a cat, a man & two women by Tanizaki Junichiro

Reissued by New Directions, a cat, a man and two women was originally published by Kodansha International, translated by Paul McCarthy, this new edition also includes his original Preface, this translation received the Japan - U.S Friendship Commission Prize. New Directions have done a great job with this edition with a striking new jacket including art from Tsuguhara Foujita, and also of note is the mention on the reverse that two more novels yet to have been translated into English are on the way, which is news to look forward to. Recently they've also given attractive new covers to Mishima's Confessions of a Mask and also Death in Midsummer.

a cat, a man and two women collects three of Tanizaki's short fictions, the last Professor Rado is in two parts as it was originally published in two installments, as was the title story. The second story is The Little Kingdom/Chiisana okoku, which when you discover that it first appeared in 1918, the same year as Akutagawa's Hell Screen, makes you wonder agape again at the span of Tanizaki's writing career, which takes in three era's of modern Japanese history. The Little Kingdom follows the fortunes or misfortunes of a provincial teacher caught in a power game within the children of his class which he himself becomes entangled with. As Paul McCarthy mentions in his informative Preface themes of domination and submission appear in the story, themes that preoccupied Tanizaki throughout his writing.

It's been sometime since I've read Tanizaki, but reading a cat, a man and two women brought the realization of how Tanizaki incorporates the epistolary into his writing as all though I've not checked, a number of his pieces seem to either open or feature letters written by or between his central characters, it seems that this is a perfect vehicle to open scenarios and windows into his character's consciousness and psyches. In the title story this is done to great affect in Shinako whose letter at the opening of the story requesting the handing over of the cat that Shozo is so enamoured with sets the shifting of the story. Essentially the story is a menagerie a trois with the additional central character of Lily, the cat, who becomes the pivotal factor in the relationships between Shozo and the two women in his life, his divorced wife, Shinako and new wife, Fukuko. Tanizaki's usage of Lily in Shinako's care and the shifting of her empowerment within affairs is masterly conveyed. Another aspect of the story of note is that of it being set firmly in the Kansai area, rather than that of Tokyo, Tanizaki famously moved to the area. Envisioning the stories here, it's quite easy to picture them as early black and white films, it comes as little surprise to know that early in his career Tanizaki was a script writer for Taishō Katsuei, or literary consultant as it's Wikipedia page mentions. Although coming from a background of reasonable comfort, Shozo appears as a rather feckless character who eventual succumbs to the encroaching web of conflicting affections between the three.

The last story out of the three is Professor Rado which seems to display the hallmarks usually associated with Tanizaki - masochism and off beat sexualities, the story was originally published in two parts, the first in Kaizo in 1925 and the second in Shincho in 1928. In a way it could be said that it displays some early aspects of the Ero guro. The story is conveyed by a journalist assigned to interview the Professor who when they meet displays an affected appearance and strange mannerisms and conversational manner, question marks and rumours emerge over the Professor's household. In the second part the journalist catches up with the Professor again at a variety performance where the Professor begins to show an extra special interest in one particular performer who is rumoured to suffer from the symptoms of syphilis, the journalist agrees to gain more information about the performer who appears to always remain quizzically silent during performances and has a mysterious past. The story has a certain voyeuristic quality to it as the revealing scenarios of the plot are relayed by the journalist in a clandestine manner. a cat, a man and two women offers an interesting showcase of Tanizaki's styles and themes, and it's great that New Directions have rescued it from lapsing into being out of print, very much looking forward to the two forthcoming novels.

a cat, a man and two women at ndp  


 

The Ark Sakura by Kōbō Abe

The Ark Sakura/Hakobune sakura maru first appeared a little over thirty years ago, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter the novel displays a number of motifs that can be seen in much of Abe's writing, although laced in places with absurdist humour the novel addresses a number of sociological issues, although chiefly among these is the prospect of nuclear armageddon, told with a particularly Abe-esque vision. The novel opens with it's narrator Pig or Mole as he prefers it, buying an eupcaccia, an insect invented by Abe which back in pre-internet days must have convinced many readers that it was a bona-fide insect, Mole identifies with the insect through numerous instances of the novel, (the fact that the insect feeds on it's on faeces is a slightly disarming one), which gives the novel an entomological strand, similar to that perhaps also felt in The Woman of the Dunes, through the bug's purchase at a rooftop sale he comes into contact with three other principal characters of the novel, the insect dealer, the shill and his girlfriend, whose real name Abe, I'm certain doesn't let slip throughout the book. After buying the insect Mole learns that the previous purchasers, the mole and his girlfriend were in actuality fake buyers, shills, employed by the market to entice customers into making purchases, they're are also known as sakura and later refer to themselves as decoys, which goes some way in being an initial driving pin Abe utilises in beginning to separate reality and appearance, which one might be real?, later in the novel this concept is added upon when we are presented with the scenario that it's protagonists are happier to live in a world of supposed nuclear destruction than existing in the world that they had known previously to it. In some ways The Ark Sakura could be seen as Abe's end of the world novel, the only one Abe wrote during the eighties it's evocative of it's own age, appearing a year before Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World it feels at times like there are a number of overlaps in tone between the two writers, although where as Murakami leans to use magical realism in his writing it feels that Abe's writing presents the imagery but leaves the reader open to ponder on what is being presented. Amongst the political satire and at times coded commentary the novel studies some serious concerns, notably that of the concept of collective fear in the nuclear age, when reading the novel we have to remind ourselves of the proximities of these fears in the age it was written, the tangibility of nuclear Armageddon.

