CONVERSION LITERATURE (転向文学) & WAR LITERATURE (戦争文学)

CONVERSION LITERATURE
After the March 15 Incident of 1928, “conversion” (転向) became an important
government policy for suppressing communism and Marxism. Left-wing activists
were arrested and jailed, and offered the chance of an early release from prison if
they agreed to abandon their leftist ideology. The government found that conversion
was an effective tool for dividing and demoralizing the left-wing movement in Japan.
Conversions became more and more common in the early 1930s. In 1933, two
leaders of the Japanese Communist Party, Sano Manabu (佐野学) and Nabeyama
Sadachika (鍋山貞親), converted in prison. This led to a huge wave of conversions,
until almost no communists remained in Japan.
Japanese proletarian writers were no exception. They were harassed, arrested
and imprisoned frequently, and some were tortured in prison. By the early 1930s,
almost all of them had converted and agreed to abandon their left-wing ideology.
The works these authors wrote after conversion are known as “conversion
literature” (転向文学).
Conversion literature was never an organized literary movement. There was not
one particular magazine they wrote for, nor was there any literary style or ideology
that they shared. Some writers felt deeply regretful and ashamed of their
conversions and continued to believe in left-wing ideology in their hearts, while
others completely changed their views and even became nationalists.
It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between proletarian authors and
conversion authors, since most proletarian writers did eventually convert. Usually,
authors who wrote their most famous works before conversion are known as
proletarian writers, while those who wrote their most famous works after
conversion are known as conversion writers. For example, Tokunaga Sunao (徳永直)
converted and wrote the work Fuyugare (冬枯れ), which is known as an important
conversion novel. However, Tokunaga himself is known as a proletarian writer
because his most famous work, Taiyo no nai Machi (太陽のない街), was written
before his conversion. The most famous conversion writers include Shimaki
Kensaku (島木健作), Takeda Rintaro (武田麟太郎), Takami Jun (高見順), Nakano
Shigeharu (中野重治), and Hayashi Fusao (林房雄).
Though some conversion novels were written as early as 1932, the peak of
conversion literature was 1934 and 1935. During this time, many of the most
famous works of conversion literature were published, including Rai ( 癩 ) by
Shimaki Kensaku, Fuyugare by Tokunaga Sunao, Mura no Ie (村の家) by Nakano
Shigeharu, Kokyu Wasureubeki (故旧忘れ得べき) by Takami Jun, and Byakuya (白
夜) by the avant-garde playwright Murayama Tomoyoshi (村山知義 1901-1977).
Though conversion authors had officially promised to abandon their old ideology,
the government was suspicious of them because of their former ties to the left-wing
movement. In 1935, Shimaki Kensaku was voted the second place winner of the
Bungei Konwakai Prize (文藝懇話会賞), a literary award sponsored by the Japanese
government. However, the government refused to give Shimaki the award and
disqualified him because he was “unpatriotic.” Angered by Shimaki’s treatment,
conversion writers like Takeda Rintaro and Takami Jun created the magazine
Jinmin Bunko (人民文庫) in 1936 as a place for former proletarian writers to publish
their work. The magazine was partly inspired by the anti-fascist Popular Front (人
民戦線) movements that were occurring around the world at that time. However,
446 Japanese scholars and professors were arrested in the Popular Front Incident
(人民戦線事件) of late 1937 under the suspicion that they were trying to start a
Popular Front movement in Japan, and Jinmin Bunko magazine was banned. It
officially ended publication in early 1938.
The mid 1930s were a time of widespread disillusionment in Japan. Many
intellectuals pointed to the failure of both democratic government and the Marxist
movement as evidence that Japan had been mistaken in adopting Western culture
and ideology, and advocated a return to traditional Japanese thinking and culture.
A group of writers who shared this idea, led by the literary critic Yasuda Yojuro (保
田與重郎 1910-1981), formed the Japan romantic school (日本浪漫派) and published
the magazine Nihon Romanha from 1935 to 1938. Works by writers of this school
criticized the modern age and romanticized the old Japanese way of life and
traditional Japanese culture. The works often had nationalist themes, though not
all of the writers had a strong nationalist ideology. Most writers in this school were
not conversion authors, but the movement did attract some conversion writers like
Hayashi Fusao. Because they held very different views, the Jinmin Bunko writers
and Nihon Romanha writers had bad relations and often criticized each other.
Both Jinmin Bunko and Nihon Romanha magazines ended in 1938, and
conversion writers followed a variety of literary and ideological paths during and
after the war. With the new freedoms after World War II, some returned to the
Communist Party, others took an interest in postwar democracy, and a few
continued to hold the nationalist views they had embraced during wartime.
Famous Writers
1. Shimaki Kensaku (島木健作 1903-1945). Shimaki Kensaku is the most famous
conversion writer. His father died when he was 2 years old, and he had to leave
elementary school to work and help his mother support the family. In his early 20s,
he became involved in the left-wing movement. He helped to form a labor union in
Sendai in 1925, moved to Shikoku and became involved in the farmers’ movement
(農民運動) in Kagawa in 1926, and joined the Communist Party in 1927. The same
year, he became sick with tuberculosis. He was arrested in the March 15 Incident of
1928 and made a conversion in 1929, but was imprisoned anyway in 1930. His
tuberculosis became worse and he was put into an isolation ward (隔離病舎) in the
prison, where he lived together with leprosy (ハンセン病) patients. He was released
in 1932 and wrote his first novel Rai based on this experience. The novel is about
two political prisoners (思想犯) who meet in a prison isolation ward. One has
tuberculosis and has made a conversion, while the other has leprosy and has not
abandoned his beliefs. Rai was included in a collection of short stories called Goku
(獄), which also contains the story Momoku about a man who goes blind in prison.
Shimaki’s long novel Seikatsu no Tankyu, about a university student who decides to
quit school and return to his poor village to become a farmer, was a big bestseller.
Shimaki was always tormented by his conversion and his illness, and wrote about
the search for meaning in life after one has lost their beliefs or their health. He was
never able to see the freedom after World War II, as he died of tuberculosis just two
days after the war ended. After his death, several very short stories by Shimaki
which use animals as metaphors for human life were published. These include
Kuroneko and Akagaeru.
Famous works: Rai (癩) 1934
Momoku (盲目) 1934
Reimei (黎明) 1935
Saiken (再建) 1937
Seikatsu no Tankyu (生活の探究) 1937
Kuroneko (黒猫) 1946
Akagaeru (赤蛙) 1946

