Home / A City of Writers
08 — LITERATURE
A Town Where Literature Is Born
In 1964, the winner of the Asahi Shimbun's 10-million-yen fiction prize turned out to be an unknown housewife who ran a general store in Asahikawa. The novel was Miura Ayako's "Freezing Point." This is also the town where Inoue Yasushi was born and where Oguma Hideo sharpened his pen.
Labels: Factdocumented Likelysupported by most sources Legendoral tradition Urban legendlocal lore and rumour
Miura Ayako — the shopkeeper who won 10 million yen
FactMiura Ayako was born in Asahikawa in 1922. From the age of 16 she spent seven years as an elementary school teacher, but Japan's defeat left her agonizing over what, exactly, she had been teaching the children, and in 1946 she left the classroom. She then spent 13 years convalescing from pulmonary tuberculosis and spinal caries, and was baptized in 1952.
In 1959 she married Miura Mitsuyo and opened a small general store in Asahikawa. Then in 1963, when the Asahi Shimbun newspaper launched a fiction contest with a 10-million-yen prize to mark its 85th anniversary, she wrote her manuscript night after night between minding the shop.
A defining moment: an unknown housewife wins
More than 700 manuscripts are said to have been submitted. In July 1964, the winner was announced: "Hyoten" ("Freezing Point") by Miura Ayako, a housewife from Asahikawa. It began serialization in the Asahi Shimbun on December 9, and when it came out as a book the following year, 1965, it instantly became a bestseller. Adapted into TV dramas and films, it set off a "Freezing Point boom."
The setting of "Freezing Point" is the Foreign Tree Species Arboretum in Kagura, Asahikawa. Planted in 1898 to test whether foreign trees could grow in Hokkaido's climate, it is a forest of towering eastern white pines, Norway spruces and more. In one corner of it, the Miura Ayako Memorial Literature Museum opened in June 1998, funded by a citizens' fundraising campaign.
Miura Ayako continued to live in Asahikawa, leaving many works including "Shiokari Pass" and "The Wind Is Howling" (Michi Ariki), before her death in 1999.
Look for this: from the Arboretum to the Biei River
Head deeper into the Arboretum and you'll come out onto the embankment of the Biei River. Walk it while recalling a key scene from "Freezing Point," and the atmosphere of the story feels suddenly close. In winter it's a snowy wood; in summer, a path dappled with sunlight.
Inoue Yasushi — a writer born in the division's officers' quarters
FactInoue Yasushi, known for "Shirobamba" and "The Roof Tile of Tempyo," was born on May 6, 1907, in the Seventh Division's official residences in Asahikawa, because his father was an army doctor with the division. The family left Asahikawa after about a year, so Inoue himself had almost no memories of the town.
Even so, late in life he was invited to the 1990 ceremony marking the centenary of Asahikawa's founding as a village, and spoke of Asahikawa as the place of his birth. Near his birthplace stands the Inoue Yasushi Memorial Hall, and a literary monument has been erected at 4-jo-dori 8-chome in the city.
Oguma Hideo — a poet forged in Asahikawa
FactOguma Hideo (1901–1940) was a poet and painter born in Otaru. As a young man he worked as a reporter for the Asahikawa Shimbun newspaper, writing in this town for about seven years. He later moved to Tokyo and became known for poetry full of humor and sharp satire, but died at 39.
Asahikawa established the Oguma Hideo Prize in his name, which has been awarded to outstanding collections of poetry.
"The house from 'Freezing Point' is in the Arboretum"
The novel is fiction. There's no building in the woods that served as the model for the Tsujiguchi family's home. That said, the layout of the woods and the river is exactly as in the story.
The literature museum was built by citizens
The Miura Ayako Memorial Literature Museum was founded mainly by local citizens, with donations from all over Japan.
Main sources: Miura Ayako Memorial Literature Museum / Asahikawa City Inoue Yasushi Memorial Hall / City of Asahikawa, materials on the "Oguma Hideo Prize" / City of Asahikawa, "Foreign Tree Species Arboretum"