Hanmura Ryō
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of Japanese sf author Heitarō Kinō (1933-2002), often also romanized as Ryō Hammura. A sometime cabaret bartender and advertising executive, he drifted into an authorial career with "Shōkaku" ["Harvest"] (March 1963 S-F Magazine), which won a consolation prize in a new authors competition run by the publisher Hayakawa Shobō.
Running throughout his oeuvre is a vigorous mistrust of authority and the establishment, particularly the collusion of big business in Pollution and consumer deception. His Seiun Award-winning Ishi no Ketsumyaku ["Blood Ties to a Stone"] (1971), suggests that folktales of Vampires and Werewolves are garbled references to Immortality-seeking Secret Masters, and that the vampiric craving for blood is the result of a virus, transmitted through Sex. The end-stage of the disease puts the host into a petrified "chrysalis" state, emerging after several centuries as an immortal, leading to intrigues among wealthy modern individuals who wish to acquire the infection, conceal it, and then ensure their safety during the chrysalis stage. Similar Paranoia can be found in Hanmura's Musubiyama Hiroku ["Secret Chronicle of Mount Musubi"] (1973), which posits a secretive clan with limited ESP, whose members appear as background figures at numerous key events in the history of Japan. Another variant on the same theme can be discerned in his multi-part Yōseiden ["Spirit Chronicle"] series (1975-80, 1995), in which disembodied Aliens possess a series of hosts in seventeenth-century Japan, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake. This theme reached a controversial apogee in 1978, when the magazine serialization of his Kokū no Ō no Hihō ["Treasure of the Void's King"] was suspended over perceived allusions to the reigning Emperor.
Hanmura was adept at appealing to a readership of businessmen, with samurai dramas [not included in the Checklist], mystery stories set in the Tokyo district of Shinjuku, and numerous bar-room anthologies. Several works repackage the tropes of romance for a male audience, including the non-sf series Club 88, which collated romances, mysteries and tragedies among the clientele of the titular Tokyo tavern (see Club Story). Other notable works include Makyō Satsushin Jiken ["Incident of the Murdered God in the Haunts of Wicked Men"] (1981), a murder mystery dealing with psychic powers among Afghan rebels. Hanmura also worked in the genre of Heroic Fantasy, with his Hiunjo Densetsu ["Legends of the Flying Castle"] sequence. His most ambitious work was the unfinished series Taiyō no Sekai ["World of the Sun"], projected as an eighty-volume chronicle spanning a two-thousand-year history of the lost continent (see Lost Worlds) of Mu, an oriental analogue of Atlantis; compare to the even longer-running epic of Kaoru Kurimoto. By the time of Hanmura's death, only eighteen titles had appeared, presenting the antediluvian world as a battleground between disinherited princes and psychic aristocrats.
2030-nen Tohoku Jichiku ["The North Japan Autonomous Region in the Year 2030"] (1992) is an experiment in Futures Studies modelled on that of the Ecotopia (1974 American Review #19 as "First Days in Ecotopia"; exp 1975) of Ernest Callenbach, positing a Utopia of privileged Japanese, dwelling within an enclave that keeps out a country plagued with Overpopulation and food shortages. Later works, such as the prequel Kankagawa Densetsu ["Legends of Cold River"] (1996), transformed the former standalone into part of a Future History of a balkanized Japan. Hanmura's best-known book, however, is the Timeslip novel Sengoku Jieitai ["Civil War Self-Defence Force"] (1974), not for its dramatic merit, but for its role as the source for the movie Sengoku Jieitai (1981).
Adaptations of his work into other media include Manga versions of Fukashoku Ryōiki ["Domain of the Untouchables"] (1974; graph 1984) and Sengoku Jieitai (graph 1998) by Setsu Tanabe. The film Shinjuku Baka Monogatari ["Silly Tales of Shinjuku"] (1977) was based on Hanmura's book of the same name, and several television dramas were based on his non-sf samurai detective novels. Hanmura also wrote scripts for the early Anime serials Eightman (1963) and Super Jetter (1965).