2. Takeda Rintaro (武田麟太郎 1904-1946). Takeda Rintaro began his career by

writing novels in the style of the new sensationalist school, but gradually became
interested in Marxism. He was active as a proletarian writer from 1929 to 1931, but
converted when government suppression became too severe. He then switched to a
style of novel he called shiseigotomono (市井事もの) – works about the lives of the
common people. These novels were strongly influenced by the Edo period writer
Ihara Saikaku, who Takeda researched and admired, and contained elements of
both humor and pathos. His most famous work is Nihon Sanmon Opera, which
looks at episodes in the lives of common people living in various rooms of a shabby
apartment building. Many of his novels are set in his hometown of Osaka, such as
Kamagasaki, about a man who is shown around the Airin Chiku (あいりん地区)
area by a prostitute who is actually a man disguised as a woman. During World War
II, Takeda Rintaro was sent to Indonesia, where he became involved in the
Indonesian independence movement. He studied the Indonesian language and
hoped to popularize Indonesian literature in Japan by translating it into Japanese,
but died before he could realize his plan.
Famous works: Nihon Sanmon Opera (日本三文オペラ) 1932
Kamagasaki (釜ヶ崎) 1933
Shiseigoto (市井事) 1933
Kanjo (勘定) 1933
Ginza Hatcho (銀座八丁) 1934
Ichi no Tori (一の酉) 1935
Gendaishi (現代詩) 1937
Daikyo no Kuji (大凶の籤) 1939

