Tomiko Miyao

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Tomiko Miyao (宮尾 登美子; April 13, 1926 – December 30, 2014) was a Japanese novelist known for historical fiction. Many of her books were turned into TV dramas and films, including Onimasa, Atsuhime, and Yoshitsune.

She was born in Kochi, Japan. She left high school in 1943 to escape her father, a gambler who worked as an agent for prostitutes. She moved to a new town, worked as a substitute teacher, and in 1944 married Kaoru Maeda, a fellow teacher. They had a daughter and briefly lived in Manchuria. After World War II, they were in an internment camp until 1946, then returned to Japan and lived with her husband’s family in Kochi.

Miyao’s writing gained attention in 1962 when her short story "Ren" won the Fujin Kōron prize for new women writers. She moved to Tokyo in 1966 to work as a magazine editor and continued writing for women’s magazines. She won the Osamu Dazai Prize in 1974. Although she hated her father’s profession, she wrote about it in "Kantsubaki" and won the Women’s Literature Prize in 1977. She also won the Naoki Prize in 1978 for "Ichigen no koto," followed by other awards such as the Kikuchi Kan Prize and the Elan d'or. In 2008 she was named a Person of Cultural Merit.

Miyao died on December 30, 2014. Her novels often focus on women facing hardship, written with warmth and understanding.