A good first portion of the novel is taken up with following Mole persuading the insect dealer, the shill and his girlfriend into signing up in being crew members to board his ark built in a disused quarry, once owned by his father, the exact dimensions of the ark remain uncertain, and as they wander the labyrinthine tunnels of the ark we're reminded of the winding corridors of the hospital in Secret Rendezvous, Mole and the insect dealer are uncertain as to whether they've made it to the ark before the shill and his girlfriend, as they are separated en route, there's an epiphanic scene in the darkness after they arrive when Mole switches on the light, via one of his strange gadget inventions, that throws the novel into a light that somehow doesn't feel was on before, we begin to learn of the shades of Mole's character, his estranged father Inototsu, and that Mole was the product of a rape committed by his father. Once inside the ark the narrative, usually conveyed via Mole explores various philosophical and social subjects, at one point the notion of national sovereignty is examined and the conclusion arises that on the whole it's a rather limp concept which exists in order to allow the state to remain free reign do as it wishes. Whilst in the ark we learn that other factions operate within the quarry, an octogenarian group of cleaners called the Broom Brigade have formed their own quasi political group, which it could be said resembles a certain faction that drive around in darkened vans, this portrait feels similar to Abe's continued coded commentary of the right as in The Ruined Map the criminal gang are all wearing yamato badges, it's not too obvious, although it is there. As well as the political ruminations there is the background subplot of the quarry being targeted to dump toxic waste illegally for profit, which is the point of contention between Mole and the varying factions, and also of the quarry being a place to despatch the bodies of unwanted persons who find themselves in the way. Abe's metaphors seem to resonate and become more cohesive after coming to the end of many of his novels, they sometimes come into focus later, which leads us to contemplate his use of perspective in his narratives. Another group referred to is the Olympic Preventive League, which has perhaps a renewed relevancy in light of future events, Mole contemplates the event noting it's absurdity and the means of what it represents.

As with some of Abe's later novels it feels that at times the plot line of The Ark Sakura unfurls in a scattered way, there is subterfuge and digressions, the flow of the narrative is pockmarked by allegorical incidence and odd angled diversions. As well as the serious line of the narrative this feels like it is threatened to be subsumed by Mole's observations of his attraction to the shill's girlfriend although this goes someway in exacerbating the sense of his solitude, another aspect of his character alluded to is the inherent criminality passed between father to son. Off centre in the later half of the novel a death occurs whose circumstance Mole can't unfathom, it's left there, a dark knot in the novel that even the narrator cannot seem to undo, it's interesting also to contemplate that the novel has two exit points to speak of, Mole's escape and of those that stay behind. It's also interesting to contemplate that the novel appeared in 1984, obviously a significant year in literature, which provokes the question of Abe's thoughts on Orwell's novel, surely he must have read it?, did he write on it?, another further point of interest is that 1948 was the year that Abe's first piece appeared, curious observations that probably have no connection.      

The Ark Sakura at Penguin Random House 

                    

Realm of the Dead by Uchida Hyakken

Realm of the Dead is a book I've been meaning to reach for a while now, published by Dalkey Archive Press in 2006 and translated by Rachel DiNitto, who has also written an in-depth study of Hyakken in Uchida Hyakken - A Critique of Modernity and Militarism in Pre-war Japan, (Harvard East Asian Monographs - 30). Realm of the Dead is made up of two books by Hyakken, the same titled Realm of the Dead/Meido from 1922 and also Triumphant March Into Port Arthur/Ryojun Nyujoshiku from 1934. Between the two volumes there is a one page preface from Hyakken for the collection Triumphant March Into Port Arthur, in which he goes some way in explaining the ten year gap between the publication of the two books, the main cause being the great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, reading this short preface from Hyakken comes the realization that Realm of the Dead is a book that would have perhaps been improved upon with the addition of at least a few pages by means of a further introduction or afterword to give a fuller con-textualisation to his writing and it's period. As well as writing an alternative version of I Am A Cat, Hyakken is also famous for being the subject of Kurosawa Akira's film Madadayo, in 1911 he was a pupil of Natsume Soseki, and after graduating from Tokyo University taught German at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy from 1916.

The two books consist mainly of short stories, 18 in Realm of the Dead and 29 in Triumphant March into Port Arthur, some of these in the later barely cover two pages, but reading Hyakken is to marvel at what he achieves in such a short space, his writing inhabits in lucid prose, realms of consciousness peeping out into vistas of the subconscious, or vice versa, at times surreal, reaching depths and heights that at times abruptly end as if their narrator is awakening from a dream or vision. Hyakken's compressed world is sometimes similar to that of Kafka, the inconsequential can be flipped over into being the consequential, plunging the narrator into philosophical explorations and interior ruminations which throw the narrator's world view into unexpected trajectories, the dilemma of a found wallet being one. Reading Realm of the Dead reminds me of the need to track out two other books, one being A Thousand One-Second Stories by Inagaki Taruho and the other is The Beautiful and the Grotesque by Akutagawa, in places it's interesting to remind yourself that Hyakken was for a time a contemporary of Akutagawa, perhaps he can be identified here appearing as Noguchi in the longer story The Bowler Hat, the narrator and Noguchi almost vie with each other as to who is the more affecting of the two writers, Noguchi departs the story eventually overdosing. Hyakken's stories do dip into some strange territories, one narrator finds himself being interrogated by melting police detectives, and although brief his stories impress with their unrelenting nature, in others the reader may pause and begin to question as to the motives behind Hyakken, or his narrator's reasoning in relating their narratives. In Whitecaps the narrator relates the story of how he and his Uncle find themselves rowing out to sea with the task of disposing of their pet dog that is guilty of biting a neighbour's child, reading Hyakken's stories sometimes feels that some could come closer to being described as narrative obstacles rather than ending with clear conclusion, although an overriding one could be that sometimes life is not good.

