嶰塝埢巕婰擮暥妛娰偛埬撪彂
Guidebook for the Ayako Miura Literature Museum
Translated from Japanese by Norman Delaney and Kuniko Katahara
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The Miura Ayako Literature Museum
English language guidebook.
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On the theme of
About the author Ayako Miura and Asahikawa.
Ayako Miura was born in Asahikawa City, Hokkaido Japan in 1922 (Taisho 11). When she was 42 years old, she won first prize and 10,000,000 yen for her novel Hyoten (Freezing Point) which she submitted to a nationwide contest that was held by the Asahi Shimbun (Newspaper) Company. Her career as a novelist began shortly after that.
The novels that she wrote next, were also centered in Hokkaido, around Asahikawa and vividly depicted the scenery of the North Country. Novels like Hito wa dono yoo ni ikitara ii no ka. (How should we live our lives?) have broad appeal to readers worldwide and are still popular to this day.
After she started work on her novel Shiokari Toge (Shiokari Pass) Ayako乫s writing style changed. From this time on, each and every novel was produced by being dictated to her husband Mitsuo. He would simultaneously transcribe the words onto paper. It was like Ayako and Mitsuo were forever tied together, running a three-legged race.
In October of 1999 when Ayako Miura乫s life ended at 77 years old, she had already produced some 83 works of literature.
Biographic Profile
l 1922 Born on April 25 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
l 1939 Graduated from the Asahikawa Public Girls High School at the age of 17. She started as a teacher at the Utashinai Public Kamui Senior Elementary School and taught there for 7 years.
l 1946 At the age of 24 she became aware of how the Government had used the education system to deceive the Japanese people since before and during the war. She quit her teaching job in protest. Also at about the same time, she contracted pulmonary tuberculosis and spent the next 13 years in a sanatorium.
l 1952 When she was 30 years old, she received a Christian baptism on her sick bed from the pastor Rinzo Onomura.
l 1959 At the age of 37 she got married to Mitsuyo Miura in a ceremony presided over by the pastor Tadaaki Nakajima at the Asahikawa 6th avenue Japanese Christian Association Church.
l 1962 40 years old. Her short story Taiyo wa Futatabi Bossezu (The Sun will never set again.) was featured in the New Year乫s issue of the magazine Shufu no Tomo (The Housewife乫s Companion).
l 1964 At the age of 42 she entered her novel Hyoten (Freezing Point) in the Asahi Shimbun Sha (Asahi Newspaper Company) contest. She won 1st place and 10 million yen in prize money.
l 1966 Two years later at age 44, together with the publishing of Hyoten as a book, the story was also made into a drama series for TV, a movie for the big screen and also adopted for the stage. A 乬Hyoten boom乭 spread across the entire country. Having achieved the status of author,丂Ayako Miura continued to produce more literature as well as give lectures and travel around gathering data and inspiration for her future works. Her husband Mitsuyo quit his job at the Forestry Management Office and became her fulltime manager that same year.
l 1967 Her novel Shiokari Pass was published as a series of short stories in the magazine Shinso no Tomo. Starting at that time, she began dictating her stories to her husband who would write them down.
l 1980 At the age of 58, She entered the Asahikawa Medical College Hospital for treatment of shingles (helpes zoster).
l 1982 Two years later at the age of 60, she underwent surgery for cancer at the Asahikawa Red Cross Hospital.
l 1985 While traveling to collect data for her next book, Ayako Miura became ill and was put on a milk only diet for three weeks in Osaka.
l 1992 At age 70 she was diagnosed with Parkinson乫s Disease.
l 1998 She celebrated her 76th birthday with the opening of the Miura Ayako Literature Museum.
l 1999 While receiving treatment at the Asahikawa Rehabilitation Hospital her condition became critical when she lapsed into a coma. She finally passed away on October 12th from multiple organ failure.
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About the Miura Ayako Literature Museum Exhibition Rooms
The Miura Ayako Literature Museum was opened on June 13th, 1998. The main theme of the museum is Light, Love and Life which reflects the essence of Ayako乫s work.
1. Exhibition Room One. All of the author乫s work
All of Ayako乫s works are on display here. They are classified both in chronological order and by genre. Many of her books such as Hyoten (Freezing Point), Shiogari Toge (Shiokari Pass), Michi Ariki (On the Road), have been translated into numerous foreign languages. Starting with Korean and followed by Chinese, English, French, Mongolian and 13 other languages spoken in 17 different countries for a total line up of about 100 titles. You can see all of these books here in this room.
2. Exhibition Room Two. The road to becoming an author
Four autobiographies tracing her life from birth to marriage are on display here. The four books are: Kusa no Uta (Song of the Meadow), Ishikoro no Uta (The Song of Stones), Michi Ariki (On the Road) and Kono Tsuchi no Utsuwa wo mo (This Clay Pot too.)
3. Exhibition Room Three. The world of Hyoten
The journey of Hyoten, her debut work as well as her most representative is shown by the numerous exhibitions in this room, from its start as a serial novel in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, through the 乬Hyoten Boom乭 and its subsequent transition to stage and the big screen.
4. Exhibition Room Four. The great novels
The novels written after Hyoten are on display here. 乬Works that have become movies, plays and TV shows乭, 乬Shiokari Pass乭, 乬Living in the great outdoors.乭, 乬Christians in History乭, 乬Taking a good look at the Showa era乭, 乬Talking about a life of passion乭. A representative work of every genre of her writing is explained in great detail here.
5. Exhibition Room Five. Living together
This room tells the true story of Ayako Miura乫s daily life together with her husband Mitsuyo. In this room, you can learn about the closely intertwined life they lived together for 40 years since the day they were married. Also, there is an area where you can watch videos of Ayako Miura乫s numerous lectures.
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