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Yamazaki Toyoko was an acclaimed Japanese novelist. She was mostly famous for her Showa era based business, political, and social themed serial novels.



Yamazaki was born in Senba, Minami-ku (now part of Chuo-ku), Osaka, to a family of long-established kelp business called Oguraya Yamamoto. After graduating from Kyoto Women's University with Japanese literature in 1945, Yamazaki began working as a journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun cultural news desk under Yasushi Inoue, who became a major influence on her writings. She began writing novels during her time at Mainichi Shimbun and published her first story "Noren" in 1957, based on the experiences of her family's kelp business.



The following year, she won the Naoki Prize for her second novel "Hana Noren". She then resigned from Mainichi Shimbun and established her career as a novelist. Her earlier works are centered on and closely related to the customs of her native Osaka region, but later she switched her works onto a broader social and political issues of the period, for which she became synonymous with. Her notable works in chronological order of publication are as follow:



"Hana Noren" (published 1958)

- A story modelled on Yoshimoto Sei, a woman who was born into a rice trading family and later the founder of an entertainment agency, "Yoshimoto Kogyo".



"Shiroi Kyoto" (published 1963-65)

- A contrasting life of two doctors, former classmates and now both associate professors at a fictional University Hospital in Osaka.



"Karei-naru Ichizoku" (published 1973)

- A real-life based tragic story of an aristocratic family from Kobe and Osaka region.



"Fumo Chitai" (published 1973-78)

- A story based on Sejima Ryuzo, a wartime strategist turned businessman.



"Futatsu no Sokoku" (published 1983)

- A story derived from the biography of a Japanese American David Akira Itami who served in U.S. army during World War 2.



"Daichi no Ko" (published 1991)

- A story of Japanese orphans in China, for which she interviewed 300 orphans before novelizing the story.



"Shizumanu Taiyo" (published 1995-99)

- A story based on the Japan Airlines Flight 123 accident.



"Ume no Hito" (published 2005-09)

- A serial novel based on the life of fellow Mainichi Shimbun reporter Nishiyama Takichi and the secret agreements behind 1971 Okinawa Reversion Agreement (known as Nishiyama incident).

This novel later became her last completed literature piece.



Yamazaki received the Kikuchi Kan Prize in 1991 for "Daichi no Ko". She established the Yamazaki Toyoko Cultural Foundation in 1993 with the royalties from "Daichi no Ko" to provide financial support for the education of the children of those orphans who returned to Japan.



She died of respiratory failure on September 29, 2013, aged 89 while working on the serial novel called "Yakusoku no Umi", hence remains unfinished. Her literary works were, and still are remain popular, and adapted to films, TV movies and doramas.