Across both of the books of stories there are number of different styles and narrative forms, some are dark explorative fictions, some feel that they maybe inspired from real life experiences and settings, there are a number here set in Hosei University, (including the title story of Triumphant March into Port Arthur), where Hyakken taught and perhaps if you are well grounded in Taisho/early Showa era history, some of the symbolism and portraits will begin to come into sharper focus, the story Triumphant March into Port Arthur is a far from being a celebratory narrative following the narrator watch a newsreel of the battle, which is centred around the meeting between General Nogi and General  Stessel, the narrator leaves the theatre with tears down his face, loosing all sense of his bearings he describes - 'The crowd kept clapping. My cheeks wet with crying, I fell into formation and was led out into the quiet of the city streets, out into nowhere'. Many of the stories feel that they have a metropolitan setting, but amongst these The Carp seems to pause for a moment to offer at what first appears as a landscape view, although with Hyakken it doesn't take too long before things begin to take on an alternative perspective, the narrator finds himself pursued into the landscape, the motives or identities of his pursuers uncertain, a mountain range comes into view, one pointing up resembling the dorsal fin of a carp, at points the delineation between land and sky becomes distorted, a spot of bright light appears and the narrator can hear an echoing sound that seems to grow in volume, the narrator finds himself on the other side of the light, staring back he notices that the side he was in is shaded in darkness, before him he observes a lake, in it a beautiful carp swims, the narrator becomes entranced by the fish, whose reflection he can see projected or reflected in the sky, the story ends with the narrator trying to restrain himself from diving in to swim with the beautiful fish. It's a beguiling story, reading it again on it's own and taken out of the stream of narratives from these stories, is to realise Hyakken's ornate  combination of allegory and modernist prose, to read The Carp is to perhaps picture a narrator witnessing an aspect of one of the stories from Ugetsu Monogatari - Muo no Rigyo/A Carp That Appeared in My Dream, and in another of one transcribing the journey from the mortal into the immortal, a fascinating collection that rewards after repeated reading.  


Realm of the Dead at Dalkey Archive Press                       

The Crimson Thread of Abandon - Stories by Terayama Shūji

For those familiar with Terayama and his poetry, films, (most famously perhaps, Emperor of Tomato Ketchup and Pastoral: Death in the Country), and his plays, this book will be a welcome addition, in some ways it could be said to be able to appreciate the book without considering it in light with the rest of Terayama's output and life could be a difficult thing to do, but whilst reading these stories it's hard not to hear echoes of the music of Julius Arnest Seaer playing somewhere in their backgrounds. To read these stories you'll maybe finding yourself putting the external world on hold for a while, entering Terayama's world is like finding yourself in a slightly phantasmic version of Lewis Carroll's, spread across them some characters reappear, Mizue, who could be described perhaps as Terayama's Alice, and also there's Smokey the cat, although references aside, in Terayama there's a feeling that eventually everything becomes subverted. Throughout these stories characters appear that feature in his films, sailors, boxers, travelling troupes, another repeating motif is the game of hide and seek, in one, Hide-and-Not-Go-Seek, the narrator plays the game and taking a dislike to one boy sees him hide down a drain, seeing a lorry reversing which is carrying a load of lumber he instructs the driver to dump it on top of the man hole cover, the game finishes without the boy in the drain re-appearing, unnervingly, much to the indifference to the narrator. Years later he returns to his hometown and passing the drain on a nostalgic stroll he peeks inside half expecting to find the boy's bones, entering it he struggles to see but looking up the boy, un-aged, appears and closes the cover down on him and the sound of heavy objects being placed on the cover is heard. Reading these stories you get the slight feeling that you're being assaulted by the breadth of Terayama's flights of inexhaustible imagination, and they are to be wondered at.

Another re-occurring element is that of the cut out, characters come into existence by having their names cut from other books, in another story words are brought to life by being cut out of the page, a conundrum arises with the word love, how will it manifest itself when it's cut out and appears in the physical world?, Terayama offers possible answers to the reader in the style of a number of multiple choice options, we decide, this switch in offering the reader a perspective on the creation process is offered in other stories, how would we write it, he offers us the pen?. But if you were to pick up this book without any prior knowledge of Terayama or the rest of his oeuvre you'd be hard pressed not to be caught in his world, the stories have a slightly quick fire-ness to them, characters can be introduced in the time it takes to finish the end of a sentence, their directions take turns into different trajectories in equal amounts of space. In Flame a town suffers the fate that all the fires go out, to the extent that a neighbouring volcano sinks into smoking dormancy, one of the characters ponders as to whether the town actually had a spark to begin with?, a plot develops that a flame will be kidnapped from a neighbouring town, but the plot is threatened by those committing a subterfuge, which includes a flock of dive bombing birds, but within the story lies another added layer, that of the theme of the purity of the flame of love.

Throughout these stories it feels that conventional storytelling is being dispensed with, although many of the stories retain preoccupations with the nature of fate, of course it's usually unfair and cruel, they retain though the feeling of being fables, albeit being distortedly viewed through a bell jar. Eraser, is another story where an everyday object becomes imbued with magical powers that provokes a double take at the commonplace, coming across an eraser that has the ability to erase physical objects, Johnny the Sailor jealously uses it to erase all the men in the life of the woman he falls in love with, but to the story Terayama adds a twist of fate that adds a further resonance to the tale. In The Elusive Milena, a camera is discovered to be able to take photographs 10 years into the future, and for all those who don't appear in their photograph it points in only one direction concerning their fates. A last note on another motif that appears in a number of these stories, that of characters multiplying, returning home to find themselves already there, being spotted out walking the streets when they haven't left their rooms, this gets it's deepest exploration in Remy's Quantum Realities, in which Remy multiples many times over, Terayama works in a reference to Euclid's axioms and leaves us the story with some homework to do at the end, how many Remys appeared in this story?. A beguiling collection, the book is published by Merwin Asia, an independent publisher, and is translated by Elizabeth L. Armstrong, who also provides an introduction.


