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A Tokyo schoolteacher collecting insects misses the last bus, is led down a rope ladder to a house at the bottom of a sand pit, and finds the ladder gone the next morning. That is the opening of The Woman in the Dunes (1962), the novel that brought Kōbō Abe international acclaim and, two years later, a film by Hiroshi Teshigahara that won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Abe, born in Tokyo in 1924 and raised in Mukden in Manchuria, trained as a doctor, never practised, and wrote novels about men who lose their faces, their homes or their names. Most reached English through the translator E. Dale Saunders. This guide covers his 9 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 9 key books · 1951–1991 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Kobo Abe’s best-known books are The Woman in the Dunes (1962), The Face of Another (1964), The Ruined Map (1967), The Box Man (1973) and Secret Rendezvous (1977). Start with The Woman in the Dunes, which won the 1962 Yomiuri Prize. Below: all 9 key books in order, what each is about, and who translated them.
Where to Start with Kobo Abe
If you want his defining novel
→ The Woman in the Dunes (1962) — a man trapped in a house at the bottom of the dunes.
If you want a story about identity
→ The Face of Another (1964) — a scientist hides his burned face behind a mask.
If you want a detective story
→ The Ruined Map (1967) — the search for a missing husband goes wrong.
If you want his strangest book
→ The Box Man (1973) — a man who lives inside a cardboard box.
9 Kobo Abe Books, in Order
The Crime of S. Karuma
Kabe – S. Karuma-shi no hanzai (“The Wall – The Crime of S. Karuma”), the work that won the Akutagawa Prize in 1951, three years after his debut novel. Abe later turned it into a play, S. Karuma-shi no hanzai (1978).
Inter Ice Age 4
Dai-yon kanpyōki (1959). E. Dale Saunders’s English translation (1970) was the first Japanese science fiction novel published in English.
The Woman in the Dunes
Suna no onna (“Sand Woman”). In 1955 Jumpei Niki, a Tokyo schoolteacher collecting insects, misses the last bus and is led to a house in the dunes reachable only by rope ladder; the next morning the ladder is gone, and he must help the woman who lives there keep the house clear of sand. He tries to escape, is caught in quicksand and brought back, and in the end stops trying. Translated by E. Dale Saunders (1964); filmed by Hiroshi Teshigahara (1964), Special Jury Prize at Cannes.
The Face of Another
Tanin no kao (1964). An unnamed plastics scientist whose face has been badly burned in an industrial accident is rejected by his wife; in a rented apartment he makes a lifelike mask, and with his new face starts a secret affair with her. Translated by E. Dale Saunders (1966); filmed by Hiroshi Teshigahara.
The Ruined Map
Moetsukita chizu (1967). An unnamed detective is hired by an alcoholic woman to find her missing husband; the clues lead nowhere, and he ends up identifying with the man he is looking for. Translated by E. Dale Saunders (Knopf, 1969); filmed by Hiroshi Teshigahara as The Man Without a Map (1968).
The Box Man
Hako otoko (1973). A man lives inside a cardboard box and watches the world from within it. Translated by E. Dale Saunders. A film by Gakuryu Ishii, with Masatoshi Nagase, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2024.
Secret Rendezvous
Mikkai (1977). In the middle of the night an ambulance takes away a woman who seems perfectly healthy; the next morning her husband, a salesman for an athletic-shoe company, goes to find her but cannot locate her in the hospital. Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter (Knopf, 1979).
The Ark Sakura
Hakobune Sakura-maru (1984), published seven years after Secret Rendezvous. Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter (1988).
Kangaroo Notebook
Kangarū nōto (1991), the last novel Abe completed; he died in 1993, leaving The Flying Man unfinished. Translated by Maryellen Toman Mori.
In What Order to Read Kobo Abe
None of Abe’s novels continues another, so you can start anywhere. His three best-known books, The Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map, appeared within five years of each other and each became a film by Hiroshi Teshigahara, so they are often read as a group.
A practical order is to begin with The Woman in the Dunes, go on to The Face of Another and The Ruined Map, then try the more fragmentary late novels, The Box Man and Secret Rendezvous. Inter Ice Age 4 is the one to pick if you want his science fiction.
A reading path
1. The Woman in the Dunes (1962)
2. The Face of Another (1964)
3. The Ruined Map (1967)
4. The Box Man (1973)
5. Secret Rendezvous (1977)
Everything Else Kobo Abe Published
Beyond the 9 key books: 9 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Novels
5
5 books · 1948–1994
- 1948At the Guidepost at the End of the RoadOwarishi michi no shirube ni, his debut novel
- 1954Starving UnionsKiga dōmei
- 1957Beasts Head for HomeKemonotachi wa kokyō o mezasu; translated by Richard F. Calichman
- 1964The TraitorEnomoto Takeaki; translated by Mark Gibeau
- 1994The Flying ManTobu otoko, unfinished, published after his death
Plays
3
3 books · 1957–1967
- 1957The Man Who Turned into a StickBō ni natta otoko; translated by Donald Keene
- 1958The Ghost Is HereYūrei wa koko ni iru; translated by Donald Keene
- 1967FriendsTomodachi; Tanizaki Prize; translated by Donald Keene
Poetry
1
1 book · 1947
- 1947Mumei shishūpoems, his first book, published at his own expense
The years · 1924–1993
Quick facts about Kobo Abe
- Known for
- Surreal, nightmarish novels about people who lose their place in modern society, above all The Woman in the Dunes, which Hiroshi Teshigahara filmed in 1964.
