Toyoko Yamasaki ( , real name Sugimoto Toyoko; 3 November 1924 29 September 2013) was a Japanese novelist.
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A native of Osaka, Yamasaki worked as a journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun from 1945 to 1959 after graduating from Kyoto Women's University in Japanese literature. She published her first story, Noren (1957), a story of a kelp trader, based on the experiences of her family's business. The following year, she won the Naoki Prize for her second novel Hana Noren, the story about the founder of an entertainment group. A major influence on her writings of that period was Yasushi Inoue, who was deputy head of the Mainichi Shimbun's cultural news desk.
Yamasaki wrote some stories based on actual events. For example, Futatsu no Sokoku is derived from the biography of a Japanese American David Akira Itami, and Shizumanu Taiyō is based on the Japan Airlines Flight 123 accident. Several works of hers were featured in films and television dramas.
Set in the merchant district of Osaka in the mid-1920s to 1940s, Bonchi is the story of Kikuji, the scion of the Kawachiya family, owners of a profitable and prestigious manufacturing firm. As the only male child in the family in three generations, Kikuji is under the thumb of his grandmother Kino and his mother Sei, and even after his father dies and he becomes head of the firm, they continue to rule his personal life. The women arrange a marriage for Kikuji and, once a child is born of the marriage, they arrange the divorce; subsequently, they take complete control over the raising of Kikuji's son, making him as pampered and spoiled as they are. Kikuji understands that he can never again bring a wife into the household and he instead takes several mistresses: Ponta, the money-hoarding geisha; Ikuko, the surrogate wife; O-Fuku, a teahouse hostess; Hiroko, the barfly; and Korin, the geisha in training. His reputation rises with each additional mistress (as this was seen as a sign of wealth and influence), but Kino and Sei continue to meddle in his personal life, and even his choice of mistresses is subject to their interference. Bonchi is half social commentary and half soap opera.
