Shichirō Fukazawa

Shichirō Fukazawa
Born January 29, 1914
Isawa, Yamanashi, Japan
Died August 18, 1987 (aged 73)
Japan
Occupation Author
Genre Fiction

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

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 Furyū 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, Kazutaka Komori, 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. The aftermath of the incident meant that criticism of the Imperial Family, and discussion of the role or existence of the Emperor became taboo.[8]

Selected prizes

Selected works

Records

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 深沢七郎／著 (in Japanese). Shinchosha. 2001-10-05. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 深沢七郎: 『楢山節考』 (in Japanese). www.isis.ne.jp. 2001-10-05. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  3. ↑ Erickson, Hal. "The Ballad of Narayama". All Movie Guide. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  4. ↑ Mannikka, Eleanor. "The Ballad of Narayama". All Movie Guide. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  5. ↑ Mannikka, Eleanor. "The Ballad of Narayama: Awards". All Movie Guide. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Jap Novelist's Dream Account Raises Furor". Charleston Daily Mail (Charleston, West Virginia: The Daily Gazette Company). Associated Press. 1960-12-01. p. 6. 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.
  8. ↑ Japanfocus.org