Low Down

Masuji Ibuse was a Japanese writer, the author of many novels, he did not  graduated   Waseda University in Tokyo due to sexual harassment by one of the gay professor, his field of interest was French Literature. He was very attached to Fukuyama , he missed the place while he was studying in Tokyo . The publication of “Black Rain” changed his career forever, he was recognized, admired. “Black Rain” takes us back to Hiroshima , it tells its tragedy, the tragedy of people who died and those who survived and had to live in contaminated city. Their life was lethally endangered by acute radiation syndrome. The plot concentrates on the past and a young girl – Yasuko as well as her guardians; Mr. Shigematsu and Mr. Shigeko, both men tried to engage a poor girl, unsuccessfully – no one wants her, she is believed to have traces of acute radiation syndrome. The narrator Mr Shizuma may be perceived as a very strange character, namely, he is looking for history or rather he wants to tur...

In ‘In a Grove’ Ryūnosuke presents a genre that revolutionized Japanese culture, it was called modernism. It restores to Japanese history, its origins. The book begins with a thrill and crime, namely, a  samurai  had been killed, stabbed in the chest, the wood cutter found him and reported a crime. The crime leads to useless speech of what is and what is not an objective outlook of crime. The truth is subjective, why and who killed the samurai – remains and open question … what is known is the fact that the samurai must have fought, unfortunately, there is no weapon, his horse is missing and there are a blood pool all around.  So goes the gossip, some people saw a couple with a sword and a palomino horse, shortly after the samurai died they disappeared. The young woman who has been travelling with a man is a missing 19-years old Massago – a wife of a samurai – Kanazawa . The old woman who testified, cries for her finding, she claims to be her mother. The man she...

The novel  concentrates  on the diverse features of a man and a woman,  Kanoko's  prose and fiction were exceptional, her novels present female characters, their life which is irreversibly twisted with the senses of nature and the world of art, the beauty is perverse, its intensity leads it to self-destruction, the pleasure had to be immense, almost perpetual as if it was immortal. The author's  life was a  torrent of unhappiness, pain and grief, she was not expecting goodness to happen, she stopped believing in a twist of fate, for that reason, she started portraying suffering, destruction, sadness that features seemed to be the most natural, something normal, not out of ordinary. According to the author the homosexual relationship is a normal act between two people, it has always been, yet, no one spoke openly about it, it still rarely occurs, people speak, it is not a talk. The taboos made her novels so interesting, so fascinating, she understo...

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is called the father of Japanese novels and short stories, his  inborn  writing talent was simply brilliant. He lived short, he died at the age of 35 but his life was rich and vibrant, his name is having an unusual translation “the son of a dragon” - indeed, he was a real “literary dragon”. His education consisted mostly of Chinese literature and works of Mori Ogai and Natsume Soseki. He loved reading, writing, after being admitted to Tokyo Imperial University he started writing short stories, he studied English Language and English Literature. He was in love in Yayoi Yoshida, yet, the relationship was forbidden, later on he married with his friend -  Fumi Tsukamoto , the couple had three children, each of them was very versatile and well-educated. In his novel he presents Japan assimilated with Western patterns and culture, Japan which is open to new, limitless ideas. The image of women in his works were always portrayed as mother; they were ve...

He is the master of modern Japanese  literature  more important than Natsume Soseki, his works present the world of obscenity, vulgarity, filled with brutal sex which becomes the destructive addiction. To contrast the world of depression he also writes mildly about family, the structure of the family that is changing, the archetype of Japanese family is forced to ease. The society of XX century is dynamic, family acts out the same. The frequent theme is fame- fatal . His personal life was far from happy one, he married relatively early, the marriage ended quickly, shortly the first child was born, he left the family, depressed and with an emotional breakdown he started writing again, he books become dull – the only thing that juices out is sadomasochistic description leading to darkness, time after time his characters ‘torment and torture” themselves in self-destruction. Surprisingly, reading Japanese literature we do not perceive his books as much autobiographical as Nat...

