- Kyoko Hayashi at J'Lit Books from Japan (in English)
- Synopsis of Human Experience over Time (Nagai jikan o kaketa ningen no keiken) at JLPP (Japanese Literature Publishing Project) (in English)
Kyōko Hayashi (林 京子, Hayashi Kyōko, 28 August 1930 – 19 February 2017) was a Japanese writer[1] associated with the Atomic Bomb Literature genre.[2]
Hayashi was born in Nagasaki and spent the years from 1931 to 1945 with her family in Shanghai. She returned to Nagasaki in 1945 and enrolled in Nagasaki Girls' High School, where she was mobilized in the Mitsubishi Munitions Factory. She was working at the factory when the atomic bomb destroyed Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.[3] Hayashi was seriously ill for two months, and suffered afterwards from fragile health.[4] She later studied nursing in a special course the Welfare Faculty for Women attached to the Nagasaki Medical School,[3] but left before graduation. She started to write in 1962.[4]
In 1967, her story Procession on a Cloudy Day (Kumoribi no kōshin) was published in Bungei Shuto.[5] She first drew wide attention in 1975 with an autobiographical story about the bombing, Ritual of Death (Matsuri no ba), which received that year's Akutagawa Prize.[3][4] Two Grave Markers (Futari No Bohyō), also based on her experiences in the bombing, was published that same year. Her works in the 1970s include a collection of twelve short stories titled Giyaman bīdoro ("Cut glass, blown glass"), containing The Empty Can (Aki kan) and Yellow Sand (Kousa), both first published in 1978.[4]
In 1980, Hayashi published her first full-length novel, Naki ga gotoki ("As if nothing had happened"), with a semi-autobiographical lead character. The Nagasaki theme continued through the 1980s with her collections Sangai no ie ("Home in the three worlds"), which won the Kawabata Prize,[2] and Michi ("The Path"). Her work Yasurakani ima wa nemuri tamae won the 1990 Tanizaki Prize.[6] Hayashi lived near Washington, D.C. from 1985 to 1988.[citation needed]
