Kosugi Tengai
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Kosugi Tengai (小杉天外 Kosugi Tengai?); (7 November 1865 – 1 September 1952) was the pen-name of a novelist in Meiji, Taisho and Showa period Japan. His real name was Kosugi Tamezo. He is considered the founder of the naturalism movement in modern Japanese literature.
Kosugi was born in what is now Misato County, Akita Prefecture. He moved to Tokyo in 1886 to attend the English Law College (the forerunner of Chuo University, but soon dropped out to devote himself to writing full time. He associated himself briefly with Mori Ogai and with Ozaki Koyo before becoming a disciple of literary critic and satirical author Saito Ryokuu.
He was hired by the literary magazine Shincho gekan in 1897, but was transferred by the magazine to the newspaper Hochi Shimbun.
He published his first novel, Hatsusugata in 1900, and followed with Hayariuta in 1902. He attempted to write in a realistic and objective manner, without intruding the thoughts or comments of the author into the story narrative, which was considered rather revolutionary for the time. Familiar with Zola and other French authors, his experimentation towards realism is considered a forerunner of a Japanese style of naturalism. Although often compared to his contemporary, Nagai Kafu, Kosugi has been criticized for having two-dimensional characters who meet predictable fates based on family or environmental situations.
Tengai was elected to the Japan Arts Academy in 1948. In his later years, he also turned towards the genre of historical fiction.
His grave is at his hometown of Misato in Akita.
