"The Dancing Girl of Izu" or , published in 1926, was the first work of literature by Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese author Yasunari Kawabata

Yasunari Kawabata

was a Japanese short story writer and novelist whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award...

 to achieve great popular and critical acclaim. Kawabata would win the Nobel Prize in Literature

Nobel Prize in Literature

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...

 in 1968. The short story was first translated into English by Edward Seidensticker

Edward Seidensticker

Edward George Seidensticker was a noted scholar and translator of Japanese literature. He was particularly known for his English version of The Tale of Genji , which is counted among the preferred modern translations...

 and published in an abridged form under the title, "The Izu Dancer," in The Atlantic Monthly

The Atlantic Monthly

The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...

in 1952. A complete English translation of the story was made by J. Martin Holman

J. Martin Holman

James Martin Holman, Jr. is a literary translator, professor, puppeteer, and puppet theater director. He received a BA in Japanese from Brigham Young University and did graduate work in Japanese literature at the University of California, Berkeley.Holman lived in Japan for more than ten years as a...

 and appeared in a collection of Kawabata's early literature published as The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories (published by Counterpoint Press, August 29, 1998, ISBN 1887178945).

Today, part of the story's name, odoriko

Odoriko

The is a limited express train service in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company , which runs between Tokyo and or in Shizuoka Prefecture.-Operations:...

("dancing girl") is used as the name of express trains to the Izu

Izu Peninsula

The is a large mountainous peninsula with deeply indented coasts to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific coast of the island of Honshū, Japan. Formerly the eponymous Izu Province, Izu peninsula is now a part of Shizuoka Prefecture...

 area (see External Link).

Film adaptations

The story has been filmed several times in Japan:

• Koi no hana saku Izu no odoriko (1933)
• The Dancing Girl of Izu 伊豆の踊子 Izu no odoriko (1954 film)
  Izu no odoriko (1954 film)
  is a 1954 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Yoshitaro Nomura.It is a film adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's story The Dancing Girl of Izu.- Cast :* Hibari Misora* Akira Ishihama* Azusa Yumi* Akihiko Katayama* Keiko Yukishiro* Shinichi Himori...
  
  
• Izu no odoriko (1963 film) - directed by Katsumi Nishikawa
  Katsumi Nishikawa
  was a Japanese film director most famous for his youth films . Graduating from Nihon University, he started out at the Shochiku studio in 1939 and directed his first film in 1952...
  
   and starring Sayuri Yoshinaga
• Izu no odoriko (1967 film)
• Izu no odoriko (1974 film) - directed by Katsumi Nishikawa
  Katsumi Nishikawa
  was a Japanese film director most famous for his youth films . Graduating from Nihon University, he started out at the Shochiku studio in 1939 and directed his first film in 1952...
  
   and starring Momoe Yamaguchi
  Momoe Yamaguchi
  is a former Japanese singer, actress, and idol whose career lasted from 1972 to 1980. In that time, she became one of the most notable singers in Japanese music, and an acclaimed actress. She withdrew from the entertainment business at the peak of her career to marry her frequent costar, fellow...
  
   and Tomokazu Miura
  Tomokazu Miura
  is a Japanese actor. Born January 28, 1952 in Enzan, Yamanashi, his real name is Miura Minoru . He attended Hino high school in Tokyo, and married actress and singer Momoe Yamaguchi in 1980...
  
  .

External links

• "Orphans", review of The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories, by Mark Morris, October 12, 1997, New York Times.
• "Odoriko trains in Izu", photographic images of "Odoriko" trains in Izu Peninsula; "Odoriko" means "Dancing Girl."