Noriko Ibaragi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Noriko Ibaragi
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| Native name |
茨木のり子
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| Born | 宮崎のり子, 三浦のり子 (after marriage) 12 June 1926 Osaka |
| Died | 17 February 2006 |
| Occupation | Poet, Writer, Playwright, Children's Literature Writer, Essayist, Translator |
| Language | Japanese, Korean |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Notable works | Watashi ga ichiban kirei datta toki (わたしが一番きれいだったとき) |
| Notable awards | Yomiuri Prize |
| Spouse | Miura Yasunobu |
Noriko Ibaragi (茨木 のり子, Ibaragi Noriko) was a Japanese poet, playwright, essayist, children's literature writer, and translator. She is most well known for her poem, Watashi ga ichiban kirei datta toki (わたしが一番きれいだったとき, "When my beauty shone"), written twelve years after the Japanese defeat in WWII. In 1953, she co-founded the literary journal Kai ("Oars"). She began to learn Korean as a second language at the age of fifty, going on to publish her own translations of poetry by her Korean contemporaries.
Biography
Noriko Ibararagi was born in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture and spent her childhood in Nishio City, Aichi Prefecture. In 1943, she entered the Imperial Women's Pharmaceutical College (now Tōhō University) in Tokyo. During her years at the College, she lived through the turmoils of WWII, experiencing air raids and hunger. In 1945, at the age of 19, she heard the broadcast announcing Japanese defeat while working as a mobilized student in a Navy medical supplies factory, recounted in her best-known poem Watashi ga ichiban kirei datta toki, written twelve years later. She graduated from the College in September 1946.
After seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Imperial Theatre, Ibaragi decided to become a playwright. In 1946, she was nominated for a Yomiuri Prize (読売新聞戯曲第１回募集) for her first play, Tohotsumioyatachi (とほつみおやたち). In 1948, Ibaragi wrote children's stories Kai no ko puchikyū (貝の子プチキュー) and Gan no kurukoto (雁のくる頃), both broadcast on NHK radio.
In 1950, she married Miura Yasunobu, a physician, and moved to Tokorozawa in Saitama and began submitting her works to the Shigaku (詩学) magazine. Her poetry, Isamashī uta (いさましい歌) was selected for publication on the September volume in 1950.
In 1953, she co-founded the poetry journal Kai (Oars) with Hiroshi Kawasaki, another writer for Shigaku. Although the first volume of Kai only included works by Ibaragi and Kawasaki, they recruited luminaries Shuntarō Tanikawa, Yūjirō Funaoka, Hiroshi Yoshino, and Hiroshi Mizuo as contributors.
In 1976, at the age of fifty, Ibaragi decided to learn Korean as a second language. She was awarded a Yomiuri Prize for her translation of Korean poems in 1990.
Her poetry collection Yorikakarazu (倚りかからず) published in 1999 was featured on the 16 October edition of Asahi Shimbun, and sold a record breaking one hundred and fifty thousand copies.
Ibaragi died on 19 February 2006 from a brain hemorrhage. As she lived alone, she was discovered in her bed two days later. She had already prepared a will three months earlier - she had written out a farewell letter and had it printed, ready to send to some two hundred of her friends and correspondents.