Hanmura's standing has faded since his death. In the 1980s, he was listed by John Apostolou alongside Shini'ichi Hoshi and Sakyo Komatsu as one of the Japanese "Big Three", occupying a position that has since been generally conceded to Yasutaka Tsutsui. Very little of his fiction has made it into the English language, although two of his short works appear in the John Apostolou and Martin H Greenberg anthology The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories (anth 1989). "Cardboard Box" (1974 venue unknown; trans David Lewis 1980) is an admirable evocation of his talent, and is an Absurdist SF autobiography of the titular container, from its creation on a factory conveyor belt, through its lifetime as a receptacle for various items. Eventually, the box is blown into a lake, where it exalts in Zen-like Transcendence, at last entirely filled, and disintegrating with such fullness. [JonC]
Heitarō Kinō
born Tokyo: 27 October 1933
died 4 March 2002
works (selected)
series
Akukan Yōsai
- Akūkan Yōsai ["Warp Space Fortress"] (Tokyo: Hayakawa Shobō, 1974) [Akukan Yōsai: binding unknown/]
- Akūkan Yōsai no Gyakushū ["Counter-Attack of the Warp Space Fortress"] (Tokyo: Hayakawa Shobō, 1975) [Akukan Yōsai: binding unknown/]
Yōseiden
- Kidō ["Spiritualism"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1975) [Yōseiden: pb/nonpictorial]
- Gedō ["Heresy"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1975) [Yōseiden: pb/nonpictorial]
- Shintō ["Animism"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1976) [Yōseiden: pb/nonpictorial]
- Ōdō ["Ecliptic"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1975-1980, 1995) [Yōseiden: pb/nonpictorial]
- Tendō ["Svarga"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1975-1980, 1995) [Yōseiden: pb/nonpictorial]
- Nindō ["Humanism"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1980) [Yōseiden: pb/nonpictorial]
- Madō ["Demonism"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1995) [Yōseiden: pb/nonpictorial]
Taiyō no Sekai
- Seisōseiji ["Sacred Twins"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1980) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Risō no Tairiku ["The Ideal Continent"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1981) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Hibune no Mure ["The Flock of Flying Ships"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1981) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Kamigami no Tōrai ["Advent of the Gods"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1980) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Ten to Chi no Okite ["The Laws of Heaven and Earth"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1982) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Eiyū no Kikan ["The Hero's Homecoming"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1982) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Shinseiki ["Book of Holy Conquest"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1982) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Akuma no Tanjō ["Birth of the Devil"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1982) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Zoku Shinseiki ["Latter Book of Holy Conquest"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1982) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Ōgon no Ko ["Golden Lake"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1983) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Ōchō Shoki ["Founding of a Dynasty"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1983) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Reikai no Shihaisha ["Ruler of the Spirit World"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1984) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Ōji no Koe ["Voice of the Land"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1985) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Gōzoku no Asa ["Morning of the Clan"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1985) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Kōryū to Funsō ["Exchange and Conflict"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1986) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Zoku Kōryū to Funsō ["Further Exchange and Conflict"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1986) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Hishō no Teikoku ["The Flying Empire"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1986) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
- Ebarezaru Mono ["The Chosen One"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1989) [Taiyō no Sekai: pb/Hiroshi Noda]
Club 88
- Hachijūhachi Yoru Monogatari ["Stories for 88 Nights"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1984) [coll: Club 88: binding unknown/]
- Tabi no Josō ["Prelude to a Journey"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1988) [coll: presumed rerelease of the above, split into two volumes: Club 88: binding unknown/]