The Crimson Thread of Abandon at Merwin Asia        
      

A Kiss of Fire - by Masako Togawa



 

Sometime ago I read and enjoyed Togawa's The Master Key which won the Edogawa Rampo Award way back in 1962, recently a copy of A Kiss Of Fire came my way and the jacket art alone grabbed my attention, although unfortunately I can't see mention of the artist's name anywhere, which is a shame, the book, Hi no seppun was translated by Simon Grove and published in the U.K by Chatto and Windus and previously in the U.S by Dodd, Mead and Company. A Kiss of Fire is a novel that's slightly difficult to fit into any one genre, perhaps it could be best described as an off kilter crime novel, something that I remember from reading The Master Key is of the originally inventive twists and turns Togawa incorporates into her storytelling. At it's beginning three boys witness a fire that kills an aspiring painter, when interviewed the boys claim that they saw a man shaped like a bat who breathed fire ascending the stairs of the building, one of the three boys was the painter's son. After this introductory opening, which sets up the preliminary scenario the novel accelerates forward twenty six years later revisiting the lives of the three boys whose lives have each gone their separate ways, until that is until a spate of arsonist attacks. Ikuo is now a fireman pursuing the elusive arsonist, but in the process he becomes so embroiled he becomes a suspect as his ID and wallet are discovered in the stomach of a lion who falls victim to the arsonists flames. Ryosaku is now a detective who is also on the arson case, in the process he becomes involved with Ikuo's girlfriend Chieko, finally of the three boys is the painter's son Michitaro who has become a director of the family's insurance company. Under chapters named The Fireman, The Detective, The Arsonist, Togawa begins to put the pieces together, at first each of the characters are unaware that they are the three friends who in their youths witnessed the fire that killed Michitaro's father.

 

Over this progressing narrative it becomes slowly more clearer as to who the arsonist is, or so we think, in the meantime Ikuo has self doubts that he might be the arsonist, as an actress he has an affair with is killed by an arson attack, and a pair of jogging shoes linking him to her incriminates him to the degree that he remains suspect number one, but as Ryosaku points out as Ikuo was under police surveillance he is ruled out as a suspect. A clue that begins to emerge is that of something seen by Ikuo in the fire twenty six years previously, running up to the second floor Ikuo had caught Michitaro's father in a compromising position with a young nurse. The story is full of some interesting side plots and arresting motifs that at first seem to sit out of place with the rest of the advancing story, of a local temple where Michitaro's grandmother visits and places a sutra, and of stone effigies that resemble dogs or lions, these things Ryosaku picks up on in the course of his investigations, the temple is also fighting a neighbouring development to turn land adjacent to the temple into apartments. A motif that appears as details of the scenario of the original fire unfold is that of a dog with a burning tail used as a fuse to light the fire, another trigger of a fire later in the book is that of a crystal ball placed in a window to magnify the rising sun's rays to ignite the flames.

 

The deeper mystery of the novel is the reason or motive of the attacks, the main options are that it could be to cover up the escalation of a sham insurance claim linking back to the death of the lion which was secretly highly insured, another is that the arsonist was carrying out his crimes to satiate an almost orgasmic thrill he got when starting fires, or another path begins to lead to Michitaro's grandmother whose husband started the insurance company wanting to avenge the death of her son, the painter, Togawa's great ability is to draw this picture that links each of these different paths so closely together that it's left only to the final stage of the book for all to be made clear. Towards the end of the novel Michitaro is at the centre of a kidnapping plot, in the name of the book Togawa uses it in relation to the dangerous attraction of fire and also of it being utilised as an instrument of vengeance, another imaginative motif that that appears in the novel is the bundle of burnt matches used in the original fire preserved by Michitaro's grandmother as a strange slightly macabre momentum. The novel does show it's age in a number of places, (in one scene I think Ryosaku is described as wearing a 'safari' suit), although this does add to the flavour of the novel and it seems more erotically charged than I remember The Master Key being, but I enjoyed this greatly for Togawa's originality and inventiveness.      

 

As well as her writing Masako Togawa is also known as a chanson singer and also as a writer for television and for her many appearances on television. Aside from The Master Key and A Kiss of Fire another two novels have been translated Slow Fuse and The Lady Killer which won the Naoki Prize, although I think they are all currently out of print it would be great to see these reappear with a reissue.   

 

Masako Togawa's entry on Wikipedia

 

for a glimpse of the jacket art - A Kiss of Fire at Library Thing

 

Hi no seppun at Amazon.jp

       

Lou-lan and Other Stories by Inoue Yasushi

Lou-lan and Other Stories is a collection of six stories by Inoue Yasushi, translated in an almost tag team kind of fashion by James T. Araki and Edward Seidensticker, published by Kodansha International, three stories are situated in ancient China and three have Japan as their setting. The first, the title story, Lou-lan, (translated by Seidensticker), traces the history of a remote town in a distant north western province of China beginning around 130 years BC, caught between many local warring factions and in addition the area is under threat by the expanding Han who send various emissaries and generals to the area intending to expand the empire. Throughout the story the name of Tun-Huang is mentioned on a number of occasions and incidences, but how the events of this story might overlap with those of the novel of the same name I'm not at all sure, but there are similarities in that Inoue expands the history of Lou-lan bringing it up to date with the re-discovery of it by the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, as in Tun-Huang which also brings the story into the beginning of the twentieth century with the expeditions of Sir Aurel Stein. Lou-lan tells of the displacement of the people of Lou-lan and the suicide of a monarch discovered centuries later. Whilst reading the descriptions of Lou-lan another story came to mind that also has a remote Chinese settlement landscape at its centre, Takeshi Kaiko's Ruboki/Runaway first published in 1958 two years before Lo-lan appeared, Inoue's story has a broader historical panorama than Kaiko's, Inoue's stories have a subtle moral twist to them, as in the story Princess Yung-t'ai's Necklace, (translated by Seidensticker), another set in ancient China, which follows a group of grave robbers attempting to raid a tomb but are disturbed during the act, a subplot is that the ringleader's wife is having an affair with his brother, both of whom are keeping watch outside, as they hear the advancing troops the ringleader rushes back to grab the necklace, but the brother closes the tomb on him by rolling back a large stone doorway, this story also leaps forward in time by some centuries to the discovery of the skeletal remains with the necklace in its grasp. The second of the stories set in ancient China is The Sage, (translated by Araki), which also has the tone of being a morality tale, where an old blind sage who acts as an attendant to a holy spring is toppled by a young councillor who wants to change the old ways, but the changes bring about catastrophic events for the community, their moral tone resembles the stories of Nakajima Atsushi, many of which are also set in ancient China.

