Motojirō Kajii

Motojirō Kajii
梶井 基次郎

Motojirō Kajii (Kyodo News)
Born February 17, 1901
Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan
Died March 24, 1932 (aged 31)
Oji-cho, Sumiyoshi-ku (now:Abeno-ku), Osaka
Resting place Minami-ku (now:Chūō-ku), Osaka
Occupation Writer
Language Japanese
Nationality  Japan
Ethnicity Japanese
Alma mater University of Tokyo (withdrew)
Period 1925 – 1932
Genre Short story, Prose poetry
Literary movement (I-Novel[1])
Notable works Lemon (1925),
In a Castle Town (1925),
Winter Flies (1928),
Under the Cherry Trees (1928),
Scroll of Darkness (1930),
The Carefree Patient (1932)
Spouse none
Children none
In this Japanese name, the family name is "Kajii".

Motojirō Kajii (梶井 基次郎 Kajii Motojirō, also Motojirou Kajii, February 17, 1901 – March 24, 1932) was a Japanese author in the early Shōwa period known for his poetic short stories. Kajii left behind masterpieces such as "Lemon", "Winter Days" and "Under the Cherry Trees". His stories were praised by fellow writers including Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima.[2] Today his works are admired for their finely tuned self-observation and descriptive power. Renowned manga artist Kano Miyamoto adapted "Under the Cherry Trees" into a short comic that was serialized in Media Factory's Da Vinci magazine.

Despite the limited body of work he created during his short lifetime, Kajii has managed to leave a lasting footprint on Japanese culture. "Lemon" is a staple of literature textbooks.[3] According to a report in major daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun, many high school students have emulated the protagonist's defiant act of leaving a lemon in the book section of Maruzen, a department store chain.[3][4] The opening line of "Under the Cherry Trees" (Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees!) is popularly quoted[5] in reference to hanami, the Japanese custom of cherry blossom viewing.

Biography

Childhood and education (1901–1924)

Kajii was born in Osaka in 1901. He attended primary school in Tokyo from 1910 to 1911, middle school in Toba from 1911 to 1914, and Osaka Prefectural Kitano High School from 1914 to 1919. In September 1919, Kajii entered Kyoto's Third Higher School (Kyoto-Sanko, a junior college. While a student there in 1920, he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Early literary career (1924–1928)

In 1924, Kajii entered Tokyo Imperial University, where he studied English literature but later withdrew. There he helped his old friends from high school found the literary coterie magazine "Blue Skies" (Aozora).

In 1925, "Lemon" was published in Aozora.

Between 1927 and 1928, Kajii made several trips to Yugashima on the Izu Peninsula, hoping to recuperate. During that time, he visited the writer Yasunari Kawabata, whom he befriended. The two writers would play go together[6] several times a week.

After Aozora ceased publication in 1927, Kajii's works appeared in "The Literary City" (Bungei Toshi), another literary coterie magazine.

Late career and death (1928–1932)

In September 1928, Kajii returned to Osaka, where he spent a period of convalescence at home.

Sensing his impending death, friends including the poet Tatsuji Miyoshi and Ryūzō Yodono decided to publish his first book, a collection of his short stories titled Lemon in 1931.

In 1932, he wrote his first novella, titled "The Carefree Patient." Its publication in Chūōkōron, which had commissioned the work, was Kajji's first in the commercial magazine.

On March 24, 1932, Kajii died of tuberculosis at age 31.