3. Takami Jun (高見順 1907-1965). Takami Jun was the illegitimate son (非嫡出子)
of the governor of Fukui Prefecture. He did not meet his famous father even once,
and lived in poverty with his mother and was bullied at school for being born out of
wedlock. He became interested first in Dadaism and later in Marxism, and joined
the proletarian writers’ federation NAPF (ナップ) around 1930. He was arrested in
1933 and converted in prison. After his release, he wrote his most famous work,
Kokyu Wasureubeki. It is the story of several men who were once idealistic left-wing
students at Tokyo Imperial University, but have been unable to accomplish
anything of importance after graduation and now live lives of mediocrity, decadence
or poverty. The story is based partly on Takami’s own experiences. During World
War II he was sent to Burma (Myanmar), where he became friends with several
local writers and helped to form the Burmese Writers’ Association (ビルマ作家協会).
Famous works: Kokyu Wasureubeki (故旧忘れ得べき) 1935-1936
Ikanaru Hoshi no Moto ni (如何なる星の下に) 1939-1950
Iya na Kanji (いやな感じ) 1963
left to right: Shimaki Kensaku, Takeda Rintaro, Takami Jun

4. Nakano Shigeharu (中野重治 1902-1979). Nakano Shigeharu was a novelist and

poet. He was active in the proletarian literature movement from 1926 and helped to
form NAPF in 1928. He joined the Communist Party in 1931, but was arrested in
1932, was tortured in prison, and eventually converted and was released in 1934.
From 1935 to 1936, he published five novels on the theme of conversion (転向五部作),
including Mura no Ie and Shosetsu no Kakenu Shosetsuka. The most famous of
these is Mura no Ie, about a Marxist intellectual who returns to his family home in
a rural village after his arrest and conversion, and is tormented by his relationship
with his parents and his feelings of shame about betraying his beliefs. Nakano
always regretted his conversion and rejoined the Communist Party after World War
II. In addition to writing, he became a communist politician and was a member of
Japan’s House of Councillors (参議院) from 1947 to 1950. He is known for his
autobiographical novels Uta no Wakare and Muragimo.
Famous works: Mura no Ie (村の家) 1935
Shosetsu no Kakenu Shosetsuka (小説の書けぬ小説家) 1936
Uta no Wakare (歌のわかれ) 1940
Muragimo (むらぎも) 1954
Nashi no Hana (梨の花) 1959
Kootsu Heitei (甲乙丙丁) 1969

5. Hayashi Fusao (林房雄 1903-1975). Hayashi Fusao’s father was an alcoholic who
bankrupted the family business, and his mother had to work in a textile spinning
factory to support the family. He became involved in the leftist movement in 1925
and was arrested in 1926. After his release from prison, he became a proletarian
literature author and wrote novels like Mayu, which was based on his own
childhood and showed the plight of women like his mother who worked in textile
factories. He was arrested for raising money for the Communist Party in 1930, and
converted in prison and was released in 1932. He then published the novel Seinen,
about the activities of young Choshu samurai (長州藩士) like Ito Hirobumi (伊藤博
文) and Inoue Kaoru (井上馨) at the end of the Edo period. From 1935, he became
more and more critical of Marxism and proletarian literature, and was attracted to
the Japan romantic school, which included writers like Kamei Katsuichiro (亀井勝
一郎 1907-1966) who had also converted from Marxism. During the war, he moved
further toward nationalism and began writing a huge work on the life of the
Satsuma samurai Saigo Takamori (西郷隆盛). After the war, he wrote several works
of popular fiction, but he is best known for his nationalist essay Dai Toa Senso Kotei
Ron. In the essay, Hayashi defends Japan’s actions during the Asia-Pacific War as a
necessary culmination of Japan’s 100-year struggle to liberate Asia from Western
imperialism, which had begun with the arrival of Commodore Perry’s ships in 1853.
The work created a huge scandal when it was published and remains controversial
today.
Famous works: Mayu (繭) 1926
Seinen (青年) 1932
Saigo Takamori (西郷隆盛) 1939-1970
Dai Toa Senso Kotei Ron (大東亜戦争肯定論) 1963-1965 (essay)