 

The first of the stories set in Japan is one centred around archaeology in, The Opaline Cup, (translated by Araki), whose narrator witnesses the bringing together for the first time in fourteen hundred years two ancient cups, the story has a subplot at the beginning which retraces the premature death of the narrator's sister, who the narrator was trying to organise her marriage to one of his friends. The second story The Rhododendrons, (translated by Seidensticker), is narrated by a slightly cantankerous elderly scholar, Shuntaro Miike, who runs away to the shore of Lake Biwa overlooking Mt.Hira. As he returns to his favourite inn, (the Reihokan), his past encounters and visits with the place are recalled. The initial object of his spleen venting is his immediate family who he sees as being too disrespectful although he notes they are quick to bask in the glory of his awards and achievements as a scholar, his major work is in the field of anthropology and anatomy, his magnum opus which he suspects he won't live to complete is The Arterial System of the Japanese, which he is writing in German - Anterin System der Japaneur, his two passions are research and liquor. The narrative again is one that retrospectively looks back at various episodes in his life, the relationship between a fellow student who vows to leave him his body for research in the event of his death, he talks about an angel of death being near him in his youth and recalls the case of Fujimura Masao, (featured also in Soseki's, Kusamakura). Another major incident that brought him to the inn at Lake Biwa is the suicide of his son, Keisuke, who had an affair resulting in the woman becoming pregnant, rather than obeying his father in forbidding him to see the woman again the pair kill themselves by drowning, the suicide of his son seems to act as a dichotomy between the narrator and his son.

 

The last story, Passage to Fudaraku, (translated by Araki), is set in the middle of the last millennium set around an ancient religious practice in the Kumano area, in particular the Fudarakusan-ji. The story follows the Abbot of the temple who is next in line to carry out the tradition of taking the journey to Fudaraku Island - in other words setting sail for the Pure Land to serve Kannon. Through the Abbot, Konko, we are told of the departures of the previous Abbots who have taken the trip, some first hand from his own memory, others from anecdote, the rule being that it's expected that the Abbot make the journey by the time he reaches age of 61, the Abbot travels alone in the vessel escorted as far as Tsunakiri Island and then set adrift out into the deeper sea. At the start of the story there is much anticipation as to when Konko will announce the date of his departure. Out of the previous Abbots there were stories that only one managed to return with extensive knowledge of the Pure Land, another before departing has visions of Fudaraku, observing that - 'these people don't age as they serve the Buddha', although with deepening trepidation Konko observes that the journey will only spell certain death. Konko's apprehension mounts as the day of his departure draws closer, he falls into an almost catatonic state, remaining silent when people visit him wanting him to pass messages on to the Buddha. If you're a Japanese reader you can read more about this tradition on the Japanese entry on the Fudaraku jinja, which gives more information on this religious practice, boats were leaden with stones representing sins, and as in the story the chamber that the Abbot or Priest occupied on the boat had no doors and was nailed to the boat. Also the boat was fitted with four Torii, (seen here), representing the four gates of the Pure Land. These stories open vistas into the past that trickle back into the modern world.

                    

The Funeral of A Giraffe - Seven Stories by Tomioka Taeko

The Funeral of A Giraffe is a collection that would be difficult to improve upon, coming with a thorough introduction covering Tomioka Taeko's career as a writer who made the transition from poetry to prose, she also wrote film scripts for Masahiro Shinoda, along with this an author interview continues to explore some of the themes that Tomioka's writings are concerned with. After finishing these stories a good place to turn to could be See You Soon - Poems of Taeko Tomioka, translated by Hiroaki Sato, or perhaps the more recently published novel Building Waves translated by Louise Heal Kawai. Most of these stories are set or centred around the Kansai area, Tomioka was born in Osaka, and some reflect Tomioka's interest in rakugo, a number of the stories open with referencing passages taken from rakugo and in another, a fragment from The Tales of Tono sets the scene, it's interesting to read how Tomioka works these into these narratives which are predominately concerned about the lives of their female protagonists. It's startling to contemplate that these stories first appeared in 1976, they are still imbued with a notable contemporary tone, what with the latest interest at the state of relationships and the sex lives of young Japanese these stories show that perhaps this isn't such a new phenomenon or dilemma as we might be led to believe, in the last story Timetable, the narrative follows a young woman caught between the lives of various men as she endeavours to come to terms with her own feelings and search for her place in the scheme of things. The story reads like a minor epic of contemporary life, initially the narrator stays with, S, a male friend in Paris whose wife is in hospital with T.B, she meets with another expat, an artist friend of S. The narrator learns of the suicide of, R, a friend from the past, and in a similar  structural style to some of the other stories here, the narrator looks back at the events and nature of their relationship. Another man at the centre of this story is Q, who is married with children but is seeing the narrator on and off, both parties seem to be quite non-committal to the affair. The tone of Tomioka's narratives feel very non-judgemental, where empathy falls is pretty much left up to the reader, although in Timetable when Q confesses and questions the narrator, 'Why do I work so hard?, I'm sick and tired of my wife and children', it's a statement that inspires feelings of both slight repulsion and empathy, in Timetable there's a lot of space to make us consider cause and effect. nearing the end of the story the suicidal figure of R surfaces again, and we learn further details of his suicide which hovers somewhere between the forefront and in the distance of this story to remind us of the potential of the end result.

