Abstract

*English synopsis and sample translation available.

-Winner of the 33rd Japan SF Award
- Nominated for the Naoki Prize


Yusuke Miyauchi’s Banjou no yoru comprises six stories in the form of long-form journalism, each centred on a different board game. The lives and times of players of go, shogi, checkers, mah-jong and the ancient Indian game of chaturanga are depicted in an eclectic, sometimes dark blend of fictional reportage and real history: from the Buddha’s son in ancient Kapilavastu, to go players in Japan during the Pacific War, to human vs. computer checkers games in America in the 90s. The stories portray geniuses whose gazes are fixed on something beyond what others see. Some undergo violence and suffering; some find companionship and fulfilment; others cannot escape unhappy lives. In Banjou no yoru, great ability often intersects with mental health conditions, and board games provide characters with a means of survival, and perhaps an escape from violence.

Author’s Information

Yusuke Miyauchi was born in Tokyo in 1979 and lived in New York until 1992. He graduated from Waseda University and spent time in India and Afghanistan before taking the professional mah-jong exam; he made it onto the waiting list but his turn never came, so he became a programmer. His short story ‘Banjou no yoru’ [Night on the board] was published in the anthology Genshoku no souzouryoku [Imagination in primary colours], marking Miyauchi’s debut. The Banjou no yoru collection was nominated for the Naoki Prize and won the Nihon SF Taisho Award. Miyauchi has received various other awards including the “Watakushi, tsumari nobody” award, the Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers, and the Yukio Mishima Prize. Ato wa no to nare yamato nadeshiko [The future will take care of itself, daughter of Japan], published in 2017, won best Japanese novel at the Seiun Awards and was Miyauchi’s third work to be nominated for the Naoki Prize.