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{{Short description|Japanese Buddhist nun and author (1922–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=NovemberMay 20212022}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Jakucho Setouchi
| image = Setouchi Jakucho.png
| caption = Setouchi in 2012
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|5|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Tokushima, Tokushima|Tokushima]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
| birth_name = Harumi Mitani
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|11|9|1922|5|15|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Kyoto]], Japan
| occupation = Writer
| genre = Novels
| movement =
| notableworks = ''Kashin'', ''Natsu no Owari'', ''Hana ni Toe'', ''The Tale of Genji''
| influences =
| influenced =
| native_name = 瀬戸内 寂聴
| native_name_lang = jp
}}
 
{{nihongo foot|'''Jakucho Setouchi'''|瀬戸内 寂聴|Setouchi Jakuchō|lead=yes|group=n}} (15 May 1922 – 9 November 2021; born {{nihongo foot|'''Harumi Mitani'''|三谷 晴美|Mitani Harumi|post=),|group=n}}, formerly known as {{nihongo foot|'''Harumi Setouchi'''|瀬戸内 晴美|Setouchi Harumi|post=,|group=n}},<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9eFckEQAMkC&pg=PA345 |title=Japanese Women Writers: A Bio-critical Sourcebook |last=Mulhern |first=Chieko Irie |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1994 |isbn=9780313254864 |pages=345}}</ref> was a Japanese [[bhikkuni|Buddhist nun]], writer, and activist. Setouchi wrote a best-selling translation of ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' and over 400 fictional [[biographical novel|biographical]] and historical novels.<ref name="WaPo obit">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Harrison |title=Jakucho Setouchi, Buddhist nun and best-selling Japanese author, dies at 99 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2021/11/29/jakucho-setouchi-dead/ |access-date=29 November 2021 |worknewspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=29 November 2021}}</ref><ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> In 1997, she was honoredhonoured as a [[Person of Cultural Merit]], and in 2006, she was awarded the [[Order of Culture]] of Japan.
 
== Biography ==
Setouchi was born Harumi Mitani on May 15, May 1922 in [[Tokushima, Tokushima|Tokushima]], [[Tokushima Prefecture]] to Toyokichi and Koharu Mitani.<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> Toyokichi was a [[cabinetry|cabinetmaker]] who made Buddhist and Shinto religious objects.<ref name="WaPo obit" /> In 1929, her family began using the surname Setouchi after her father was adopted by a family member.<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /><ref name="WaPo obit" />
 
Setouchi studied [[Japanese literature]] at [[Tokyo Woman's Christian University]] before her [[arranged marriage]] to scholar Yasushi Sakai in 1943.<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /><ref name="WaPo obit" /> She moved with her husband after the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] sent him to [[Beijing]], and gave birth to their daughter in 1944.<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> In 1945, her mother was killed in an [[Air raids on Japan|air raid]]<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> and a grandmother was also killed during the war.<ref name="WaPo obit" /> She returned to Japan in 1946, settled with family in Tokyo in 1947, and in 1948, left her husband and daughter for a relationship with another man.<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /><ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021">{{cite news |last1=Osaki |first1=Tomohiro |title=Jakucho Setouchi: A freewheeling nun who bucked conventional norms for women |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/11/14/national/jakucho-setouchi-freewheeling-nun-bucked-conventional-norms-women-dies-age-99/ |access-date=27 November 2021 |work=[[The Japan Times]] |date=14 November 14, 2021}}</ref>
 
In 1950, she divorced her husband and serialized her first novel in a magazine.<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> She continued to have sexual relationships, including affairs with married men, and some of her novels were semi-autobiographical.<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /><ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> In 1957, she won her first literary award for her novel "Qu Ailing, the Female College Student".<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /><ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> She then published ''Kashin'' ("Center of a Flower"),<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> which was criticized for the sexual content, and to which she responded, "The critics who say such things all must be impotent and their wives frigid."<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> Publishing her work was difficult for several years afterwards, and critics called her a "womb writer".<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021"/><ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" />
 
In 1957, she won her first literary award for her novel "Qu Ailing, the Female College Student".<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /><ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> She then published ''Kashin'' ("Center of a Flower"),<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> which was criticized for the sexual content, and to which she responded, "The critics who say such things all must be impotent and their wives frigid."<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> Publishing her work was difficult for several years afterwards, and critics called her a "womb writer".<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /><ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" />
She began to shift her novel writing focus to historical female writers and activists,<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> eventually including [[Kanoko Okamoto]], [[Toshiko Tamura]], [[Sugako Kanno]], [[Fumiko Kaneko]],<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /> and [[Itō Noe]].<ref name="Lowitz"/> In 1963, she was awarded The Women's Literature Prize (Joryu Bungaku Sho)<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> for her 1962 book ''Natsu no Owari'' ("The End of Summer"),<ref name="Ryan 1990">{{cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=Marleigh Grayer |title=Reviewed Work: The End of Summer by Harumi Setouchi, Janine Beichman |journal=[[World Literature Today]] |date=Autumn 1990 |volume=64 |issue=4 |page=702 |doi=10.2307/40147084 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40147084 |access-date=27 November 2021 |publisher=Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma |quote=Unable to fulfill the prescribed function of mother, the protaganist replaces child with lover. [...] [the novella and short story] are set against the failure of the vision of the Japanese empire.}}</ref> which became a best-seller.<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /><ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> In 1968, she published the essay ''Ai no Rinri'' ("The Ethics of Love").<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" />▼
 