As well as being centred around the emerging lives of young women, a couple of the stories have at their centres elderly women, Happy Birthday follows an unnamed woman who has sold her home and is waiting out her last years in a home for the elderly, the narrative pans out in studying her relationship with the rest of her immediate family, her elderly sister and younger niece, Yoko, who comes to visit. Days of Dear Death is set in a three gen household, beginning with a segment from The Tales of Tono which resembles Ubasute, although instead of waiting on the mountain for death the elderly return to the community and take up work again. Similar to Happy Birthday, Days of Dear Death through examining the family's relationship with Granny there is a subtle examination of the perceptions of the elderly in society at large. Granny swaddles herself in layers of clothes like Jūnihitoe worn by Heian era ladies of court, this is a subtle portrait of the isolation of the elderly, although at times it feels a little like a self imposed withdrawal, but Tomioka's prose works it way between the lines of straightforward appearances and assumptions.

The second story Yesteryear, also opens with a reference to a local rakugo story for its opening, although leaning towards being from the perspective of the wife it follows a family of the Kansai area not long after the war whose father, Junnosuke, turns to giving tea ceremony lessons in a makeshift outbuilding. He travels to Kyoto to buy the finest teas and utencils and to consult with a master, an observation by his wife captures his psychology - 'Junnosuke had not run away from something, as she saw it, but had entered into something'. Junnosuke seems to loose more money than he makes, his wife begins to give sewing lessons to supplement the family's income, Junnosuke appears oblivious to the family's financial predicament, and moves to a small rented building just outside of Kyoto. Tomioka goes for the option of presenting no single message in most of these stories, in Yesteryear there are a number of differing ideals on display, the Yesteryear of the title is the brand name of a particular tea, Junnosuke's behaviour looks like he is wanting to adopt or revert to a lifestyle that might be more in tune with traditional society, when the family is forced to move into Junnosuke's rented house the son observes the earthen floor in the kitchen contrasting it with the fact that most people are installing washing machines in their kitchens, Junnosuke seems to be heading in a contrary direction opposed to accepting the benefits of commercial materialism. A percentage of these stories appear to end quite abruptly, which may give the reader the impression that the story ends before being fully resolved, but these incongruities only reflect the lives of her characters more acutely, in the title story it ends with mother and daughter in the midst of a physical disagreement, in Yesteryear it ends with Junnosuke forcing himself on his wife, which gives the story a different slant, becoming the story of marital subservience and a reaffirmation of the patriarchal structure, as Junnosuke does this in full view of his son, this action seems to be him demonstrating that this is the way things are.

The presence of the patriarchal can be seen vaguely again in A Dog's Eye View when a distant relative re-enters into the life of Chizuko, now married, but Hisae begins to try re-ingratiate himself into her life untapping a landscape of inner turmoil, the narrative of this story looks back over their relationship from Chizuko's perspective, again in a slightly detached way, Hisae is unpleasant but whilst concentrating on Chizuko's feelings the panorama provided in Tomioka's prose allows space to contemplate or speculate as to what has made him the way he is, many of the male characters appear to have an assumed sense of superiority, although more often than not the female characters appear to be much more self assured. Yesterday's Girl is an at times fragile story of Ran-ko and her relationship with her friend Ritsuko, Ran-ko perhaps is the more introverted of the two, Ritsuko is a cabaret dancer, part time translator, who also goes off travelling the hippie trail around India and then to Europe. The lives of the two dispense with the conventional, Ran-ko recalls them kissing after Ritsuko visits with her slightly over the top friend Ruiko, which for Ritsuko we get the impression that it was a casual event, but for Ran-ko this provokes further and deeper thoughts and explorations of her feelings, she feels that their friendship transcends the genders, envisioning the relationship being one similar to a male to male one, these themes appear in Tomioka's poetry as in the poem - Let Me Tell You About Myself. Tomioka's prose has a great space for the speculative in the characters she creates, whose lives are lived parallel to the conventional. The stories are translated by Kyoko Selden and Noriko Mizuta, each chapter comes with numbered explanatory notes.

The Funeral of a Giraffe at M. E Sharpe
  
                              

The Kobe Hotel

 

   

Stuck somewhere between a desire to read either fiction or poetry The Kobe Hotel offers the opportunity to read both with the prose and haiku of Saitō Sanki, 西東三鬼, (1900-1962), who leaving his wife and child in Tokyo went to Kobe, the circumstances behind this course of action are revealed over the course of these stories. A dentist by profession on his arrival at the hotel on Tor Road in Kobe, which he describes as being an 'odd international hotel', he worked in a number of different occupations to get by, Sanki had previously lived in Singapore during the 1920's. The short prose sketches are full of his encounters and observations of the characters that drift through the hotel during his tenancy there, an interesting aspect to the tenants of the hotel is that of their metropolitan origins, especially as Sanki arrived in Kobe in 1942, at the height of the war, being too old he missed being drafted. The opening piece entitled The Story of the Strange Egyptian describes the character Maged Elba, one of only two Egyptians, he mentions, living in Japan at the time, although how Sanki is certain of this fact I'm not sure. Although described as stories they might pass as being labelled as chronicles, perhaps they are in actuality slightly embellished or polished tales of true events, the jacket also describes Sanki as a sexual adventurer and given his antipathy towards the military and authority, whilst reading these stories I was in places slightly reminded of Henry Miller, although they are devoid of Miller's fiery temper and perhaps the stories are told with a slightly more detached poetical eye. In the introduction Saito Masaya mentions that Sanki continued living his bohemian lifestyle in Kobe that he had begun in Singapore during the twenties. 

