Oldest winner of Japan`s top new writer prize

In a movie about the Sengoku Period, or the Warring States Period in Japan, a samurai is murdered by a sword. The government questions his widow, the bandit who raped her, and a lumberjack who witnessed the crime but each tells a different story. The bandit says the man died after a fair dual. The widow says she fainted after her husband gave her a hateful look for losing her virginity and later found him dead. The lumberjack says the samurai accidentally stabbed himself with his own sword. The case becomes a mystery with the appearance of a shaman who delivers the voice of the dead samurai that says he killed himself because he felt betrayed by his wife. The classic Akira Kurosawa film "Rashomon" shows truth can be different from person to person and unveils the selfishness of people who want to justify themselves.

Winning the Golden Lion award in the 1951 Venice Film Festival, "Rashomon" introduced westerners to the world of Japanese cinema. The original story was written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927), who died at 35. As a pioneer of modern Japanese literature, he was a prodigy who released his first novel while an English literature major at the prestigious University of Tokyo. He left 150 works produced over a decade before he committed suicide over "groundless anxiety." His novels, which are sophisticatedly decorated psychological dramas based on old stories and classics, drew attention not just in Japan but also in other countries.

The Akutagawa Prize was created in 1935 to honor him. As Japan`s highest literary award given to the best new writer, the honor is given twice a year in January and July. Recipients of the award include many famous writers such has Kenzaburo Oe, a Nobel laureate, and Ryu Murakami, a Japanese writer famous in Korea. Ethic Korean writers in Japan such as Lee Hoi-seong (1972), the late Lee Yang-ji (1989), Yoo Mi-ri (1997), and Hyeon Wol (2000) also received the award. Shintaro Ishihara, who is considered Japan`s most right-wing politician, also earned the honor for his novel “Season of the Sun” in 1956.

Natsuko Kuroda, 75, is the oldest winner of the Akutagawa Prize, winning for her experimental novel “ab Sango.” The judges said that regardless of her age, her book was "very fresh and great.” Kuroda graduated from Waseda University and kept writing while a teacher of Japanese and an office worker. She began to seriously writing a novel after her retirement. Hopefully, Korea can produce writers like her who gain literary fame in the silver years of their lives.

Editorial Writer Koh Mi-seok (mskoh119@donga.com)