Aya Kōda: Google doodle on Japanese novelist, essayist on her 116th birthday

Happy Birthday Aya Kōda!!!

Google today celebrates the 116^th birthday of Aya Kōda, the famous Japanese novelist, essayist and feminist. She is widely revered as one of the most luminary Japanese authors of her time.

Aya Kōda was born on September 1, 1904 in Tokyo. She was the second daughter of Meiji period novelist Kōda Rohan. At the age of five, she lost her mother, and later her younger sister and brother.

Aya Kōda studied at the Tokyo Women's School. She married at age 24, but divorced after 10 years and returned with her daughter, Tama, to live with her father. She commenced her writing career at her age of 43 with an essay about him for a literary journal.

Aya Kōda’s first works (at her 43 age) were memoirs of life with her father; they include Chichi (My Father) and Konna koto (Such an affair). Seen as the writings of a dutiful daughter, they achieved critical success.

Aya Kōda refined her captivating style in the 1940s and 50s through a series of similarly autobiographical essays that chronicled her life with the eccentric Rohan. Despite her unexpected literary success, she stopped writing for several months to work as a maid at a geisha house. Her experience among the kimono-clad women there inspired her 1955 debut novel Nagareru (Flowing), which is cited as a critical turning point in her career.

Nagareru (Flowing) of Aya Kōda was also made into a popular movie. Her essays include Kakera (Fragments) and Mono Iwanu Issho no Tomo (A Friend for Life), and short stories include Hina (Dolls for a Special Day) and Kunsho (The Medal). She received the Yomiuri Prize for Kuroi suso.

In the background of today’s goodle artwork is the Horinji Temple found in Japan’s Nara prefecture. The Kōda family had strong ties to pagodas, and when a fire caused by lightning burnt down the original Horinji Temple in 1944, Aya Kōda raised money that helped fund its 1970s reconstruction. She went on to produce a prolific body of work, much of which can be found in her 23-volume, career-spanning collection published from 1994-97.

Aya Kōda died on October 31, 1990 at the age of 86. Google today dedicates a beautiful doodle to the popular famous Japanese novelist, essayist and feminist.

Also Read: Barbara Hepworth – Google doodle on renowned English artist & sculptor