▲She began to shift her novel writing focus to historical female writers and activists,<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> eventually including [[Kanoko Okamoto]], [[Toshiko Tamura]], [[Sugako Kanno]], [[Fumiko Kaneko]],<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /> and [[Itō Noe]].<ref name="Lowitz"/> In 1963, she was awarded The Women's Literature Prize (Joryu Bungaku Sho)<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> for her 1962 book ''Natsu no Owari'' ("The End of Summer"),<ref name="Ryan 1990">{{cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=Marleigh Grayer |title=Reviewed Work: The End of Summer by Harumi Setouchi, Janine Beichman |journal=[[World Literature Today]] |date=Autumn 1990 |volume=64 |issue=4 |page=702 |doi=10.2307/40147084 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40147084 |access-date=27 November 2021 |publisher=Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma |jstor=40147084 |quote=Unable to fulfillfulfil the prescribed function of mother, the protaganist replaces child with lover. [...] [the novella and short story] are set against the failure of the vision of the Japanese empire.}}</ref> which became a best-seller.<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /><ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> In 1968, she published the essay ''Ai no Rinri'' ("The Ethics of Love").<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" />
In 1973, Setouchi began training to become a [[Ordination_of_women#Buddhism|Buddhist nun]]<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> within the [[Tendai]] school of Buddhism,<ref name="Harding 2012" /> and received her name Jakuchō,<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> which means "silent, lonely listening."<ref name="Harding 2012">{{cite news |last1=Harding |first1=Christopher |title=Couched in kindness |url=http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/christopher-harding-psychoanalysis-buddhism/ |access-date=28 November 2021 |work=[[Aeon (digital magazine)|Aeon]] |date=November 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917200557/http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/christopher-harding-psychoanalysis-buddhism/ |archive-date=September 17, 2013}}</ref> From 1987 to 2005, she was the chief priestess at the Tendaiji temple in [[Iwate Prefecture]].<ref name="DWW 2007">{{cite book |editor1-last=Commire |editor1-first=Anne |editor2-last=Klezmer |editor2-first=Deborah |title=Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages (Vol. 2. )|date=2007 |publisher=Gale |page=1700 |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2588821268/GVRL?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=db4e81d0 |access-date=27 November 2021 |chapter=Setouchi, Jakucho (1922–)}}</ref> Setouchi was a pacifist and became an activist, including by participating in protests of the [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]] in 1991 and the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]]<ref name="WaPo obit" /> as well as anti-nuclear rallies in Fukushima [[Aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami|after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami]],<ref name="Yamaguchi 11-11-2021" /><ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> including an anti-nuclear [[hunger strike]] in 2012.<ref name="Mainichi 11-11-2021" /> She also opposed [[capital punishment]].<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /><ref name="Harding 2012" /> ▼
 