Nakano Shigeharu Hayashi Fusao

WAR LITERATURE
The Second Sino-Japanese War (日中戦争) began in July 1937. Starting as early
as August 1937, newspapers and literary magazines like Bungei Shunju (文藝春秋),
Chuo Koron (中央公論) and Kaizo (改造) began sending authors to the front line in
China as special correspondents (特派員). The authors basically played the role of
journalists and wrote reports about the latest wartime incidents and developments.
The Japanese government took an interest in this and thought that Japanese
authors could play an important role in promoting Japan’s war effort. In August
1938, the government enlisted 32 authors into the army and navy and sent them to
the Battle of Wuhan (武漢作戦) as war correspondents. In November 1938, another
group of writers was sent to southern China. These writers that were sent to Wuhan
and southern China are known as Pen Butai (ペン部隊, “the Pen Corps” ).
An important development in war literature was the publication of the novel
Mugi to Heitai (麦と兵隊) by Hino Ashihei (火野葦平) in September 1938. Hino had
gone to China as a soldier in 1937, and the novel reported on the lives of Japanese
soldiers during the Battle of Xuzhou (徐州会戦) of April-June 1938. Hino also
published Tsuchi to Heitai (土と兵隊) in November 1938 and Hana to Heitai (花と兵
隊) in 1939. These three novels about Japanese soldiers’ lives, which came to be
known as the Soldier Trilogy (兵隊三部作), were huge hits and sold over 3 million
copies.
In October 1941, literature writers were included for the first time in the draft (徴
用). In the case of the Pen Butai writers, the government had requested them to join
the military and the writers were, at least theoretically, able to refuse the request.
From October 1941, however, writers were drafted in the same way as other soldiers
and faced prison time if they refused. Authors were trained and treated just like
regular soldiers, but did not fight on the front lines. Instead, their role was to help
the Japanese military with propaganda and “cultural engineering” (文化工作).
Artists and journalists were also drafted for the same purpose.
Though the Pen Butai writers had been sent to China, large numbers of writers
began to be sent to Southeast Asia from 1941. Between 1941 and 1944, more than
50 writers were sent to Malaysia, Burma (Myanmar), Indonesia and the Philippines.
This is known as the Southern Conscription (南方徴用). Writers in Southeast Asia
not only wrote war reports but created propaganda aimed at the local people. They
also designed Japanese language textbooks and educational materials for the locals.
The Southern Conscription did not involve only male authors. Women authors were
also sent to Southeast Asia for short stays.
In May 1942, the Nihon Bungaku Hokokukai (日本文学報国会, “Patriotic
Association for Japanese Literature”) was formed at the request of the government’s
Information Bureau (情報局). The association’s purpose was to use literature to
promote and help with the implementation of Japanese government policy – in
other words, to create patriotic literature which could be used as government
propaganda. It included not only novels, but also poetry and theater plays. The
executives of the association were novelists, poets and playwrights, and all writers
in Japan were requested to become members. In some cases, writers did not
actually receive a request, but were listed as members of the association without
their permission. With the exception of a few authors like Uchida Hyakken (内田百
閒) who refused, basically every writer in Japan became a member.
There was very little freedom for writers during wartime. Not only anti-
imperialist and antiwar novels, but novels that were considered too trivial or
decadent for wartime were also banned. Some authors who disagreed with the war
or were disgusted with government censorship simply stopped writing. However,
there were basically no writers who actively opposed the war. On the contrary, many
of them genuinely supported it, and wrote novels and essays that enthusiastically
praised the Japanese war effort.
The situation for these writers changed drastically after World War II. The
literary establishment attacked and ostracized writers who had actively supported
the war, demanding that they “take responsibility” for their wartime actions (戦争責
任). Many literary magazines and publishers rejected works by these authors, and it
became impossible for many of them to make a living by writing. Some say that
condemning pro-war writers was a necessary part of creating a freer and more
democratic society after the war. Others, however, say that it was hypocritical to
only ostracize certain authors, since virtually every writer in Japan had supported
the war effort in some way.