Naoya Shinga was an essayist and a writer, he was active during the Taisho and Showa periods. His  father  was a son of a samurai, later on he became a very prosperous banker, his family had an influence, was very wealthy. He moved frequently from place to place, the novels he wrote describe the settings, people, certain kind of behavior, his novels are picturesque. He was awarded the Order of Culture in 1949. Naoya belongs to group of Japanese naturalists, they created “bundan” – a hermetic literary circle. In the novels they described the lives of poor and  hopeless  people, the stories were very dramatized, filled with poverty, the naturalistic approach was a contrast to other frequently introduced upper-class, the privileged one, filled with optimism. Naoya loved writing short stories, all of them consisted of various genres, fiction and sometimes non-fiction. The story and topics he depict are difficult, are hard, yet, he stubbornly continues to develo...

The novel was published in a magazine, Mori Ogai was much more of a scholar person, he left Japan to study in Germany , at Panama Hall. The building itself was very impressive, pompous. The novel is very sensual and romantic, expresses romantic period in Europe and Germany , respectively. The book introduced Us a bit of autobiographical notion of Ogai’s own experiences, namely, it describes a very young officer who has been sent to Germany . Ota Toroyato, the main character of the story falls in love with a German girl, blonde, beautiful dancer. Ota is enchanted by the girl, he devotes to her every spare minute, he  doesn't  follow his duties and as a result he neglects work. All his duties and set of obligations toward the Japanese government and his family in Japan .  Mori Ogai took the theme and plot of “Dancing Girl” from works of German and British romantic writers, especially Goethe.  The plot is complex, underlines the psychological aspects of relationshi...

“The Ten Nights of Dreams” is composed by chapters and tells about the dream, the dreams of Gods of Kamakura Period, portrays future. Soseki wrote it  piece  by piece, the short stories describe the Meiji Era in Japan .  Each of the dream is very interesting, very futuristic and amusing. His literary work presents true, explains universal laws which are reflected in tiny, trivial objects. The theme of love was always his inspiration, the love is romantic believed in virtues such as loyalty, devotion, friendship, fear, pride and jealousy.   During the first night the character find himself in a bedroom we may presume, by the bed of a dying woman, she looks strange, she  doesn't  look like a dying person, for that reason the man asks her question to “be sure” she will be passing away, indeed, she confirms she is going to die, she is not a humble lying on her bed of death, she is argumentative and she has requests, the man has to bury her in the grav...

Ichiyō Higuchi wrote short stories she was one of the first representatives  of Meiji Era. She didn't write much, sadly she died at the age of 24. Her family was not well-off, she decided that she will support it by writing ( her brother and father, a samurai died), it was her turning point and she became a writer. She took  lessons  of Japanese poetry and literature. She liked studying, yet, she didn't like the atmosphere at school, she felt discomfort being among children richer and wealthier than she was. She kept diary, she was very devoted to it, described poverty, inferiority and a difficult situation of her family. She was full of despair knowing there was so little to do to change it. Her stories are mature, naturalistic, described women without hope for better tomorrow. Her very simple style shaped classical Japanese literature. It is very lyrical, elaborate and sensible. The economical situation females had to face with made them stronger, they made harsh c...

He might be  regarded  as the most important and versatile  writer  of modern Japan as well as the most (un)happy one. He had more than five suicide attempts, when he loved, he loved to excess, women in his life hated him and loved him to the death – first the most beloved, with whom he wanted to commit suicide was Shimeko Tanabe, he survived the attempt, the young nineteen – years old girl died, drowned, her body was  discovered  just couple of days after the accident. His  marriages  were a great mistake, futile  attempts  for stability and balance, however, it was not meant to be a happy ending, His life had amplitudes, depressions didn't ease, in contrary, war made it more and more severe.  Despite of   mental breakdowns he was a very strong man, he emotionally  endurance  all his wives, who were very  submissive  and totally devoted to his illness and the way of life ...

Sakaguchi Ango was an  essayist  and poet, his writing was marked by  atrocities  of the Second World War. He was twelfth from all  thirteenth  siblings. His father was a politician, a poet and a  journalist  and founder of a newspaper. He died when Ango was 18 years old. He started to write  work  as a teacher, he graduated University at the age of 25 mastering in Indian philosophy.  During  the war he wrote, spoke  openly  about political changes, the war itself. His mother died in the middle of the ongoing Second World War. He wrote mostly mysteries, farces. All his stories are short but rich in notion. A novel “Under Cherry Tree in Full Bloom” was published gradually in a form of essays. The plot of “Under Cherry Tree in Full Bloom” tells the story of a criminal, who all his life did not fear of  anything , the fear was his companion and friend, they always united in misfo...