▲In 1973, Setouchi began training to become a [[Ordination_of_women#Buddhism|Buddhist nun]]<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> within the [[Tendai]] school of Buddhism,<ref name="Harding 2012" /> and received her name Jakuchō,<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> which means "silent, lonely listening."<ref name="Harding 2012">{{cite news |last1=Harding |first1=Christopher |title=Couched in kindness |url=http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/christopher-harding-psychoanalysis-buddhism/ |access-date=28 November 2021 |work=[[Aeon (digital magazine)|Aeon]] |date=November 19, November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917200557/http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/christopher-harding-psychoanalysis-buddhism/ |archive-date=September 17, September 2013}}</ref> From 1987 to 2005, she was the chief priestess at the Tendaiji temple in [[Iwate Prefecture]].<ref name="DWW 2007">{{cite book |editor1-last=Commire |editor1-first=Anne |editor2-last=Klezmer |editor2-first=Deborah |title=Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages (Vol. 2. )|date=2007 |publisher=Gale |page=1700 |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2588821268/GVRL?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=db4e81d0 |access-date=27 November 2021 |chapter=Setouchi, Jakucho (1922–)}}</ref> Setouchi was a pacifist and became an activist, including by participating in protests of the [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]] in 1991 and the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]]<ref name="WaPo obit" /> as well as anti-nuclear rallies in Fukushima [[Aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami|after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami]],<ref name="Yamaguchi 11-11-2021" /><ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> including an anti-nuclear [[hunger strike]] in 2012.<ref name="Mainichi 11-11-2021" /> She also opposed [[capital punishment]].<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /><ref name="Harding 2012" />
She received the [[Tanizaki Prize]] for her novel ''Hana ni Toe'' ("Ask the Flowers") in 1992,<ref name="DWW 2007" /> and was named a [[Person of Cultural Merit]] in 1997.<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> Her translation of ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' from [[Classical Japanese]] took six years to complete and was published in ten volumes in 1998.<ref name="Kristof 1999">{{cite news |last1=Kristof |first1=Nicholas D. |title=The Nun's Best Seller: 1,000-Year-Old Love Story |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/books/052899kyoto-genji.html |access-date=27 November 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 28, 1999}}</ref><ref name="Yamaguchi 11-11-2021">{{cite news |last1=Yamaguchi |first1=Mari |title=Japan's outspoken nun and author Jakucho Setouchi dies at 99 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/japans-outspoken-nun-author-jakucho-setouchi-dies-99-81105422 |access-date=27 November 2021 |work=[[ABC News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=November 11, 2021}}</ref> She considered Prince Genji to be a [[plot device]] for the stories of the women of the court, and used a contemporary version of Japanese for her translation.<ref name="Kristof 1999"/> The novel sold more than 2.1 million volumes by mid-1999.<ref name="Kristof 1999"/> After the book was published, she gave lectures and participated in discussion groups organized by her publisher for more than a year.<ref>{{cite news |title=Playboy of the eastern world; "The Tale of Genji" |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A190805669/BIC?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=38190f07 |access-date=27 November 2021 |work=[[The Economist]] |date=December 20, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Shoji 1999">{{cite news |last1=Shoji |first1=Kaori |title=Setouchi Jakucho Takes Japan Back 1,000 Years |url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/setouchi-jakucho-takes-japan-back-1-000-years/docview/316999516/se-2 |access-date=28 November 2021 |work=[[International Herald Tribune]] |date=23 January 1999}}</ref>
 
She received the Japanese[[Tanizaki Prize]] for her novel ''Hana ni Toe'' ("Ask the Flowers") in 1992,<ref name="DWW 2007" /> and was named a [[OrderPerson of CultureCultural Merit]] in 20061997.<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> SheHer alsotranslation wrote under theof ''[[penThe nameTale of Genji]]'' "Purple",from and[[Classical inJapanese]] 2008took revealedsix sheyears hadto writtencomplete aand [[cellwas phonepublished novel]]in titledten ''Tomorrow'svolumes Rainbow''in 1998.<ref name="Kristof 1999">{{cite news |last1=Kristof |first1=Nicholas D. |title=The textNun's Best Seller: 1,000-Year-Old bigLove thingStory |url=https://linkarchive.galenytimes.com/appswww.nytimes.com/doclibrary/A204577479books/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=ebsco&xid=69587d4a052899kyoto-genji.html |access-date=27 November 2021 |work=[[The IndependentNew York Times]] |date=July28 29,May 20091999}}</ref><ref name="Yamaguchi 11-11-2021" /><ref{{cite namenews |last1="OsakiYamaguchi 11|first1=Mari |title=Japan's outspoken nun and author Jakucho Setouchi dies at 99 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/japans-14outspoken-nun-author-jakucho-setouchi-dies-99-81105422 |access-date=27 November 2021" |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=11 November 2021}}</ref> InShe 2016,considered shePrince helpedGenji foundto thebe nonprofita Little[[plot Womendevice]] Project,for tothe supportstories youngof the women experiencingof abuse,the exploitation,court drugand addiction,used ora contemporary version of Japanese for her povertytranslation.<ref name="OsakiKristof 11-14-20211999" /> The novel sold more than 2.1 million volumes by mid-1999.<ref name="RichKristof 11-26-20211999" /> InAfter 2017the book was published, she publishedgave herlectures noveland ''Inochi''participated ("Life"),in anddiscussion thengroups continuedorganized to publishby her writingpublisher infor literarymore magazinesthan a year.<ref name="Mainichi 11-11-2021">{{cite news |title=JapanesePlayboy novelist,of Buddhistthe nuneastern Jakuchoworld; Setouchi"The diesTale atof 99Genji" |url=https://mainichilink.jpgale.com/englishapps/articlesdoc/20211111A190805669/p2g/00m/0et/040000cBIC?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=38190f07 |access-date=2827 November 2021 |worknewspaper=[[Mainichi Shimbun|The MainichiEconomist]] |date=November20 11,December 20212008}}</ref><ref name="YamaguchiShoji 11-111999">{{cite news |last1=Shoji |first1=Kaori |title=Setouchi Jakucho Takes Japan Back 1,000 Years |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/316999516 |access-date=28 November 2021" |work=[[International Herald Tribune]] |date=23 January 1999}}</ref>
 
