OKAMOTO Kanoko

Date of Birth and Death
March 1, 1889 - February 18, 1939
Birthplace (modern name)
Tokyo
Occupation, Status
Literary Figure
Pen name etc.
OKAMOTO Kano (real name), Onuki (maiden name), ONUKI Kanoko (pen name)

Description

Novelist and poet. Influenced by her brother Onuki Shosen, she developed an interest in literature at an early age. She joined Shinshi-sha, hosted by Yosano Atsuko, in 1906 and published Shintai-shi poetry and waka (Japanese-style poetry). In 1910 she married the painter Okamoto Ippei. While facing issues in her married life, she participated in Seito-sha and published her first verse collection, Karoki Netami (Slight Envy), in 1912. She was hospitalized due to mental illness in 1914 and sought help from Buddhism. In 1929 her whole family travelled Europe, and when she returned to Japan in 1932 she switched to novel writing. In 1936, at the recommendation of Kawabata Yasunari she published Tsuru ha Yamiki (The Crane Sickened) in the magazine Bungakukai. Until her passing, she published aesthetic novels like Boshi Jojo (Affection between Mother and Child) (1937).

Publications

National Diet Library's collections

SNS

OKAMOTO Kanoko

  • Portrait of OKAMOTO Kanoko1
  • Portrait of OKAMOTO Kanoko2
  • Portrait of OKAMOTO Kanoko3