The Waiting Years (originally published under the title 女坂 Onnazaka) is a novel by Fumiko Enchi, set within the milieu of an upper-class Japanese family in the last years of the 19th century. It was first published in 1957 and won the Noma Prize.[1][2][3][4] An English translation, by John Bester, has been published by Kodansha. The novel is primarily set in the district of Asakusa and Fukushima Prefecture.