- Haru Hanayakani ["Florid Spring"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1988) [coll: presumed rerelease of the above, split into two volumes: Club 88: binding unknown/]
- Zoku Hachijūhachi Yoru Monogatari ["More Stories for 88 Nights"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1986) [coll: Club 88: binding unknown/]
- Yume no Hajimari ["The Dream's Beginning"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1988) [coll: presumed rerelease of the above, split into two volumes: Club 88: binding unknown/]
- Kaze no Ashita ["Tomorrow's Winds"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1988) [coll: presumed rerelease of the above, split into two volumes: Club 88: binding unknown/]
Hiunjo Densetsu
- Kojiki ["Chronicle of the Orphan"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1995) [Hiunjo Densetsu: binding unknown/]
- Joshinki ["Chronicle of the Goddess"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1995) [Hiunjo Densetsu: binding unknown/]
- Tōsaiki ["Chronicle of East and West"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1996) [Hiunjo Densetsu: binding unknown/]
individual titles
- Ishi no Ketsumyaku ["Blood Ties to a Stone"] (Tokyo: Hayakawa Shobō, 1971) [binding unknown/]
- Oyone Hirakichi Tokiana Michiyuki (Tokyo: Hayakawa Shobō, 1971) [binding unknown/]
- Hikkakatta Haru ["Deceptive Spring"] (Tokyo: Freberu-kan, 1972) [binding unknown/]
- Gunka no Hibiki ["Footfalls of Jackboots"] (Tokyo: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha, 1972) [binding unknown/]
- Musubiyama Hiroku ["Secret Chronicle of Mount Musubi"] (Tokyo: Hayakawa Shobō, 1973) [binding unknown/]
- Ōgon Densetsu ["Golden Legend"] (Tokyo: Shōdensha, 1973) [binding unknown/]
- Eiyū Densetsu ["Heroic Legend"] (Tokyo: Shōdensha, 1973) [binding unknown/]
- Waga Furusato wa Kōsen no Kuni ["My Homeland is Hades"] (Tokyo: Hayakawa Shobō, 1974) [binding unknown/]
- Yami no Naka no Keizu ["Pedigree in the Darkness"] (Tokyo: Hayakawa Shobō, 1974) [binding unknown/]
- Sengoku Jieitai ["Civil War Self-Defence Force"] (Tokyo: Hayakawa Shobō, 1974) [binding unknown/]
- Fukashoku Ryōiki ["Domain of the Untouchables"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1974) [binding unknown/]
- Otoko Asobi ["Man-Play"] (Tokyo: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha, 1974) [binding unknown/]
- Heike Densetsu ["Legends of the House of Taira"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1974) [binding unknown/]
- Yume no Soto kara Kita Otoko ["The Man Who Came from the Depths of a Dream"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1975) [binding unknown/]
- Ame Yadori ["Shelter from the Rain"] (Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1975) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Nagameseshima ["Prospect Island"] (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten, 1975) [binding unknown/]
- Kaiten Tobira ["Transfer Door"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1975) [binding unknown/]
- Shinigami Densetsu ["Tales of the Death-God"] (Tokyo: Yōdensha, 1975) [binding unknown/]
- Onna-jō ["Woman-units"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1976) [binding unknown/]
- Onna-butai ["Woman-stage"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1976) [binding unknown/]
- Yami no Naka no Ōgon ["Gold in the Darkness"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1975) [binding unknown/]
- Senshi no Saki ["Warrior's Point"] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1976) [binding unknown/]
- Majogai ["Witchtown"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1976) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Onnatachi wa Dorobō ["Women are Thieves"] (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten, 1976) [binding unknown/]
- Honoo no Inka ["Flaming Negative"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1976) [binding unknown/]
- Shinjuku Baka Monogatari ["Silly Tales of Shinjuku"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1976) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Jūjin Densetsu ["Beast-man Legend"] (Tokyo: Jitsugyō no Nipponsha, 1977) [binding unknown/]
- Genshigai ["Visiontown"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1977) [binding unknown/]
- Jashin Sekai ["Demon World"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1977) [binding unknown/]
- Dobudoro (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1977) [binding unknown/]
- Seibo Densetsu ["Tales of the Holy Mother"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1977) [binding unknown/]
- Shitamachi Tanteikyoku ["Downtown Detective"] (Tokyo: Ushio Shuppansha, 1977) [binding unknown/]
- Tokaku Densetsu ["Tales of the Secret Door"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1977) [binding unknown/]
- Yami no Naka no Kōshō ["Laughter in the Darkness"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1978) [binding unknown/]
- Tonari no Uchūjin ["The Alien Next Door"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1978) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Kokū no Ō no Hihō ["Treasure of the Void's King"] (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten, 1978) [binding unknown/]
