: June 10, 1996
- Place of death: Tokyo, Japan
Biography
Japanese author Chiyo Uno was born on November 28, 1897, in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi prefecture. She was raised in southwestern Japan and became a teacher following her graduation from Iwakuni Women’s High School. After her first marriage ended, she moved to Tokyo to pursue a career as a writer.
Her short story “Shifun no kao” (a face with makeup) won a newspaper contest in 1921. When her story, “Haka wo abaku” (opening the grave) was published in 1922 in Chuō Kōron, it was her ticket to move to Tokyo. In Tokyo, she married Ozaki Shirō, a young writer, and soon came under the influence of jazz music, dancing, and Marxism. Uno brazenly defied traditional Japanese mores by wearing Western clothes and engaging in numerous romantic trysts. Because of her brazenness, beauty, and love of sensationalism, she became widely published and her work was in high demand. Uno’s early stories center around a theme similar to her own life and experiences, that of the country girl who moves to the city looking for fame and fortune, only to have to sacrifice it all for one reason or another.
In 1929, Shirō divorced her, some say because he was jealous of her success, though others attribute it to her many affairs of the time. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, she had affairs with various members of Tokyo’s literary scene. She began a relationship with painter Togo Seiji in 1930. Starting in the 1930’s she started to write more personally, reflecting large portions of her life in her work. In 1935 she published her first novel, Irozange ( Confessions of Love), which was based on her five-year affair with Seiji.
Uno was highly regarded as the finest romance writer of the prewar period. However, once Japan entered the Pacific War, stories of this sort were frowned upon, so Uno had to curb her writing and conform to a more subdued atmosphere. The following year she started the magazine Sutairu (style), which she continued to publish until 1959. It was Japan’s first Western-style fashion magazine. She also designed kimonos and ran a boutique.
Ohan, Uno’s best-known novel, was published in 1957. By the 1970’s she had earned a reputation as a multitalented writer, designer, and magazine publisher. In the 1980’s, she switched from writing fiction to writing essays based upon her own life and experiences. She wrote a best-selling memoir, Ikite yuku watakushi (I will go on living), in 1983. It was later made into a thirteen-part dramatic television series and a stage production.
With the success of Ikite yuku watakushi, the public refocused on her previous works and she was vaulted to a highly regarded status. Television stations fought for interviews and Uno was contracted to write an advice column for the Mainichi Shinbun, similar to that of Ann Landers. This column became highly popular. In 1986, she also published a cookbook. In 1989, she published what would be her last volume of fiction Ippen ni haru kaze ga fuite kita (suddenly a spring wind), a collection of short stories. Uno was awarded the Acadamy of Arts award in 1972, the Third Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1974, and was named a “Person of Cultural Merit” in 1990.
Uno died on June 10, 1996, in Tokyo, Japan.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
Irozange, 1949 (Confessions of Love, 1989)
Ohan, 1957
Aru hitori no onna no hanashi, 1971 (The Story of a Single Woman, 1992)
Ippen ni haru kaze ga fuite kita, 1989
Nonfiction:
Ikite yuku watakushi, 1983 (2 volumes)
Short Fiction:
"Shifun no kao", 1921
"Haka wo abaku", 1922
Bibliography
Copeland, Rebecca L. The Sound of the Wind: The Life and Works of Uno Chiyo. U of Hawaii P, 1992. A biography that also includes translations of three of Uno's stories.
Gulliver, Katrina. Modern Women in China and Japan: Gender, Feminism and Global Modernity Between the Wars. I. B. Tauris, 2012. Discusses the feminist aspects of Uno's life and work.
Milhaupt, Terry Satsuki. Kimono: A Modern History. Reaktion Books, 2014. Discusses Uno's work as a kimono designer and her contribution to the evolution of the kimono in the twentieth century.