Kaiko Memorial Day

What Is Kaiko Memorial Day?

December 9th is "Kaiko-ki," the memorial day for Takeshi Kaiko (1930-1989), one of the representative novelists of the Showa era. He died on December 9, 1989, of an esophageal tumor complicated by pneumonia, at the age of 58. The day is also called "Yuyu-ki."

From Akutagawa Prize Winner to Writer in the Field

Kaiko was born in Tennoji Ward, Osaka. After graduating from Osaka City University, he debuted in 1957 with the short story "Panic."

• Prize: in 1958 he won the 38th Akutagawa Prize for the short story "The Naked King"
• Early theme: the individual versus the organization in postwar industrial society
• Vietnam: he covered the Vietnam War, drawing on it for "Into a Black Sun" (1968) and "Darkness in Summer" (1971)
• Kikuchi Kan Prize: awarded the 29th prize in 1981 for establishing reportage literature with works such as "Vietnam War Diary"

Also an Essayist on Fishing and Food

Kaiko was widely read as an angler who fished around the world and as an essayist on food. The Takeshi Kaiko Memorial Museum stands in Chigasaki, Kanagawa, where he spent the last sixteen years of his life, displaying manuscripts and personal belongings. After his death the Kaiko Takeshi Prize was founded, later succeeded by Shueisha's Kaiko Takeshi Non-Fiction Prize.

Tips for Marking This Day

• Start with a short story such as "The Naked King" or "Panic"
• Read one of his food essays and take an idea for your year-end table
• Look up the Takeshi Kaiko Memorial Museum in Chigasaki
• Pair it with Soseki Memorial Day, also December 9th, and trace modern Japanese literature

Two Writers Share This Date

December 9th is also "Soseki-ki," the memorial day for Natsume Soseki. Two writers from different eras left the world on the same date -- and it is a good season for reading.