 

Originally published in periodicals, the stories evolve around certain fixed events of Sanki's life, his relocation to Kobe and meeting Namiko, a woman who becomes his partner, the eventual fire bombing of the hotel and of his renting and leasing a Western style Meiji era house set in the hills overlooking Kobe Bay. Another reoccurring presence throughout the stories is that of the German naval serviceman who due to increasing blockades are forced to anchor in the harbour, Sanki points out that due to the metropolitan nature of the city, the presence of spies and surveillance personnel were common in the city at the time, there is mention of the notorious spy Richard Sorge. Amongst these portraits and character histories, Sanki discusses his connections and involvement in creating various haiku groups, (Gendai Haiku), and poets from his past, who occasionally pay visit to him in Kobe, he was forbidden to write haiku for a number of years, only resuming again at the wars end. Among telling these stories he briefly describes his involvement in what he refers to as the Kyoto University Haiku incident of 1940 and laments the intellectual repression during the years of increased militarization. The stories continue up to a time period slightly after the war, observing Hiroshima and in the piece Like A Rolling Stone describes being commandeered in the building of a brothel for servicemen of the occupying forces. Eventually Sanki had to move on from his rented house after it was bought by a Chinese landlord, and he describes his re-entry into the world of poetry, struggling to get by editing various magazines and journals. Interestingly, in a slightly strange coincidence there's also a brief appearance here by a Mr Kotani who also features as a character in Inoue's Bullfight, in the character of Okabe.

Along with these autobiographical based pieces there is a varied selection of Sanki's haiku included, selected from the four collections of haiku he produced. Sanki's haikus are filled with scenes of the poverty and despair endured and experienced immediately after the war. Saito was born Keichoku Saito in Tsuyama in Okayama Prefecture, along with The Kobe Hotel he produced four collections of haiku - Flag, 1939, Peaches At Night, 1948, Today, 1952 and Metamorphosis in 1962. The incident in Kyoto that Sanki was involved in was also known as the Satoda Incident after which he was imprisoned, whilst in Kobe he remained under surveillance by the military police, until moving back to Tokyo in 1956. Sanki passed away in 1962 after suffering from stomach cancer, Tsuyama City created a prize in his name.


Let me store it
in myself, a mountainful
of cicadas screeching.

from - Kyo/Today


Translated by Saito Masaya published by Weatherhill, but now out of print.

Works at Aozora Bunko (Japanese Text)
   

Bullfight by Inoue Yasushi

 

 

 

Recently published from Pushkin Press is Bullfight by Inoue Yasushi, translated by Michael Emmerich, the story won Inoue the Akutagawa Prize in 1949,  it can't be overstated enough to say how much Pushkin Press excel in the presentation of their books, Bullfight is no exception to the rule, this novella is indeed satisfying to own and to read, which obviously goes some way in tipping the balance in the paper versus digital argument, (if you're having one!). One of the first things that strikes the reader in this extraordinary allegorical novella is that it centres around the staging of a bullfight in Osaka in the immediate aftermath of the war, the book comes with an afterword from Inoue from an older French edition in which he discusses and reflects on the writing of his two early novellas; Bullfight, (his debut), and also The Hunting Gun, although the piece doesn't give any clues away as to his inspiration in choosing to use the staging of a bullfight in this novella, its unusualness lends the allegorical dimension of the novella a greater potency. Although brief the novella deals with some big themes; ambition, post-war opportunism, juxtaposed with the story of a love affair that is threatened to be destroyed in the process. Much of the events of the story are seen through Tsugami, the editor in chief for an Osaka newspaper that is persuaded to take the gamble in sponsoring the fight, initial dilemmas that arise include sourcing the funding to hold the event in the Hanshin Stadium, before it is staged the smell of opportunity spreads to a heavy drinking entrepreneur Okabe, who manages to wrangle shady black market deals with Tsugami's partner, Tashiro.

 

Pulling at Tsugami's commitments is his fragile relationship with Sakiko, who lost her husband during the war, the relationship becomes strained further as the date of the fight edges closer, which also at times begins to be referred to, in more of a Japanese manner, as 'bull sumo'. From the start it becomes known that Tsugami has a wife and children living away from the city where they were stationed to escape the bombing raids, the question arises of Tsugami's reliability which adds to the pressure of the games outcome having to be a success. Through the tautness of the plot there is some great characterization, in the telling of Okabe's rise into owning multiple companies that have achieved the degree of success that all he needs to do is to turn up and drink to find his inspiration, which conveys a message about the notion of material success, the novella may have been read as an insightful foretelling as to where unfettered opportunism may lead to, and carries a recognisable realism that dispenses with prediction. A potently allegorical novella which makes an essential addition not only to Inoue's presence in English but also to the landscape of post war Japanese literature. 

 

 

 

Bullfight at Pushkin Press

 

 

 

 

 

        

Stories of Osaka Life

 



 

There are a number of collections of short stories that I've wanted to read but due to costing and price thought that the opportunity would never arise, one of those was "Love" and Other Stories by Yokomitsu Riichi, another at the moment is The Woman With the Flying Head by Kurahashi Yumiko and another that I've been wanting to read is Stories of Osaka Life translated by Burton Watson. Whilst in Japan I learned of Hidemitsu Tanaka/田中 英光, like Sakunosuke he was also associated with the Buraiha group of writers, Burton Weston points out in his introduction that Japanese literary scholars were keen to group authors into schools and groups, as also I think Dennis Keene mentions in his introduction to Yokomitsu's  "Love and Other Stories", perhaps this kind of information is best kept in the back of your mind on inital reading, or perhaps it's better to read and respond to the story first and then consider its context within literary history and or the relevant movement afterwards. Similar to Tanaka 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Oda Sakunosuke, 1913-1947, maybe this post should have been kept for October for more precision, although the desire to read these four stories was too much to delay reading.