- 1924
- Born in Tokyo; grows up in Mukden
- 1948
- Medical degree; debut novel
- 1971
- Founds the Abe Studio theatre
- 1993
- Dies in Tokyo, aged 68
- Born
- 7 March 1924, Tokyo, as Kimifusa Abe; raised in Mukden (now Shenyang), Manchuria
- Education
- Tokyo Imperial University; medical degree 1948, never practised
- Prizes
- Akutagawa Prize (1951); Yomiuri Prize (1962); Tanizaki Prize (1967, for the play Friends)
- Theatre
- Founded the Abe Studio in Tokyo (1971), writing and directing 14 plays there until 1979
- Translator
- Most of his novels: E. Dale Saunders; later ones: Juliet Winters Carpenter
- Died
- 22 January 1993, Tokyo, of heart failure
The red mark is 1962: The Woman in the Dunes, the novel that won the Yomiuri Prize and made his name abroad.
How Kobo Abe Writes: Losing the Face, the Name, the Home
Abe’s novels start from a single, almost clinical premise and follow it to the end: a man trapped in a sand pit, a scientist who builds a new face, a man who lives in a box, a husband whose wife vanishes into a hospital. He trained as a doctor, and he is often compared to Franz Kafka; Wikipedia describes his work as surreal, nightmarish explorations of the individual in contemporary society.
Many of his heroes are unnamed, and their identity comes apart as the story goes on. The detective in The Ruined Map ends up identifying with the man he is hired to find; the scarred scientist in The Face of Another seduces his own wife as a stranger; Jumpei Niki in The Woman in the Dunes is finally declared missing. Abe traced this to his own childhood in Manchuria, calling himself “a man without a hometown”. That dissolving of a fixed self is as close as his work comes to the themes of unity in this cluster; no source ties him to Zen or any non-dual teaching.
Abe also wrote for the stage and directed his own theatre company in the 1970s, and he worked closely with the director Hiroshi Teshigahara on four films. In 1967 he signed a joint statement on writers in China with Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima; for the European writer he is most often set beside, see the guide to Franz Kafka.
Frequently asked questions about Kobo Abe’s books
How many books has Kobo Abe written?
Fifteen novels, one of them unfinished, plus many plays, stories and essays. This page covers his 9 key books, from The Crime of S. Karuma (1951) to Kangaroo Notebook (1991), and lists 9 more works below them.
What are Kobo Abe’s books in order?
The Crime of S. Karuma (1951), Inter Ice Age 4 (1959), The Woman in the Dunes (1962), The Face of Another (1964), The Ruined Map (1967), The Box Man (1973), Secret Rendezvous (1977), The Ark Sakura (1984) and Kangaroo Notebook (1991).
Where should I start with Kobo Abe?
The Woman in the Dunes, his best-known novel and the one that brought him international acclaim. If you like it, go on to The Face of Another and The Ruined Map.
What is Kobo Abe’s most famous book?
The Woman in the Dunes (Suna no onna, 1962), about a schoolteacher held captive in a house at the bottom of the dunes. It won the 1962 Yomiuri Prize, and E. Dale Saunders’s English translation appeared in 1964.
Which Kobo Abe books were made into films?
Hiroshi Teshigahara filmed The Woman in the Dunes (1964), which won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map (as The Man Without a Map, 1968); Abe also worked with him on The Pitfall (1962). The Box Man was filmed by Gakuryu Ishii and premiered at the Berlin festival in 2024.
Who translated Kobo Abe into English?
Mainly E. Dale Saunders, who translated Inter Ice Age 4, The Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another, The Ruined Map and The Box Man. Juliet Winters Carpenter translated Secret Rendezvous (1979) and The Ark Sakura (1988), and Maryellen Toman Mori Kangaroo Notebook.
Was Kobo Abe a communist?
For a time. He joined the Japanese Communist Party and organised workers in poor districts of Tokyo, but broke with it after supporting the Polish workers’ protests in 1956 and criticising its cultural policy in 1961; he was expelled in 1962.
Did Kobo Abe win the Nobel Prize?
No. He was mentioned several times as a possible winner, but died in 1993. When Kenzaburō Ōe won in 1994, he credited Abe and other modern Japanese writers with having created the way to the prize.
When did Kobo Abe die?
On 22 January 1993 in Tokyo, of heart failure after a brief illness, aged 68. His unfinished novel The Flying Man was published the following year.
Footnotes
- Kōbō Abe — Wikipedia
- The Woman in the Dunes — Wikipedia
- The Face of Another — Wikipedia
- The Ruined Map — Wikipedia
- The Box Man (novel) — Wikipedia
- Secret Rendezvous (novel) — Wikipedia
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I am essentially a man without a hometown.”
— Kobo Abe to Nancy Shields (1978), quoted in her Fake Fish: The Theater of Kobo Abe (1996)
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