Seiko Tanabe

Seiko Tanabe (田辺 聖子, Tanabe Seiko, 27 March 1928 – 6 June 2019) was a Japanese author. She graduated from the Department of Japanese Literature of Shōin Joshi Senmon Gakkō (now Osaka Shoin Women's University). Author of numerous novels, she won the Akutagawa Prize, Yomiuri Prize, and Asahi Prize, and received the Order of Culture for her contributions to literature. The honorific nicknamed the L. M. Montgomery of Japan after her death in 2019. Tanabe was born on 27 March 1928. Her father was a photographer and operated a photography studio. She was familiar with the Japanese classic literatures since her young days. The cultures and tradition of her birthplace, Osaka, largely affected her life and literature.

After World War II, she engaged in the coterie activities while working in a company. Her novel Hanagari (花狩) in this period was nominated in the literature competition and adopted as a radio drama. In 1956, she won the Osaka Citizen Award for literature for her story Niji (虹). After that she became a professional writer.

In 1964, she won the 50th Akutagawa Prize for her novel Sentimental Journey (感傷旅行, Kanshō Ryokō). In the following years, she wrote and published a wide range of literary works, such as novels of love romance, biographies, many essays of various themes including Japanese classic literature, translations and adaptations of the classic works of Japan such as the Tale of Genji and Makura no Sōshi.

She married Sumio Kawano (川野純夫) who had been a husband of her literary friend Shōko Kawano (川野彰子). After the death of Shōko, Tanabe married Kawano as a second wife in 1966, and lived with him until his death in 2002, for 36 years. They lived in Osaka, but in 1976, they moved to Itami city in Hyōgo Prefecture.

Tanabe received various literary awards. In 2000, she became a Person of Cultural Merit and then, she received Order of Culture for her literary contributions of Japanese culture in 2008. Her literary works had unique characteristics which reflected the cultures of Osaka and its dialect. She created successful love romances using Osaka dialect, which is one of Kansai dialect.

Tanabe died by ascending cholangitis on 6 June 2019 at a hospital in Kōbe, Hyōgo.