Shizuko's Daughter

Shizuko's Daughter (1993), a novel by Kyoko Mori, follows twelve-year-old Yuki Okudo as she grapples with the suicide of her beloved mother, Shizuko, and its dramatic aftermath. Mori's novel can be categorized as a Bildungsroman for its focus on Yuki's psychological and moral development in the wake of tragedy; in particular, Mori emphasizes the role of family in shaping Yuki's coming of age – for both better and worse. Indeed, Yuki spends much of the novel using her memories of her mother's affection to combat the effects of her father's neglect and her stepmother's cruelty.

Yuki has grown up an unusual child. Her sensitive and artistic mother, Shizuko, has encouraged Yuki to be bold and independent. True to her mother's encouragement, Yuki is not afraid to fight back when picked on by boys. An excellent student, she has a flair for the piano. Yuki helps her depressed mother cope in various ways, for example, by doing chores around the house.

Nevertheless, in the end, Shizuki succumbs to her depression, committing suicide, and leaving behind a hopeful note for Yuki, entreating her to grow into a “brilliant woman.” On the day of Shizuki's funeral, Yuki observes her mother's clothing being packed up and stored away by family members. Upset, Yuki runs to her closet, where she seeks solace surrounded by the colorful clothes her mother had made for her. Hearing the mourning taking place upstairs, she covers her ears, trying, instead, to escape into the memory of her mother's love.



After Shizuki's passing, Yuki is sent to live with her mother's family for a year. After this year, however, she is forced to return to the home of her father, Hideki. By Japanese custom, she will not be able to visit her mother's family again, except with his permission. Life with her father is difficult for Yuki. He is cold and indifferent to her; and worse, he is engaged to his mistress of eight years, Hanae, who is resentful of Yuki. On the day of Hideki and Hanae's wedding, Yuki, in a fit of emotion, interrupts the ceremony by smashing a sake bowl of ritual significance. She wears a white beaded purse her mother had made for her; in the purse is a photo of her mother and father on their wedding day.

Although she doesn't get along with her father and stepmother, Yuki flourishes in their household. She continues to do well in school, becoming both a track star and the president of her class. Her parents ignore her accomplishments, but Yuki is undeterred. At fourteen years old, she makes a conscious decision to work hard to achieve lasting happiness. She realizes that it was her mother's inability to do so that caused her death.

But while Yuki comes to understand that her mother suffered from depression, at the three-year anniversary of Shizuki's death, Yuki breaks down. While visiting her Buddhist grandparents, she refuses to perform rituals of ancestor worship to honor her mother at their altar. For the first time, Yuki acknowledges her resentment of her mother's suicide, which she characterizes as “cowardly.” Her grandfather collapses, and Yuki, startled, softens. Admitting that she is often angry without understanding why, she comes to understand that, in fact, she is most angry at herself – for not having been able to save her mother. With this epiphany, she is finally able to mourn her mother fully.



Yuki returns to Kobe and her father's home. Her stepmother, Hanae, has grown increasingly cruel to Yuki over the years; in part, because she has been unable to bear any children of her own since marrying Hideki. She makes Yuki her scapegoat. One day, she raids Yuki's room, trying to open her locked drawers, in hopes of finding traces of Shizuki that she can throw away. Hanae is unable to open them, however, which makes her even angrier. She accuses Yuki of disobedience and criticizes the bright garments – reminiscent of those her mother had once made for her – that Yuki has been purchasing for herself. Hanae then gathers up and threatens to throw out Yuki's cherished childhood garments. Yuki protests and tries to grab them back. The argument culminates in Hanae shoving Yuki sharply, nearly sending her tumbling down the stairs. Later, she blames the altercation on Yuki and claims that she acted out of self-defense.

In school, Yuki begins to keep a notebook of colorful drawings of the clothes her mother had made her. The notebook is both a creative expression of her love for her mother, and a sort of insurance of the memories contained within the clothes, in case they are lost or thrown away by Hanae.

Eventually, Yuki decides she wants to leave her father's home for good and to study art at the University of Nagasaki. At first, relieved by her going, her father then grapples with feelings of frustration and guilt. Unexpectedly, one day, Yuki receives from Hideki a bundle of Shizuki's sketches. There is no note attached, but the gesture marks the closest thing to affection that Hideki displays for Yuki in the entire novel. The novel ends with Yuki visiting her grandparents' altar once again, decorating it with offerings of fabric that she herself has dyed blue and green, her mother's favorite colors.



Mori's novel is a penetrating analysis of the nuances of grief, and the various forms of dysfunction that can haunt a family. In the end, Yuki is able, despite the obstacles presented by her father and stepmother, to avoid falling to Shizuki's fate. Yuki rises to the challenges of making peace with both of her parents' flaws, accepting their limitations without internalizing them. Mori consistently stresses the power of art to not only communicate love and wonder across time from departed mother to daughter, but also as a tool of self-healing and self-creation.