Eiki Matayoshi

Eiki Matayoshi (又吉栄喜, born 1947) is, along with Shun Medoruma (目取真俊), one of the most important contemporary writers from Okinawa, a southern prefecture of Japan.

His novels are always set in the Okinawa archipelague.

Among his first novels, Jōji ga shasatsu shita inoshishi (ジョージが射殺した猪 - "The Wild Boar that George Shot"), published in 1978, was very famous. The novel dealt with a very controversial issue. A soldier of the US occupation forces in Okinawa shot a local man, and during the trial he declared that he mistakenly took him for a wild boar. The novel is inspired by a true story. The US soldier was declared innocent, arousing a big debate among the locals.

Matayoshi became known outside Okinawa thanks to the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, won in 1995 with his novel Buta no mukui (The Pig's Retribution).^[1]

Some of his works are also translated in Western languages:

• 1976. Kānibaru tōgyū taikai (カーニバル闘牛大会 - English tr. "The Carnival Bullfight" - posted on 14.10.2009 in "Behold my Swarthy Face" blog [1]; tr. by Tom Kain);

• 1996. Buta no mukui (豚の報い - Italian tr.: La punizione del maiale. 2008. Nuoro: Il Maestrale; tr. by Luca Capponcelli and Costantino Pes);

• 1998. Kahō wa umi kara (果報は海から - English tr.: "Fortunes by the sea", 2000, in Molasky Michael e Rabson Steve, eds. Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press; tr. by David Fahy).

• 2002. Jinkotsu tenjikan (人骨展示間 - French tr.: Histoire d'un squelette. 2006. Arles: Philippe Picquier; tr. by Patrick Honnoré).

His novels also inspired two movies:

• 1998. Beat (ビート). Filmmaker: Miyamoto Amon (宮本亜門, 1958- ). Screened in 1998, at Venice Film Festival. Original novel: Naminoue no Maria (波の上のマリア - Maria from Naminoue, published in 1998).

• 1999. Buta no mukui. Filmmaker Sai Yōichi (崔洋一, 1949- ), screened in 1999 at Locarno International Film Festival (wins Don Quixote award). Original novel: Buta no mukui (The pig's retribution, published in 1996).

References

1. ^ "Okinawa Writers Excel in Literature" – The Okinawa Times 2000/7/21 (Retrieved on January 13, 2008)

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