Famous Writers
1. Hino Ashihei (火野葦平 1907-1960). Hino Ashihei’s father was a dock worker (港
湾労働者) at the Port of Kitakyushu (北九州港). In his mid-twenties, Ashihei became
involved with the labor movement and formed a dock workers’ union, but he was
arrested and converted. After this, he devoted his attention to writing literature
(despite his conversion, he is not generally considered a conversion literature
writer). His 1937 novel Funnyotan won the Akutagawa Prize (芥川賞). It is the story
of a naïve man who hopes to become rich by gathering human excrement and selling
it to farming villages as fertilizer, but finds that his plan is harder to realize than he
expected. Hino had been sent to China as a soldier in the year Funnyotan was
published, and the literary critic Kobayashi Hideo (小林秀雄 1902-1983) travelled
to China to give Hino his award. Because of his literary success, Hino was moved to
the army’s information corps (報道部) and began to write about the lives of Japanese
soldiers fighting in China. His Soldier Trilogy (Mugi to Heitai, Tsuchi to Heitai, and
Hana to Heitai) was a huge bestseller and made Hino a national hero. He continued
to be sent as a reporter to various battlefields in Asia during the Pacific War. After
1945, he was criticized for his actions during the war, but he made a successful
return to the literary establishment with his autobiographical novel Hana to Ryu.
He committed suicide in 1960.
Famous works: Funnyotan (糞尿譚) 1937
Mugi to Heitai (麦と兵隊) 1938
Tsuchi to Heitai (土と兵隊) 1938
Hana to Heitai (花と兵隊) 1938-1939
Hana to Ryu (花と龍) 1952-1953

2. Ishikawa Tatsuzo ( 石 川 達 三 1905-1985). Ishikawa Tatsuzo was a socially

conscious (社会派) writer who wrote about the social issues of the day. In 1930, he
accompanied a group of Japanese emigrants on a ship to Brazil and spent several
months working on a Brazilian farm. This experience became the basis for his most
famous novel Sobo, a story about the lives of Japanese immigrants in Brazil which
won the first Akutagawa Prize in 1935. At the end of 1937, he was sent to Nanjing
(南京) as a reporter for Chuo Koron (中央公論) magazine, and he arrived there
around the time of the Nanjing Massacre (南京事件・南京大虐殺). He wrote about his
experience in the novel Ikite iru Heitai. Though the novel does not mention the
worst atrocities of the massacre, Ishikawa angered the Japanese government
because he wrote about the slaughter of Chinese civilians, the misery of war and the
pessimism of Japanese soldiers in China. Ikite iru Heitai was banned and Ishikawa
was imprisoned for 4 months. During the Pacific War, he was enlisted in the navy
and sent to Southeast Asia. He had a successful career after the war, publishing
bestsellers like Yonju Hassai no Teiko, Ningen no Kabe and Seishun no Satetsu.
Famous works: Sobo (蒼氓) 1935
Ikite iru Heitai (生きてゐる兵隊) 1938
Yonju Hassai no Teiko (四十八歳の抵抗) 1955-1956
Ningen no Kabe (人間の壁) 1957-1959
Kinkanshoku (金環蝕) 1966
Seishun no Satetsu (青春の蹉跌) 1968

3. Niwa Fumio (丹羽文雄 1904-2005). Niwa Fumio was the son of a Buddhist priest
and almost became a priest himself, but decided to become a writer instead. His
father was having an affair with his mother’s mother (Fumio’s grandmother), and
this caused his mother to run away with a kabuki actor when Fumio was 4 years old.
The story of his mother is the basis for his novel Ayu. In his early career, Niwa was
known for his erotic stories and depictions of free-spirited women, and he was
sometimes criticized for being immoral. He was sent to China as part of the Pen
Butai, which resulted in the novel Kaeranu Chutai. During the Pacific War, he was
enlisted in the navy and experienced the Battle of Savo Island (第一次ソロモン海戦)
of August 1942. This became the basis for his novel Kaisen, which is considered one
of the best works of war literature. He had a huge hit after the war with Iyagarase
no Nenrei, a short story about a senile 86-year-old woman who torments her family.
Later in his career, he wrote works related to Buddhism like Bodaiju and Shinran.
Famous works: Ayu (鮎) 1932
Kaeranu Chutai (還らぬ中隊) 1939
Kaisen (海戦) 1942
Iyagarase no Nenrei (厭がらせの年齢) 1947
Bodaiju (菩提樹) 1955-1956
Ichiro (一路) 1962-1966
Shinran (親鸞) 1965-1969

