Author · 1889–1939

岡本かの子Okamoto Kanoko · おかもと かのこ

Okamoto Kanoko was a Tokyo-born writer who first became known as a tanka poet in the circle of Yosano Akiko. She was also a serious student of Buddhism and wrote and lectured on it. She was married to the cartoonist Okamoto Ippei, and their son was the artist Okamoto Tarō. She turned to fiction only in the last years of her life, and in a short burst of activity she produced the works she is best remembered for, including 'Rōgishō' (老妓抄) and 'Boshi jojō' (母子叙情). Her prose is known for its rich, sensuous imagery and its interest in desire, vitality and the bond between mother and child.

鮨 — The Sushi Shop Below the Slope

N2 13,153 characters

Okamoto Kanoko's 鮨 is a quiet, character-driven story set in a small sushi shop, Fukuzushi, in a hilly Tokyo neighbourhood of slopes and cliffs where the downtown and uptown districts meet. Tomoyo, the owners' schoolgirl daughter, waits on…