Miura Ayako, who was born in the city of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, graduated from Asahikawa Women's High School in 1939. She started working as an elementary school teacher, but soon after Japan's defeat in World War II quit her job because she realized that the education she had given to the children had contributed to Japanese militarism. In June of 1946, Miura contracted tuberculosis. While she was fighting the disease in the hospital, she met a childhood friend named Maekawa Tadashi, who was a Christian. Miura was attracted to his personality, and through him to Christianity. Maekawa, however, succumbed to tuberculosis in 1949, prompting Miura to attempt suicide.

Three years after Maekawa's death, Miura converted to Christianity. In 1959 she married Miura Mitsuyo, who was also a Christian. In 1961, Miura opened a general store, which she closed in 1964 when her novel Hyōten (Freezing Point) won a writing contest sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun. This novel made her famous throughout Japan. In 1968 she published Shiokari tōge (Shiokari Pass), one of her most popular novels.

In 1971 Zoku hyōten (Freezing Point, Part 2) was published. In the 1975 novel Hosokawa Garasha fujin (The Wife of Hosokawa Garasha), Miura wrote about Christian women in the Edo period, when Christianity was strictly forbidden. In 1977 she published Deiryū chitai (Mud Flow Zone), and in 1981 she published an essay, Nanakamado no machi kara (From the Town of Mountain Ashes), which is often reprinted in Japanese textbooks for junior and senior high school students.

In 1992 Miura was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. She completed the novel Inochi aru kagiri (As Long as I Live) in 1995. In 1996 the effects of the medication Miura was taking prevented her from completing three novels that were then being serialized in several magazines. After a brief period of inactivity, however, she again started writing, continuing up to the time of her final illness.

• A Heart of Winter. Trans. Clyde Moneyhun and Mark Caprio. Singapore: OMF Press, 1991.
• Freezing Point . Trans. Hiromu Shimizu and John Terry. Wilmington, Delaware: Dawn Press, 1986.
• Hidden Ranges. Trans. Deborah Davidson. Wilmington, Delaware: Dawn Press, 1993.
• Shiokari Pass. Trans. Bill Fearnehough and Sheila Fearnehough. 1974. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1987.
• The Wind Is Howling. Trans. Valerie Griffiths. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1977. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978.

 

 

• Gabriel, Philip. "The Frozen Soul: Sin and Forgiveness in Miura Ayako's Freezing Point." Japan Forum 17.3 (2005): 407-429.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miura Ayako Literature Museum:  A Japanese-only page that describes the collections on display at the museum and offers a detailed biographical timeline together with a list of posthumous publications.

Welcome to the World of Miura Ayako:  Contains a profile of Miura, a partial listing of novels (along with some summaries and sample chapters in English), and a number of links. A page of quotations is promised for the future.