Shimazaki Toson
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| Shimazaki Tōson | |
 Shimazaki Tōson |
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| Born: | 25 March 1872 Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan |
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| Died: | 22 August 1943 Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Genres: | novels |
| Literary movement: | naturalism |
Shimazaki Tōson (島崎 藤村?); (25 March 1872 – 22 August 1943) was the pen-name of a Japanese author, active in the Meiji, Taisho and early Showa period Japan. He began his career as a poet, but went on to establish himself as the major proponent of naturalism in Japanese literature. His real name was Shimazaki Haruki.
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[edit] Early life
Tōson was born in what is now part of Nakatsugawa city, Gifu prefecture, 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 Yo-ake mae (Before the Dawn, 夜明け前), which was modeled on the life of his father, Shimazaki Masaki. Tōson's father went insane and died by the time Tōson was fourteen, and he was raised by friends of his family. His oldest sister also died from mental disorders. Tōson would later described his nature as "melancholy inherited from my parents."
Tōson graduated from Meiji Gakuin University in 1891, and became interested in literature through his friendship with essayist and translator Baba Kocho and Togawa Shukotsu. He joined a literary group associated with the literary magazine Bungakukai, he began to contribute translations to "Jogaku Zasshi" (Magazine of Women’s Learning).
He moved from Tokyo to Sendai in northern Japan to accept a teaching position, but continued to write as a hobby. His first verse collection, Wakanashu (Collection of Young Herbs, 1897) was published while he was in Sendai, and launched him on his future career.
However, around the same time, Tōson was discovered to be having an affair with one of his female students, which led to his resignation from the school. The suicide of his close friend, the Romantic writer Kitamura Tokoku also came as a great shock, and Tōson moved back to Tokyo.
[edit] Literary career
Although Tōson was lauded by literary critics for the establishment of a new Japanese verse form in Wakanashu and as one of the creators of the Meiji Romanticism literary movement, he soon turned his talents to prose fiction.
His first novel, Hakai (The Broken Commandment, 1906) was considered a landmark in Japanese realism, and is thus regarded as the first Japanese naturalist novel. It is a story of a burakumin schoolteacher, who keeps his out-caste status secret until near the end of the story. While he was writing, each of his three children died of illness.
His second novel, Haru (Spring, 1908) was much weaker, and is a lyrical and sentimental autobiographical account of his youthful days with the Bungakukai.
His third novel, Ie (Family, 1910-1911) is considered by many to be his masterpiece. It depicts the slow moving decline of two provincial families to whom the protagonist is related.
Tōson created a major scandal with his next novel, Shinsei (New Life, 1918-1919). A more emotional work than Ie, it is an autobiographical account of his own extramarital relations with his niece, Komako, and the knowledge that her father (his elder brother) knew of the incestuous affair, but concealed it. When Komako became pregnant, Tōson fled to France to avoid the confrontation with his relatives, abandoning the girl. Tōson attempts to justify his behavior by revealing that his father had committed a similar sin, and that he could not avoid the curse of his lineage. The general public did not see it that way, and Tōson was censured on many fronts for his behavior, and for what was perceived a gross vulgarity on attempting to capitalize on the disgraceful incident by turning it into a novel.
On his return to Japan, Tōson accepted a teaching post at Waseda University. He then wrote Yoake mae (Before the Dawn, 1929-1935), a semi-historical novel about the Meiji Restoration from the point of view of a provincial loyalist, who is a thinly veiled representation of his father. Written unevenly, the protagonist dies in bitterness and disappointment. It was serialized in the literary magazine Chuo Koron over a six year period.
In 1935, Tōson became the founding chairman of the Japanese chapter of the International PEN organization. Tōson died of a stroke at the age of 71, in 1943. His grave is at the temple of Jifuku-ji, in Oiso, Kanagawa prefecture.
[edit] Shimazaki Toson'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.
- McClellan, Edwin (2004). Two Japanese Novelists: Soseki & Toson. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0804833400.
- Bourdaghs, Michael (2003). The Dawn That Never Comes: Shimazaki Toson and Japanese Nationalism. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231129807.
