There will be no Yuri Network News today. Instead I want to tell you about my day. Because today I was able to make a pilgrimage to the Yoshiya Nobuko Memorial Museum.
Yoshiya Nobuko is the creator of Yaneura no Nishojo, Hana Monogatari (after which we named our Yuri Monogatari) and Wasurenagusa.
I have long considered her a grandmother of Yuri and an honored ancestor of a sort for myself. I was very excited to be able to make this trip.
Accompanied by my wife, Bruce, and Prof. James Welker of Kanagawa University, and his husband Jotaro, we made the trek down to Kamakura and from there, the Enoden to Yuigahama, a small station in a quiet residential area. A few minutes walk brought us to her home.
Set back from the road by a gate and walk up along the garden, the house was surrounded by well-tended, just slightly wild trees, lawn and tons of greenery.
With the screens open, it was very easy to imagine the two of them sitting there, enjoying the breeze flowing through the house.
There was a small display of her books and original furnishings in her study.
It was a lovely place, despite the lack of personal memorabilia. It doesn’t matter that we didn’t, as James joked, see her pluffy bed each with a picture of the other on her nightstand, but I still felt it was possible to imagine them smiling at each other and saying “You know what? This is our house!” as my wife are still wont to do. ^_^
I’m so glad I was able to make this visit. I owe a lot to Yoshiya-sensei, I appreciate the chance to thank her personally. ^_^ And thanks to James and Jotaro for a really wonderful afternoon!
I wish her works would be released in English. She’s a true inspiration who needs far more recognition for shaping an entire genre.
I agree with the above poster! It sounds like a lovely place, Erica. Thanks for telling us about in. Also, thanks to you, I got to learn about Yoshiya-sensei and her work. ^_^
::HUGS::
There’s definitely a warm glow coming from that picture!
Has any of her work come to the states, and if so, what?
None of Yoshiya-sensei’s work are available in English. Her executors have not given permission for that, for a number of reasons. Another good reason to learn Japanese!
Executors!?
What the hell happened!?
She got old, and she died. In 1973.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hana_monogatari
Executors as the people who execute one’s will after one’s death. Her family does not wish her “lesbian” novel to be among first of her works translated.
Oh! I thought you meant that she got executed.
Why is her family so stubborn on publishing the novel?
I explained that. They do not want her “lesbian” novel among the first wave of her works to be translated.
It feels like there were words left out when you wrote this.
Possibly, I typed it very quickly.