Aya Kōda

Who was Aya Kōda?

Aya Kōda was a Japanese essayist and novelist. She was the second daughter of Meiji period novelist Kōda Rohan. Her daughter Tama Aoki and granddaughter Nao Aoki were also writers.

Kōda was born in Tokyo. At the age of five, she lost her mother, and later her younger sister and brother. She studied at the Tokyo Women's School. She married at age 24, but divorced after 10 years and returned with her daughter, Tama, to live with her father. During World War II, she helped secure her father's job as described in Tama Aoki's Koishikawa no Ie. Her first works, written when she was 43, were memoirs of life with her father; they include Chichi and Konna koto. Seen as the writings of a dutiful daughter, they achieved critical success.

Her subsequent short stories, novels, and essays explored women's lives, family, and traditional culture. They include the 1955 novel Nagareru, which was made into a popular movie, as well as essays such as Kakera and Mono Iwanu Issho no Tomo, and short stories including Hina and Kunsho. She received the Yomiuri Prize for Kuroi suso.