Junnosuke Yoshiyuki


Junnosuke Yoshiyuki was a Japanese novelist and short-story writer.

Life

Yoshiyuki was born in Okayama, the oldest child of author Yoshiyuki Eisuke, but his family moved to Tokyo when he was 3. He attended Shizuoka High School, where he grew interested in Thomas Mann's stories, and in 1945 entered the University of Tokyo. He left the university without a degree and began working full-time as an editor at a weekly scandal magazine, while spending much of his leisure time gambling, drinking, and frequenting prostitutes. Sexuality and prostitution would form a consistent theme in his writing.

Works and awards

Yoshiyuki's first published fiction was Bara Hanbainin, followed by the novels Genshoku no Machi, Shu-u, for which he won the Akutagawa Prize, and Shofu no Heya. His novel Anshitsu won the Tanizaki Prize. He won the Yomiuri Prize for his 1974 novel. Another of his most celebrated works, Yugure Made, took 13 years to write but once published quickly became a best-seller and won the Noma Literary Prize. See also Fair Dalliance: Fifteen Stories by Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, Kurodahan Press, 2011.