A Step Beyond: Nun writes romance book, on cellphone
Wow! A Buddhist nun wrote a romance book. On a cellphone! And she’s 86!!
Read on!
So, yeah, here’s this Buddhist nun and at the age of 86, apparently she wrote her most recent novel in installments as a cellphone novel. The nun, Jakucho Seouchi, is an award-winning translator of a thousand-year-old epic romance called The Tale of Genji.
“… she gradually built up a literary reputation, winning the stamp of respectability in the form of an award from Emperor Akihito in 2006 after she translated Genji into modern Japanese, which brought the classic to a wider audience.”
It seems that Seouchi’s life itself reads a bit like a romance novel itself, with illicit love affairs of her own until taking her vows in ‘73.
“The novelist-turned-nun herself led a colourful life until she took her vows in 1973. She left her husband and child after starting an affair with a younger man, and later had a lengthy affair with a married man.”
Apparently cellphone novels are quite popular in Japan.
“The Wild Strawberry website, where Setouchi started writing her latest novel in May, has an average of 500 000 daily users, Shigeru Matsushima of Starts Publishing Corporation said.”
The oroginal article by Naoto Okamura goes on to tell more about the content of Seouchi’s novel, and also informs us that she states that this was a “one-shot-deal”. She’s not interested in penning another cellphone novel.
To read the original article, click below.
Tags: japaneselessons, japanese language