Chiyo Uno

Chiyo Uno (宇野 千代) was a Japanese author and kimono designer. She was known for her contributions to Japanese fashion, film, and literature.

Early Years
Uno was born in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi. In 1915, she was fired from her job as a teacher's assistant for having an affair with a colleague. In 1919, she married her cousin, a banker named Fujimara Tadashi. Her initial literary success came in 1921 when she was awarded a prize for her short story, or Painted Face. After receiving the award, Uno left Tadashi and moved to Tokyo.

Like many young Japanese people of the 1920s, Uno was fascinated by American and European culture and dressing. In 1927, she was one of the first women in Japan to bob her hair like a flapper. Beyond hairstyles, Uno also began to pursue the life of a free-spirited woman. She wanted to be a, or "modern girl," and not be confined to just the role of supportive wife and mother. She became part of the Bohemian world of Tokyo, and had liaisons with other writers, poets, and painters.

Career
In 1933, Uno began publishing the serialized novel Confessions of Love (色ざんげ). The best seller brought her much fame. The novel details an artist and his various love affairs, and a suicide attempt with his mistress. The novel was based on the biography of Seiji Tōgō, an artist with whom Uno had a romantic relationship. Uno's Confessions of Love was applauded for her ability to write from the perspective of a man, which further added to the book's appeal.

Shortly after the success of Confessions of Love, Uno started a magazine called Sutairu (スタイル), or Style, in 1936. The magazine was the first in Japan to focus on foreign fashion. took up much of Uno's time through the following decades until its bankruptcy in 1959.

Uno continued to write for an audience of Japanese women, who found a sense of liberation in Uno's prose. Even if Uno's readers remained within conventional boundaries themselves, they could escape briefly through her stories of lovers and entanglements. Throughout her literary career, she received praise for her ability to write from both male and female perspectives.

Uno later became a successful kimono designer, and, with her assistant designer Tomiyo Hanazawa, staged the first kimono fashion show in the United States in 1957.

Later Years
Uno was recognized by the Emperor and assumed the honor of being one of Japan's oldest and most talented female writers. In 1983 she published the memoir I Will Go On Living, which was widely read and adapted for television. She was named a "person of cultural merit" in 1990.

She stated that the essence of her life was not to follow anyone else's rules and to have done as she pleased. Uno married multiple times with varying levels of success, as she found it difficult to remain with only one man. It was said that she would move to a new house every time a major affair or marriage ended.

She died in 1996 at the age of 98 due to pneumonia.

Works

 * Confessions of Love, 1933-1935
 * Ningyoshi Tenguya Kyukichi (The Puppet Master Tenguya Kyukichi), 1942
 * Ohan, 1957
 * Sasu (To Sting), 1964
 * Kaze no Oto (The Sound of the Wind), 1969
 * Kofuku (Blessings), 1970
 * The Story of a Single Woman, 1972
 * Mama no Hanashi (Mama-san's Story), 1976
 * Cheri ga Shina (Cherry is Dead), 1976
 * I Will Go On Living, 1983
 * Ippen Harukaze ga Fuitekita (Suddenly a Spring Wind), 1987

Awards and Honours

 * 1957, Noma Literary Prize