Shimazaki Toson
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Shimazaki Toson (島崎 藤村 Shimazaki Tōson, March 25, 1872-August 22, 1943) is a Japanese author of the Meiji and early Showa Eras.
Shimazaki was born and spent his childhood in Magome, Nagano, in the countryside of the Kiso District, which he left in 1881. He wrote about many aspects of life in this area, including in his most famous novel Before the Dawn (夜明け前, Yo-ake mae).
Toson was a pioneer in the establishment of a new Japanese verse form. He later turned his talents to prose fiction. Hakai The Broken Commandment, a story of an outcast schoolteacher, is considered the first Japanese naturalist novel. Subsequent works were more autobiographical in nature; his masterpiece, Yoake no mae Before the Dawn, a historical novel, traces the growth of modern Japan through a fictionalized account of his father's life.
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[edit] Literary history
Shimazaki's first published work was called Wakanashu (若菜集) and he was one of the primary writers who spurred the blossoming of Meiji Romanticism (明治浪漫主義).
Though he began as a poet, he quickly began to write novels. In 1906, he came out with Hakai (破戒, Hakai, The Broken Commandment), which dealt with the burakumin, formerly known as eta. This book enjoyed great influence in Japan.
Since then, his concern turned to discussions of philosophy and lifestyles. He established the literature of Naturalism in Japan (自然主義文学) and wrote an autobiography which was to be his final work.
[edit] Personal life
Shimazaki often described his nature as "melancholy inherited from my parents." His father and his oldest sister died from psychological conditions. (He modeled his book Before the Dawn on his father, Masaki.) Toson's father went insane and died by the time he was fourteen, and he was raised by friends of his family.
After he graduated and became a teacher, Toson had an affair with one of his female students which led to his resignation from that school, and his friend, the Romantic writer Kitamura Tokoku hung himself.
Moreover, when Toson had extramarital relations with his niece, Komako, his second oldest brother concealed it. Shimazaki eventually learned that his father had committed a similar sin. Shimazaki felt the curse of his lineage acutely. After it was revealed that Komako was pregnant, Shimazaki immediately fled to France, abandoning his niece. The affair with Komako is described in his novel Shinsei (新生).
While he was writing and soon after he completed The Broken Commandment, each of his three children died of illness.
[edit] Death
He was murdered, "according to some accounts, by a fanatical hater of the eta." He is buried in Magome's small cemetery.
[edit] Shimazaki's Works
His major works include:
- Wakanashu (若菜集)
- Hakai (破戒, Hakai) (The Broken Commandment)
- Haru (春)
- Ie(家)
- Shinsei (新生)
- Before the Dawn (夜明け前, Yoakemae)
[edit] References
- Shimazaki Toson Trans. William E. Naff (1987). Before the Dawn. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-0914-9.
- Shimazaki Toson Trans. Kenneth Stone (1995). Broken Commandment. University of Tokyo Press. ISBN 0-86008-191-5.
[edit] External links
- Shimazaki Toson Memorial Museum link http://www.cnet-kiso.ne.jp/t/toson/