4. Takeyama Michio ( 竹 山 道 雄 1903-1984). Takeyama Michio was a German

professor at the First Higher School (第一高等学校) in Tokyo. He remained in Japan
during the war, and writes in his essays about the sadness of seeing many of his
students depart for the battlefields of Asia and the Pacific. After the war, he
published the novel Biruma no Tategoto, about Japanese soldiers in Burma
(Myanmar) at the end of World War II. The story was originally intended for
children, but also became popular among adults and is now considered a classic of
war literature.
Famous works: Biruma no Tategoto (ビルマの竪琴) 1947-1948

left to right: Hino Ashihei, Ishikawa Tatsuzo, Niwa Fumio, Takeyama Michio
“LEPROSY LITERATURE” (ハンセン病文学)
In prewar Japan, tuberculosis (結核) and beriberi (脚気) were so common that
they were called “the people’s diseases” (国民病). From the Industrial Revolution,
overcrowding, overwork and poor sanitation in cities caused the rate of tuberculosis
to increase in many Western countries. In Japan, too, the rate began to increase in
the Meiji era and became higher and higher during the Taisho era. By the early
Showa era, tuberculosis had become the number one cause of death in Japan and
was called the “nation killer” (亡国病). On the other hand, tuberculosis was often
romanticized in Japanese literature. The appearance of tuberculosis patients, with
their thin bodies, pale skin, red cheeks and moist eyes, was often described as
“beautiful,” and the fact that many young people died of tuberculosis made it a
popular theme for tragic love stories.
Leprosy was quite the opposite. Though the number of leprosy patients was far
lower than that of tuberculosis patients, the disease’s effect on people’s appearance
caused it to be feared above all others. In fact, leprosy does not spread easily
between people, but discrimination and incorrect knowledge of the disease caused
the Japanese government to begin isolating leprosy patients in sanatoriums from
1907. Despite this, many leprosy patients still lived outside of sanatoriums at the
beginning of the Showa era. Some were cared for by their families at home, while
others lived together in communities near temples, where they begged for money.
This situation changed due to the “Leprosy-Free Prefecture Movement” (無癩県運
動), which started in 1929 and reached its peak in the mid-1930s. In this movement,
the police removed leprosy patients from their homes and communities and forced
them to enter sanatoriums, which they were not allowed to leave until they died.
Most of them never saw their families again. The sanatoriums were overcrowded
and had poor food and sanitation. Patients received little medical care, were forced
to do physical labor, and their human rights were routinely violated. In these poor
living conditions, many of them died from illnesses other than leprosy. Though
medicine to treat leprosy was discovered in the 1950s, the patients were not allowed
to leave the sanatoriums until 1996. By this time, almost all of them had died of
disease or old age. This is often cited as the most shameful episode in postwar
Japanese history.
In the late 1930s, several books written by doctors, nurses and patients in leprosy
sanatoriums were published and became bestsellers. During the early Showa era,
these works were known as “leprosy literature.” The most important of these
writers is Hojo Tamio (北条民雄). The term “leprosy literature” is rarely used in
contemporary scholarship, and today Hojo is simply known as one of the important
writers of early Showa era literature.

Famous Writers
1. Hojo Tamio (北条民雄 1914-1937). Hojo Tamio was the pen name of a writer who
suffered from leprosy. He hid his real name because families of leprosy patients
were subject to severe discrimination. He developed leprosy symptoms at the age of
19, just after he had gotten married. Because of his illness, he divorced his wife and
entered the Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium (国立療養所多磨全生園) when he was 20. At
first he thought of committing suicide, but he eventually decided to become a writer.
Since he could not leave Tama Zenshoen, he wrote a letter to Kawabata Yasunari,
who helped him to publish his novels about life in the leprosy sanatorium. His most
famous work is Inochi no Shoya, based on Hojo’s own experiences when he first
arrived at Tama Zenshoen and his feelings of fear, despair and finally acceptance of
his fate. The work was a bestseller and is still read today. Hojo Tamio’s writing
career only continued for about one year. He died in the sanatorium of tuberculosis,
not leprosy, at the age of 23.
Famous works: Inochi no Shoya (いのちの初夜) 1936
Rai Kazoku (癩家族) 1936
Raiin Jutai (癩院受胎) 1936
Gantaiki (眼帯記) 1936

