Michiko Ishimure
11 March 1927 – 10 February 2018 was a Japanese writer and activist. She won the 1973 Ramon Magsaysay Award, among the most prestigious awards in Asia, for publicizing writings about Minamata disease, which was extremely controversial at the time.
Michiko Ishimure
朝日新聞社 撮影者:平林出版写真部(特定不明) · 朝日新聞社『朝日ジャーナル』第9巻54号(1967)より · Public domain
- Name
- Michiko Ishimure
- Born
- 11 March 1927
- Birthplace
- Kawaura, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
- Died
- 10 February 2018 (aged 90)
- Place of death
- Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
- Field
- writer, activist, environmentalist, writing
- Nationality
- Japan · Empire of Japan
- Occupation
- novelist · poet · writer
- Fields
- poetry
- Honours
- Ramon Magsaysay Award · Murasaki Shikibu Prize · Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award · Hanatsubaki Award for Contemporary Poetry · Asahi Prize
- Languages
- Japanese
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q515473 · wikipedia · Michiko Ishimure
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Michiko Ishimure • Native Name — 石牟礼道子 • Born — 11 March 1927 • Birthplace — Kawaura, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan • Died — 10 February 2018 (aged 90) • Place of death — Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan • Field — writer, activist, environmentalist, writing • Works — Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow: Our Minamata Disease, Story of the Sea of Camellias, Lake of Heaven
Documentary record
Michiko Ishimure was a writer, born on 11 March 1927 in Kawaura, Japan and died on 10 February 2018 in Kumamoto, Japan. Both events are recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Select works
Select works
• Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow: Our Minamata Disease (1969) translated into English by Livia Monnet and into German by Ursula Graefe. • Story of the Sea of Camellias (1976) translated into English by Livia Monnet • Lake of Heaven (1997) translated into English by Bruce Allen. • Anima no tori (Birds of Spirit) (1999) • Shiranui: A Contemporary Noh Drama translated into English by Bruce Allen.
Identity
Identity
Michiko Ishimure is recorded as having received Ramon Magsaysay Award, Murasaki Shikibu Prize and Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award. Ishimure received Ramon Magsaysay Award, Murasaki Shikibu Prize, Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award, Hanatsubaki Award for Contemporary Poetry and Asahi Prize.
福智町図書館・歴史資料館「ふくちのち」。2階。
Asturio Cantabrio
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1927
Michiko Ishimure born at Kawaura.
2018
Michiko Ishimure died at Kumamoto.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Kawaura.
Birth place
Kumamoto.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Ethics of Care in Ishimure Michiko's Villages of the Gods, Affect, Emotion and Sensibility in Modern Japanese Literature, 2024
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2024
- Interview with Ishimure Michiko, Foodscapes of Contemporary Japanese Women Writers
Scholarly · Crossref registry
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q515473: Michiko Ishimure
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Michiko Ishimure”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Michiko Ishimure, revision 1343253513 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
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scholarly publication
Ethics of Care in Ishimure Michiko's Villages of the Gods, Affect, Emotion and Sensibility in Modern Japanese Literature, 2024Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Died at
1- KumamotoPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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