Tetsu Yano

Tetsu Yano in 1964. (At the right-hand bottom, the spines of several books are visible. These are Shōnen Shōjo Sekai Bungaku Zenshū by Kodansha.).

Tetsu Yano (Japanese 矢野徹 Yano Tetsu; October 5, 1923 – October 13, 2004) was a Japanese translator and writer of science fiction, fantasy, adventure stories and young adult novels. He was a founder and promoter of the Japanese science fiction at the dawn of this genre in Japan.

Yano introduced the works of British and American science fiction writers to Japanese readers through almost half centuries from the late 1940s. He was also the first Japanese writer of the genre to visit the United States, in 1953. He took part in founding Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan (SFWJ, 日本SF作家クラブ) in 1963, and served as its president from 1978 to 1979.

Biography

Yano was born in 1923 at Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture. He entered the faculty of engineering, Chuo University and studied for three years. Then, he was drafted into the cavalry regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army, serving two years and two months as a tank crewman. After the war he graduated from the Chuō University and lived in Kobe, Hyogo prefecture. Yano found everything were burnt, the house and his collection of some hundreds of books.

Encounter with science fiction

While working as an amateur interpreter, Yano happened to find that American soldiers were throwing many books into the boiler to burn them, at a US military base in Kyoto. Yano asked these books to give him and tried to read them. This was Yano's encounter with science fiction.

He learned to read English and eventually began translating science fiction. The works of Robert A. Heinlein, Frederik Pohl, Desmond Bagley, and Frank Herbert were among the some 360 translations by him. He also wrote stories of his own, including The Legend of the Paper Spaceship, which first appeared in English translation in 1984 and has appeared in several collections. Some of his stories have been adapted into anime.

Yano died on October 13, 2004, from cancer of the large intestine. Although he made a partial recovery after an operation in November of the previous year, he relapsed. His funeral was held on October 16, 2004. The SFWJ gave the Special Award of Nihon SF Taisho Award for his contributions to Japanese science fiction.

Awards

Works

Novels

The Dagger of Kamui
The Legend of the Paper Spaceship

Essays

Translations

Young Adult fictions

Yano translated and published story for both young adult and general people.

Fantasy

Yano especially loved the stories by Robert Nathan.

Science Fiction

Thirillers and Adventures

English translated novel

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 少年少女世界文学全集 (The collection of the world literature for boys and girls). This is the monument, the famous and excellent collection of the World literature for Young Adult in 1950s. For Yano, this collection was very important.
  2. ↑ For instance, there are two translated books for Odd John by Olaf Stapledon, Esper-tō Monogatari and Odd John.
  1. ↑ Introduction Umineko site, Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  2. ↑ kotobank デジタル版 日本人名大辞典+Plus Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 Masao Azuma and Ran Ishidō eds. (2009), p.711.
  4. 1 2 Relayed people Net Museum Hyōgo Bungaku-kan Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  5. ↑ Yano (1981), pp.74-83.
  6. ↑ Yano (1981), pp.72-73.
  7. 1 2 (ja) SFWJ site Archived 2015-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ (ja) SFWJ: about
  9. ↑ (en) SFWJ-E site Archived 2018-03-28 at the Wayback Machine
  10. 1 2 S-F Magazine January 2005 issue, pp.36-37.
  11. ↑ Nathan, trd. by Tetsu Yano (1974), pp.181-184.
  12. ↑ Yano (1981), pp.53-54.
  13. ↑ (ja) SFWJ: Winners
  14. 1 2 3 4 prizesworld 「文学賞の世界」 Retrieved 26 July 2026.