OTHER WRITERS
A number of other new writers appeared in the late 1930s and early 1940s. These
include Nakajima Atsushi (中島敦), Abe Tomoji (阿部知二 1903-1973), Ozaki Kazuo
(尾崎一雄 1899-1983), Oda Sakunosuke (織田作之助 1913-1947), Dazai Osamu (太
宰治 1909-1948) and Sakaguchi Ango (坂口安吾 1906-1955). Abe Tomoji is known
for his 1936 novel Fuyu no Yado (冬の宿), while Ozaki Kazuo won the Akutagawa
Prize in 1937 for his work Nonki Megane (暢気眼鏡, first published in 1933). Oda,
Dazai and Ango eventually came to be known as the decadent school (無頼派).
Though all three writers were active from the 1930s, the decadent school is often
included in discussions of postwar literature because it had an important influence
on contemporary Japanese writers.
Famous Writers
1. Nakajima Atsushi (中島敦 1909-1942). Nakajima Atsushi was a Japanese and
English teacher at a girls’ school in Yokohama, but quit his job and went to Palau
(パラオ) to work as a Japanese language textbook editor in 1941. He returned to
Japan the following year when the war intensified and his asthma (喘息), which he
had suffered from since childhood, became worse. For the remainder of 1942, he
actively wrote and published literary works, but he died of asthma in December of
the same year. He was 33 years old. Many of Nakajima’s stories are set in the
distant past and faraway places. Several family members, including Nakajima’s
father, were scholars of the Chinese classics, and the themes of several of
Nakajima’s most famous works come from old Chinese history and literature. For
example, Deshi is about Confucius (孔子) and his disciple Zi Lu (子路); Riryo is
about the Western Han Dynasty (前漢朝) warrior Li Ling (李陵) and historian Sima
Qian (司馬遷); Sangetsuki is based on the Tang Dynasty (唐朝) story Renhuzhuan
(人虎伝) about a man who transforms into a tiger; and Meijinden is based on a story
of a master archer included in the Warring States Period (春秋戦国時代) work Liezi
(列子). Some parts of Nakajima’s works are written in the classical style of kanbun
( 漢 文 ), particularly his most famous work Sangetsuki, which is known as a
masterpiece of modern Japanese literature. He is also known for the long novel
Hikari to Kaze to Yume, about the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (ロバー
ト・ルイス・スティーヴンソン) and the years Stevenson spent living in Samoa.
Famous works: Sangetsuki (山月記) 1942
Mojika (文字禍) 1942
Hikari to Kaze to Yume (光と風と夢) 1942
Deshi (弟子) 1942
Meijinden (名人伝) 1942
Riryo (李陵) 1942, published 1943

Hojo Tamio Nakajima Atsushi

Sources: 青空文庫; ビルマ情報ネットワーク website; 文芸誌ムセイオン website; 神谷忠孝『南
方徴用作家』(retrieved from 北海道大学学術成果コレクション(HUSCAP) website); ハンセン
病国賠弁護団 website; 長谷目源太『「繭」
「青年」に見る林房雄の原像』(retrieved from Viento
おおいたの風 website); 石橋正雄の「生き方上手じゃないけれど」blog; Kotobank; 国松昭『小
説家中野重治における転向体験 –「村の家」を中心にして』(retrieved from 東京外国語大学学
術 成 果コ レク ショ ン website); 直 木賞 のす べて 余 聞 と余 分 website; 武 田麟 太郎 年譜
(retrieved from http://www.geocities.co.jp/Milkyway-Orion/4605/takerin/takerinBio.htm);
Wikipedia