Today we have a special report! At my request, our Japanese Correspondent, Sasori took her and us to the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature for a special exhibit celebrating the 130th anniversary of Yoshiya Nobuko, a foundational writer for the Yuri genre. Her book Yaneura no Nishojo established many of the most common tropes of Yuri. Yoshiya-sensei also built a house in Kamakura (in Kanagawa) with her partner, Monma Chiyo, where they lived their lives out. That house is now a museum, which I visited.
So please give your attention to Sasori as we spend some time with Yoshiya-sensei’s life!
by Sasori, Okazu Staff Writer
It was time to take a trip to Kanagawa, Yokohama, to learn about origins of yuri and the “founder of the “S”(slang for sister/deep female friendship) relationship novel”, Yoshiya Nobuko. The exhibit. “Yoshiya Nobuko: The Origins of Sisterhood” was held from, 4/4-5/31, at the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature, the museum specializes in historical works from Japanese authors. This exhibit was a focus on her life’s work in novels and her history from (1896-1973). I did know a bit about Yoshiya’s yuri influences, thanks to sister/Catholic school yuri themes from series Marimite, Strawberry Panic, as well as Dear Brother and her being a pioneer of shoujo manga.
No pictures were allowed in the exhibit, but I was enchanted by all the preserved books and novels from the 1920’s and 30’s. There were also newspaper and activism articles, my favorites being about female political movements. I tried to scribble out a few memorable ones in my notebook!
The close friendship of women longing for other women, being the theme of many covers, as well as flowers, really reminded me of how modern yuri came to be today.
I also enjoyed spotting parts of Yoshiya’s Hana Monogatari, flower stories, lined up together. Her novel “Yellow Rose”, is one of the few from that series translated into English, and something I plan on reading to broaden my historical yuri knowledge.
As for the museum goers, it was quite busy for a weekday, and many patrons were older and some seemed to be historical scholars.
After the exhibit, there was a display of many Japanese novels influenced by her writings.
The museum is very Japanese text heavy, it is a literature museum after all, but if you are up for the challenge, be sure to stroll through their rose garden and stop by the museum!
Erica here: Thank you Sasori! One of the reasons I was particularly interested in this exhibit was, for the first time, a retrospective of Yoshiya-sensei’s work was acknowledging Monma Chiyo as her life partner. One of the items on display is a letter sent to Monma-san.
If, as you read this, you are interested in the items on exhibit – a few of which are shown on the Museum page linked above – you can purchase the exhibit catalog on Amazon JP. None of us love Amazon, but it was a lot easier than trying to get the museum a bank transfer (which is what they suggest… ^_^;)
Some of the items, like Yoshiya-sensei’s desk accouterments really make her feel like she just got up and took a walk, but will be back in a sec. If you’d like a glimpse into the life of the woman who is in large part responsible for so much of what we think of as “Yuri,” the catalog will be just that.
