Shichirō Fukazawa

Shichirō Fukazawa (深沢 七郎 Fukazawa Shichirō?, January 29, 1914–August 18, 1987) was a Japanese author and guitarist.

Contents

Biography

Fukazawa was born in Isawa, Yamanashi, Japan.[1] His first novel, The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考 Narayama bushiko?) won the Chūōkōron Prize,[2] and was twice made into a movie script: first by Keisuke Kinoshita in 1958,[3] and again by Shōhei Imamura in 1983.[4] Imamura's film won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or.[5]

In 1960, Chūōkōron published his satire Furyu mutan (“The Story of a Dream of Courtly Elegance"). In it the narrator dreams that leftists take over the Imperial Palace and behead Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko before an enthusiastic crowd. This story provoked fury in the Imperial Household Agency and among Japanese ultra-nationalists.[6] On February 1, 1961, a seventeen-year-old rightist broke into the home of Chūōkōron's president, Shimanaka Hoji, killed a maid with a sword, and severely wounded Shimanaka's wife in response to the story.[7] Fukazawa went into hiding[6] and was little seen in public afterwards.

Selected prizes

Selected works

Records

References

  1. ^ a b c "深沢七郎／著" (in Japanese). Shinchosha. 2001-10-05. http://www.shinchosha.co.jp/book/113601/. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 
  2. ^ a b "深沢七郎: 『楢山節考』" (in Japanese). www.isis.ne.jp. 2001-10-05. http://www.isis.ne.jp/mnn/senya/senya0393.html. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 
  3. ^ Erickson, Hal. "The Ballad of Narayama" (in English). All Movie Guide. http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:123857. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 
  4. ^ Mannikka, Eleanor. "The Ballad of Narayama" (in English). All Movie Guide. http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:3805~T0. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 
  5. ^ Mannikka, Eleanor. "The Ballad of Narayama: Awards" (in English). All Movie Guide. http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:3805~T4. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 
  6. ^ a b "Jap Novelist's Dream Account Raises Furor". Charleston Daily Mail. Associated Press (Charleston, West Virginia: The Daily Gazette Company): p. 6. 1960-12-01. "The imperial household agency reacted angrily. There was talk of civil court action... An ultranationalist group in Tokyo, the "Greater Japan Patriotic Party," demanded the magazine issue an apology for printing the story.... Fukazawa... was reported hiding from possible physical attack from rightists." 
  7. ^ Treat, John Whittier; 1994 (January 1994). "Beheaded Emperors and the Absent Figure in Contemporary Japanese Literature". PMLA (Modern Language Association) 109 (1): 100–115. doi:10.2307/463014. JSTOR 463014.