Jakucho setouchi biography definition

<< Jakucho Setouchi, an 84-year-old Japanese Buddhist nun and novelist, who won a number of literature awards, smiles as she poses in the garden of her residence in Kyoto, western Japan, 10 January 2007. Setouchi, also an anti-war activist and one of Japan's best-known religious figures, told about her life as a woman and as a Buddhism and as her belief in love for love's sake. © 2007 AFP - Yoshikazu Tsuno

Setouchi, who is also an anti-war activist and one of the country's best-known religious figures, tells Tokyo correspondent Harumi Ozawa about her life as a woman and as a Buddhist, and talks candidly about her belief in love for love's sake.

When Jakucho Setouchi strolls through the streets of the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto, her shaved head and flowing robes marking her out as a Buddhist nun, high school girls cheerfully call her "Jakky" and fans trail in her wake.

At 84, Setouchi is one of Japan's best-known religious leaders yet some of her life's most defining experiences have been love affairs.

A novelist who did not take her vows until she was in her fifties, Setouchi has also had a dazzling literary career, and was recently awarded the prestigious Order of Culture by Emperor Akihito.

"I thought they could have given it to me a bit earlier, to be hon

Japanese Buddhist nun and author (1922–2021)

Jakucho Setouchi (15 May 1922 – 9 November 2021; born Harumi Mitani), formerly known as Harumi Setouchi, was a Japanese Buddhist nun, writer, and activist. Setouchi wrote a best-selling translation of The Tale of Genji and over 400 fictional biographical and historical novels. In 1997, she was honoured as a Person of Cultural Merit, and in 2006, she was awarded the Order of Culture of Japan.

Biography

Setouchi was born Harumi Mitani on 15 May 1922 in Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture to Toyokichi and Koharu Mitani. Toyokichi was a cabinetmaker who made Buddhist and Shinto religious objects. In 1929, her family began using the surname Setouchi after her father was adopted by a family member.

Setouchi studied Japanese literature at Tokyo Woman's Christian University before her arranged marriage to scholar Yasushi Sakai in 1943. She moved with her husband after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent him to Beijing, and gave birth to their daughter in 1944. In 1945, her mother was killed in an air raid and a grandmother was also killed during the war. She returned to Japan in 1946, settled with family in Tokyo in 1947, and in 1948, left her husband and daughter for a relationship with another man.

1950 she divorced her husband and serialized her first novel in a magazine. She continued to have sexual relationships, including affairs with ma

Jakucho Setouchi calls an old pen name Harumi Setouchi. She is a famous writer in Japan. She has received evaluation also with high research of the "Tale of Genji" which is a classic of Japanese literature.
Jakucho was born in May, 1922 in Tokushima-city, Tokushima, Japan. In 1943, she emigrated to China after the graduation from Tokyo Woman's Christian University. Then, the one daughter was born. She had married while a student of the university. She divorced and went into creative activity, after coming home from China.
She was born as a carpenter's daughter. The family was poor. There were only two rooms in a house. One room was the father's workshop. Parent and child were sleeping in other room. Her father was an daring person. He became others' guarantor and lost all his property. Since he sold the birdcage and it hit at a certain time, he began the bird dealer.
In the end, he began an idea business called marriage of a hill myna. It seems that such a father's character is inherited by her.
Although the home was environment unrelated to literature, Jakucho was a literary girl from her childhood.

Jakucho was loved by the teacher of an elder sister's elementary school when she was still a kindergartener. When she called on the teacher's house, she borrowed "the world literature complete works" and "the Japanese literature complete works", without also understanding a meaning. And she read through one after another. When she is asked in class, "What would you like to become in the future?", she answered "I would like to become a novelist.”
He became acquainted as the wife of Tuneari Fukuda in the college days, and she sent the manuscript to him. He recommended for Jakucho to go into a coterie magazine. She went into the "literary man" whom Fumio Niwa presided.
In 1956, she won the new tide coterie magazine prize.
In 1960, she was awarded "Toshiko Tamura" (first Toshiko Ta

“I wonder if today will be the last day,” she said, looking at the pile of fallen autumn leaves. She smiles and asks us almost jokingly if we would like to steam some yams. Soft beams of late-autumn sunlight shine through the clouds and into the Jakuan hermitage.

Jakucho Setouchi is also a light in the world of Noh. In 2008, the thousand-year anniversary of the Tale of Genji, I saw a performance of the popular modern Noh play she had written, Yume no Ukihashi ("The Floating Bridge of Dreams"). I felt a sense of pure enjoyment in the story depicting burning love and the sublimation of earthly desires. Then, I read her novel, Hika, which depicts the final years of Zeami. From deep down within her, many voices of that world come together and are woven into a kimono with a fabric of the deepest color. I could feel the depth and weight of that multilayered story.

I thought how wonderful it would be to meet her, a person who is the object of so much respect. This holy person accepted our small request without hesitation. We made our way to Kyoto with the sense that we were on a wonderful journey, arriving at the Jakuan of Sagano in Kyoto at the start of winter. Setouchi greeted us with her beautiful smiling face, welcomed us inside, turned quickly and skipped the long the stepping stones like a young girl.

Noh is Always Interesting

-- When did you first become involved with Noh?

I got my first taste of Noh when I was a college student. The college I attended, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, was a school that very much liked Noh, with many Kita School teachers and students learning dance and chants. While I only sampled Noh, there were many students that danced seriously on stage. That was when I first began to like it.

Also, Noh is definitely a classical art form. The plays themselves are based on classical literature. Since I study the classics, I was naturally drawn to Noh. I