She received the Japanese [[Order of Culture]] in 2006.<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" /> She also wrote under the [[pen name]] "Purple", and in 2008 revealed she had written a [[cell phone novel]] titled ''Tomorrow's Rainbow''.<ref>{{cite news |title=The text big thing |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A204577479/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=ebsco&xid=69587d4a |access-date=27 November 2021 |work=[[The Independent]] |date=29 July 2009}}</ref><ref name="Yamaguchi 11-11-2021" /><ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /> In 2016, she helped found the nonprofit Little Women Project to support young women experiencing abuse, exploitation, drug addiction, or poverty.<ref name="Osaki 11-14-2021" /><ref name="Rich 11-26-2021" /> In 2017, she published her novel ''Inochi'' ("Life"), and then continued to publish her writing in literary magazines.<ref name="Mainichi 11-11-2021">{{cite news |title=Japanese novelist, Buddhist nun Jakucho Setouchi dies at 99 |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211111/p2g/00m/0et/040000c |access-date=28 November 2021 |work=[[Mainichi Shimbun|The Mainichi]] |date=11 November 2021 |archive-date=11 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111054344/https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211111/p2g/00m/0et/040000c |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Yamaguchi 11-11-2021" />
At the time of her death, her home temple was in the [[Kyoto]] Sagano area.<ref name="Mainichi 11-11-2021" /> Setouchi died of heart failure in [[Kyoto]], Japan, on 9 November 2021, at the age of 99.<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021">{{cite news |last1=Rich |first1=Motoko |last2=Inoue |first2=Makiko |title=Jakucho Setouchi, 99, Dies; Buddhist Priest Wrote of Sex and Love |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/world/asia/jakucho-setouchi-dead.html |access-date=27 November 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 26, 2021}}</ref>▼
 
▲At the time of her death, her home temple was in the [[Kyoto]] Sagano area.<ref name="Mainichi 11-11-2021" /> Setouchi died of heart failure in [[Kyoto]], Japan, on 9 November 2021, at the age of 99.<ref name="Rich 11-26-2021">{{cite news |last1=Rich |first1=Motoko |last2=Inoue |first2=Makiko |title=Jakucho Setouchi, 99, Dies; Buddhist Priest Wrote of Sex and Love |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/world/asia/jakucho-setouchi-dead.html |access-date=27 November 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=26 November 26, 2021}}</ref>
 
==Works==
Line 43 ⟶ 48:
* ''Kiji'' ("Pheasant") (1963) translated by Robert Huey in {{ISBN|978-4-77002-976-8}}
* ''Hana ni toe'' ("Ask the Flowers") (1992)
* ''Beauty in Disarray'' (1993), translated by Sanford Goldstein and Kazuji Ninomiya<ref name="Lowitz">{{cite journal |last1=Lowitz |first1=Leza |title=Reviewed Work: Beauty in Disarray by Harumi Setouchi, Sanford Goldstein, Kazuji Ninomiya |journal=[[Mānoa (journal)|Mānoa]] |date=Summer 1995 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=270-271270–271 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4229210 |access-date=27 November 2021 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|jstor=4229210 }}</ref> {{ISBN|978-0-80483-322-6}}
* ''The Tale of Genji'' (1998)
* ''Basho'' ("Places") (2001)
 
==HonorsHonours and awards==
* 1957 Shinchosha Coterie Magazine Award{{cn|date=November 2021}} for ''Joshidaisei Chui Airin''
* 1963 Women's Literature Prize (Joryu Bungaku Sho) for ''Natsu no Owari''<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021" />
* 1992 [[Tanizaki Prize]] for ''Hana ni Toe''
* 1997 [[Person of Cultural Merit]]<ref name="Jiji 11-11-2021">{{cite news |title=(Update) Japanese Writer Jakucho Setouchi Dies at 99 |url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/update-japanese-writer-jakucho-setouchi-dies-at/docview/2596086590/se-2 |access-date=27 November 2021 |agency=[[Jiji Press|Jiji Press English News Service]] |date=November 11, November 2021}}</ref>
* 2001 [[Noma Prize]] in literature for ''Basho'' {{cn|date=May 2019}}
* 2006 [[Order of Culture]] of Japan
* 2006 [[Nonino#Winners|International Nonino Prize]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Harumi Setouchi |url=https://premio.grappanonino.it/en/winner/harumi-setouchi/ |website=Premio Nonino |access-date=28 November 2021}}</ref>
 
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=n}}
 
==References==
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