Obasan
E451754
Obasan is a landmark Canadian novel by Joy Kogawa that explores the internment and persecution of Japanese Canadians during and after World War II.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Obasan canonical | 7 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4545536 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Obasan Context triple: [Canadian literature canon, includesWork, Obasan]
-
A.
Inujima
Inujima is a small Japanese island in the Seto Inland Sea known for its contemporary art installations, preserved industrial ruins, and role in the Setouchi Triennale art festival.
-
B.
Snow Falling on Cedars
Snow Falling on Cedars is a 1999 American film adaptation of David Guterson’s novel, blending courtroom drama and romantic tragedy against the backdrop of post–World War II anti-Japanese prejudice in the Pacific Northwest.
-
C.
Sula
Sula is a 1973 novel by American author Toni Morrison that explores Black female friendship, community, and identity in a small Ohio town.
-
D.
Sula
Sula is a coastal municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway, known for its fishing industry, maritime heritage, and scenic island landscapes.
-
E.
The Lowland
The Lowland is a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri that explores the intertwined lives of two brothers from Calcutta against the backdrop of political upheaval and family tragedy.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Obasan Target entity description: Obasan is a landmark Canadian novel by Joy Kogawa that explores the internment and persecution of Japanese Canadians during and after World War II.
-
A.
Inujima
Inujima is a small Japanese island in the Seto Inland Sea known for its contemporary art installations, preserved industrial ruins, and role in the Setouchi Triennale art festival.
-
B.
Snow Falling on Cedars
Snow Falling on Cedars is a 1999 American film adaptation of David Guterson’s novel, blending courtroom drama and romantic tragedy against the backdrop of post–World War II anti-Japanese prejudice in the Pacific Northwest.
-
C.
Sula
Sula is a 1973 novel by American author Toni Morrison that explores Black female friendship, community, and identity in a small Ohio town.
-
D.
Sula
Sula is a coastal municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway, known for its fishing industry, maritime heritage, and scenic island landscapes.
-
E.
The Lowland
The Lowland is a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri that explores the intertwined lives of two brothers from Calcutta against the backdrop of political upheaval and family tragedy.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Canadian novel
ⓘ
novel ⓘ |
| adaptation | stage adaptation ⓘ |
| addressesEvent |
Japanese Canadian internment
ⓘ
dispossession of Japanese Canadian property ⓘ forced relocation of Japanese Canadians ⓘ |
| author | Joy Kogawa ⓘ |
| awarded |
American Book Award
ⓘ
Books in Canada First Novel Award ⓘ |
| centralCharacter |
Naomi Nakane
ⓘ
Obasan (Naomi’s aunt Aya Obasan) ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Canada ⓘ |
| genre |
diaspora literature
ⓘ
historical fiction ⓘ political novel ⓘ war novel ⓘ |
| hasSequel | Itsuka ⓘ |
| influenced | subsequent Japanese Canadian literature ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | Asian Canadian literature ⓘ |
| literarySignificance |
landmark work in Asian Canadian literature
ⓘ
one of the first widely recognized novels about Japanese Canadian internment ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
identity and belonging
ⓘ
internment of Japanese Canadians ⓘ racial discrimination ⓘ silence and voice ⓘ trauma and memory ⓘ |
| narrativePerspective | first-person narration ⓘ |
| narrativeStructure | non-linear ⓘ |
| notableFor |
exploration of silence as a response to trauma
ⓘ
use of documents and letters within the narrative ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| protagonist | Naomi Nakane ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1981 ⓘ |
| publisher | Lester & Orpen Dennys ⓘ |
| settingPeriod |
World War II
ⓘ
post–World War II era ⓘ |
| settingPlace |
Alberta, Canada
ⓘ
linked to:
Alberta
Canadian internment camps ⓘ Vancouver, British Columbia ⓘ
linked to:
Vancouver
|
| studiedIn |
Asian North American literature courses
ⓘ
Canadian literature courses ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
Japanese Canadian history
ⓘ
civil liberties in wartime ⓘ government redress and apology ⓘ |
| targetAudience | adult readers ⓘ |
| timeSpanOfStory | Naomi’s childhood to adulthood ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Obasan Description of subject: Obasan is a landmark Canadian novel by Joy Kogawa that explores the internment and persecution of Japanese Canadians during and after World War II.
Referenced by (7)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.