From Muse to Dandy to Guerrilla: Takeda Yuriko’s Photographic Eye

Abstract

The literary career of Takeda Yuriko (1925–93; hereafter referred to by her given name, Yuriko, to distinguish her from her husband and daughter with the same family name) took flight immediately after the death of her husband, famed novelist Takeda Taijun (1912–76; hereafter Taijun). In 1977 she published her first book, Fuji nikki (Diary [at the foot of Mount] Fuji), and for it received the seventeenth Tamura Toshiko Shō (Tamura Toshiko Prize).1 This auspicious start was soon followed by Inu ga hoshi mita: Roshia ryokō (Like a dog gazing at stars: A journey to Russia; 1979), for which she was awarded the thirty-first Yomiuri Bungaku Shō (Yomiuri Prize for Literature) for the best book of the year in the category of essay/travelogue. This achievement was followed by three more monographs, all of which, along with the aforementioned two titles, were subsequently reprinted in paperback and posthumously collected in the seven-volume Takeda Yuriko zensakuhin (Complete works by Takeda Yuriko; Chūō kōronsha, 1994–95). She remained active as a writer throughout her life, with her last monograph, Hibi zakki (Daily miscellany), coming out in 1992, the year before her death. There were more essays in periodicals, some of which are photo–text collaborations with her and Taijun’s daughter, Takeda Hana (b. 1951; hereafter Hana), a photographer who in 1990 won the prestigious Kimura Ihei