Minako Oba

Minako Ōba (大庭 みな子) was a Japanese author and social critic.

She was awarded the 1968 Akutagawa Prize for Sanbiki no kani (Three Crabs), and the 1982 Tanizaki Prize for Katachi mo naku (寂兮寥兮).

Ōba suffered a stroke in 1996 and died on May 24, 2007.

Selected works

 * Sanbiki no kani (Three Crabs), 1968.
 * Funakuimushi (ふなくい虫), Tokyo : Kodansha, 1970.
 * Yūreitachi no fukkatsusai, 1970
 * Sabita kotoba, 1971.
 * Shishu sabita kotoba (A Poetry Collection of Tarnished Words), 1971.
 * Tsuga no yume, 1971.
 * Uo no namida, 1971.
 * Kokyū o hiku tori, 1972.
 * Yasō no yume, 1973.
 * Aoi kitsune, Tokyo : Kodansha, 1975.
 * Garakuta hakubutsukan, 1975.
 * Yamauba no Bisho (The Smile of the Mountain Witch), 1976.
 * Urashimasō, 1977.
 * Aoi chiisana hanashi, 1978.
 * Samete miru yume, 1978.
 * Hāna to mushi no kioku, 1979.
 * Onna no danseiron, 1979.
 * Taidan sei to shite no onna, 1979.
 * Tankō, 1979.
 * Katachi mo naku (寂兮寥兮), Tokyo : Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1982.
 * Shima no kuni no shima (島の国の島), Tokyo : Ushio Shuppansha, 1982.
 * Kakeru otoko no yokogao (駈ける男の横顔), Tokyo : Chūō Kōronsha, 1984.
 * Mae mae katatsumuri (舞へ舞へ蝸牛), Tokyo : Fukutake Shoten, 1984.
 * Naku tori no (啼く鳥の), Tokyo : Kodansha, 1985.
 * Onna otoko inochi (女・男・いのち), Tokyo : Yomiuri Shinbunsha, 1985.
 * Onna (女), Tokyo : Sakuhinsha, 1987.
 * Manʾyōshu (万葉集), Tokyo : Kōdansha, 1989.
 * Kaoru ki no uta : haha to musume no ōfuku shokan (郁る樹の詩: 母と娘の往復書簡), Tokyo : Chūō Kōronsha, 1992.
 * Nihyakunen (二百年), Tokyo : Kodansha, 1993.
 * Yuki (雪), Tokyo : Fukutake Shoten, 1993.
 * Warabeuta mutan (わらべ唄夢譚), Tokyo : Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1995.

English translations

 * Tarnished Words: The Poetry of Oba Minako, translated by Janice Brown. EastBridge, Signature Books Series, 2005. ISBN 1-891936-38-7.
 * Of Birds Crying, translated by Michiko N. Wilson and Michael K. Wilson. Cornell East Asia Series, 2011.  ISBN 978-1-933947-30-3