- Majo Densetsu ["Tales of the Witch"] (Chūō Kōron-sha, 1978) [binding unknown/]
- Toshi no Kamen ["Mask of the City"] (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten, 1978) [binding unknown/]
- Seluna no Megami ["Goddess of Seluna"] (Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1978) [binding unknown/]
- Uwasa-jō ["Rumour-units"] (Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1979) [binding unknown/]
- Gensō Shōsetsu Meisaku-sen ["Selected Masterworks of Phantastic Fiction" (sic)] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1979) [binding unknown/]
- Rakuen Densetsu ["Tales of Paradise"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1979) [binding unknown/]
- Senshi no Saki ["Warrior's Point"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1979) [binding unknown/]
- Toshi no Kamen ["Mask of the City"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1979) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Yami no Jo-Ō ["Queen of the Darkness"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1979) [binding unknown/]
- Waga Ko ni Ataeru Jūni-cho ["Twelve Tales for My Child"] (Tokyo: Chūsekisha, 1979) with Masaya Fukazu [coll: binding unknown/]
- Getabaki Monogatari ["A Story in Wooden Clogs"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1981) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Makyō Satsushin Jiken ["Incident of the Murdered God in the Haunts of Wicked Men"] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1981) [binding unknown/]
- Ōgon Shujukyū ["Golden Dwarf Palace"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1981) [binding unknown/]
- Akunaru Bassac no Takara ["Treasure of Aknaru Bassac"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1984) [binding unknown/]
- Dosanko Taishō ["Boss Born and Raised in Hokkaido"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1984) [coll: two volumes: binding unknown/]
- Shinigami Densetsu ["Deathgod Stories"] (Tokyo: Shōdensha, 1985) [binding unknown/]
- Wasure Kasa ["Forgotten Umbrella"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1985) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Lavender no Oka ["Lavender Hill"] (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1986) [binding unknown/]
- Gyokon Densetsu ["Giant Root Story"] (Tokyo: Shōdensha, 1986) [two volumes: binding unknown/]
- Misaki Ichirō no Teikō ["The Resistance of Ichirō Misaki"] (Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1988) [three volumes: binding unknown/]
- Ame Monogatari ["Rain Story"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1990) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Chōjō Ryōiki ["Domain of the Paranormal"] (Tokyo: Shōdensha, 1990) [binding unknown/]
- Ōgon Gigyō ["Golden Magistrate"] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1991) [two volumes: binding unknown/]
- Hareta Sora ["Cleared Sky"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1991) [two volumes: binding unknown/]
- Yunomi Chawan ["Teacup"] (Tokyo: Fusōsha, 1991) [binding unknown/]
- Suzu Kagan Monogatari ["Tale of the Suzu Riverbank"] (Tokyo: Shōdensha, 1991) [binding unknown/]
- 2030-nen Tohoku Jichiku ["The North Japan Autonomous Region in the Year 2030"] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1992) [binding unknown/]
- Edo Guntō Den ["Tales of Edo Thieves"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1993) [binding unknown/]
- Kurenai Sakaba ["Scarlet Tavern"] (Tokyo: Shuppan Bungeisha, 1993) [binding unknown/]
- Anata ga Shiranai Ijigen no Kaiki ... ["Alternate Dimension Wonders You Do Not Know ..."] (Tokyo: Nippon Bungeisha, 1993) [binding unknown/]
- Tasogare Sakaba ["Twilight Tavern"] (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron-sha, 1994) [binding unknown/]
- Shōwa Akujoden ["Evil Women of the Shōwa Era"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1994) [binding unknown/]
- Fox Woman (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1994) [binding unknown/]
- Yumemizoku no Bōken ["Adventures of the Dreaming Tribe"] (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron-sha, 1994) [binding unknown/]
- Kōdan: Ōkubo Nagayasu ["Conversation: Nagayasu Ōkubo"] (Tokyo: Kōbunsha, 1995) [binding unknown/]
- Ningen Gari ["Human Hunting"] (Tokyo: Shōdensha, 1995) [binding unknown/]
- Kuzugasa Monogatari ["Kuzugasa Story"] (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron-sha, 1996) [binding unknown/]
- Kankagawa Densetsu ["Legends of Cold River"] (Tokyo: Uraku Shuppan, 1996) [binding unknown/]
- Oku Tan'i no Otoko ["Man of 100,000,000 Credits"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1996) [binding unknown/]
- Ansatsu Shunjū ["Spring and Autumn Assassinations"] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū, 1996) [binding unknown/]
- XY Densetsu ["XY Legend"] (Tokyo: Shufu no Tomo-sha, 1999) [binding unknown/]
- Gaia Densetsu ["Gaia Legend"] (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 2001) [binding unknown/]
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