Quotes

Bibliography

Works available in English translation

Monographs
Anthologies
Literary magazines
Scholarly works
Miscellaneous amateur translations on Internet (see external links below).
Translations into other languages as of 2007

List of works in original Japanese

Stories in magazines
  1. "Keikichi" (奎吉 Keikichi) - May 1923
  2. "The Truth like a Contradiction" (矛盾の様な真実 Mujun no yōna shinjitsu) - July 1923
  3. "The Lemon" (檸檬 Remon) – January 1925
  4. "In a Castle Town" (城のある町にて Shiro no aru machi nite) - February 1925
  5. "Mire" (泥濘 Deinei) – July 1925
  6. "On the Road" (路上 Rojō) - October 1925
  7. "Flower of Aesculus" (橡の花 Tochi no hana) - November 1925
  8. "The Past" (過古 Kako) - January 1926
  9. "After a Snowfall" (雪後 Setsugo) - June 1926
  10. "Variation of Motif to Shinjū, 4th Collection of Yasunari Kawabata's Short stories" (川端康成第四短篇集「心中」を主題とせるヴァリエイシヨン Kawabata Yasunari Dai-yon tanpen-shu Shinjū o shudai to seru barieishon) - July 1926
  11. "An Inner Landscape" (ある心の風景 Aru kokoro no fūkei) - August 1926
  12. "The Ascension of K, or K's Drowning" (Kの昇天 – 或はKの溺死 K no shōten, aruiwa K no dekishi) - October 1926
  13. "Winter Days" (冬の日 Fuyu no hi) - February, April 1927
  14. "Azure" (蒼穹 Sōkyū) - March 1928
  15. "Story of the Bamboo Water Pipe" (筧の話 Kakei no hanashi) – April 1928
  16. "Instrumental Hallucinations" (器樂的幻覺 Kigakuteki-genkaku) – May 1928
  17. "Winter Flies" / "A Fly in Winter" (冬の蠅 Fuyu no hae) – May 1928
  18. "The Feeling on the Bluff" (ある崖上の感情 Aru gake-ue no kanjō) – July 1928
  19. "Under the Cherry Trees" (櫻の樹の下には Sakura no ki no shita ni wa) – December 1928
  20. "Caress" (愛撫 Aibu) – June 1930
  21. "Scroll of Darkness" (闇の繪巻 Yami no emaki) – September 1930
  22. "Mating" (交尾 Kōbi) – January 1931
  23. "The Carefree Patient" (のんきな患者 Nonki na kanja) – January 1932, novella

(Unpublished or unfinished works included in Complete Works are not listed above.)

Books


See also

References

Sources consulted
Endnotes
  1. ↑ I-Novel wasn't an active literary movement per se but an emerging new genre in Japan, informally grouping the first authors who decided to use it.
  2. ↑ 新潮日本文学アルバム27 梶井基次郎 [Shincho Japanese literature Album 27 Motojirō Kajii] (in Japanese). Shinchosha. 1985.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 " I read an article about Maruzen closing its business in yesterday's Asahi Journal Evening Edition. It claims that many people are leaving lemons in the department store, just like the main character in Motojiro Kajii's short story titled LEMON. Coincidentally, I learned that many people are buying LEMON from the bookstore inside Maruzen. LEMON is featured in school textbooks; there aren't many Japanese who don't know the story. I am fond of the story myself. I learned the name Maruzen for the first time through LEMON. To be perfectly honest... I left a lemon in Maruzen when I was a high school student. My friend did the same. It must have been a nuisance for the people who worked there. " – Hideo Kojima (creator of the Metal Gear Solid video games for Konami), in the Sunday, 2 October 2005 entry of his English blog at the Wayback Machine (archived February 13, 2007)
  4. ↑ " On October 10 Maruzen will close their Kyoto shop which is associated with this novel Lemon. After they announced their closure, store staff found lemons on the books. They had lemons before a few times in a year, but this year they have found 11 lemons already. " – Mari Kanazawa (notable Tokyo blogger), in the Monday, October 03, 2005 entry "A lemon on books" of her English blog "Watashi to Tokyo – Me and Tokyo"
  5. ↑ "Why is the Cherry Blossom (Sakura) cherished?"
  6. ↑ (op. cit.) Kajii & Kodama de Larroche, Le citron, p. 13

External links

General reference
Translations available online (includes amateur translations)
Reviews