The first from 1940 is Hurray for Marriage, or Sweet Beans for Two!, the English title conveys the double meaning of the original - Meoto Zenzai. Long regarded as a classic the story has been adapted to film a number of times, although plainly conveyed there is plenty going on under the surface to contemplate. The story's two main characters are Chöko and Ryukichi, initially Chöko is an apprentice geisha or more exactly a yatona, who becomes Ryukichi's mistress, he is a married man with a young daughter, the pair run away but before they return an earthquake strikes which they read as being a sign of divine condemnation at what they are doing. Extramarital affairs and relationships appear dotted throughout the four stories, it could be said that Meoto Zenzai, not only chronicles the consequences and outcomes of extra-marital relationships as Chöko and Ryukichi's relationship is also one that appears to transcend the classes as well, Choko's parents are hardworking and struggle to get by, but in contrast Ryukichi comes from a well off family, one of the subplots is the threat of Ryukichi's ostracization from the family and of him being written out of his inheritance, especially when his sister marries a more respectable suitor whom it looks like will ascend to the position of head of the family in the event of his fathers passing who has been in ailing health after suffering a stroke. Chöko  and Ryukichi are two very contrasting characters, Chöko works endlessly trying to save money to get ahead, they pursue various business ventures, but every time money is saved Ryukichi squanders it on drunken nights out, in this he is the epitome of the reckless decadent male of the age, the narrative dips under and explores commonly assumed gender roles within the patriarchal structure, within the story there appears a reversal of roles, Ryukichi whose manliness is taken as given exhibits an inescapable streak of male weakness, while Chöko is the real stronger of the two, despite this the story is told with a broader sense of humanity, these foibles appear as details of a larger drama.

 

A notable distinction between the stories is that the first two, Hurray for Marriage, or Sweet Beans for Two! and Six White Venus are told in a third person narrative and the last two, the fantastically titled City of Trees and the final story The State of the Times are relayed by a narrator within the story although some third person narratives also appear in them, and perhaps in taking things a step closer to Sakunosuke the narrator in both of the last two is a writer. The State of the Times is a fascinating story, Burton Watson notes that it's probably 'the most skilfully constructed and memorable of all of Oda's works', the story was published in 1946 and garnered increased attention when Shiga Naoya pronounced it "filthy". The narrator of the story is a writer who sees the possibility of material in almost everybody he encounters, the story is built up of linking episodes that cover a period that spans before, during and after the war. One of the main characters that features in the story is the proprietress of a bar who after an unsuccessful attempt at seducing the narrator begins to tell him the story of the ten-sen geisha, which by turns leads to the story of Sada Abe 阿部 定 and her lover Kichizo Ishida, Sada Abe also features in a later story of Oda's called The Seductress, which is yet to be translated . In pursuit of copied records of the court proceedings of the Abe case for the potential use in a story the narrator recalls the owner of a restaurant in Ganjiro Alley, an area that was destroyed in the air raids, the narrators description of the dinginess of the alley is vividly recalled and he speaks of his desire at the time to have moved into the area displaying a romantic/anti-romantic attachment to run down places contrasting it to the more appealing and popular area around Hozen-ji. The story turns with the introduction of Yokobori, a friend of the narrator who has recently returned from the war and faces a bleak and prospect less future, he turns up at the narrators house bloodied and beaten after failing to pay for food after he was robbed, Yokobori's predicament is caught succinctly when the narrator catches himself in mid sentence when describing Yokobori's way back from a certain destination, - 'though of course he didn't have anywhere to go back to.' As the story comes to an end the narrator takes a step back from the narrative and examines the transparency of his motives in writing the story and by degrees the transparency of fiction writing - 'Yokobori is no more than a puppet who has borrowed my sensibility and is wandering with it across the stage of present day life', but Oda turns the tables  - 'But no! I protest indignantly. It's present day life that's imitating my old stories', the end of the story sees the characters of the story meet again in a slightly abrupt and evocative re-grouping.

Six White Venus tells the story of two brothers, one, Narao, born under the horoscope of the six white Venus who is steadfast in pursuing his own way in the world, he finds work at a hospital and to escape the interference of his mother and brother threatens to become a doctor of a leper colony to avoid them. During the course of the events of the story the brothers discover that they are illegitimate which gives the story an added dimension. City of Trees is the shortest of the four which sees the writer/narrator of the story revisit the area where he went to school, stopping in a shop to escape a shower he meets again a restaurant owner who he knew from the past and the narrative spills into the narrators observations of the man's family, his suspiciously silent and under achieving son whom his father is happy to allow him to go into manual work as he reasons he was never any good at studying, the family disappear nearly as abruptly as they appear, the story, as with the other three are highly evocative of Osaka, from its alley ways and through the streets of Shinsaibashi,  Dōtonbori and the parks of Tenno-ji.    

     

 

                       

Citadel in Spring by Agawa Hiroyuki

Recently looking through some old posts that I'd kept hidden away for an unknown reason I found this post I'd written some years ago on Hiroyuki Agawa's novel, Citadel in Spring, not sure why it hadn't made it to being posted. It seems like an appropriate time to put it up with the very welcome news that Kurodahan Press are due to reissue the novel, along with Osamu Dazai's Blue Bamboo, both of which were originally published by Kodansha International. Although the novel references historical events the narrative avoids from being read in an overtly documentary style, perhaps it could be said that a large portion of Citadel in Spring appears to have been shaped by the author's own experiences.

Citadel in Spring/Haru no shiro, was originally published in Japan by Shinchosha in 1949, and published by Kodansha in this translation by Lawrence Rogers in 1990. It opens in 1941, and through the central character, Koji Obata, a student of Chinese Literature, we see the years that lead to Japan's defeat, culminating in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Like Agawa himself Koji's family is from Hiroshima, and for a while his family have been aware that he and his friend's sister, Chieko, have been close, both families think that possibly they would make a good marriage match, although nothing definite or formal has been said to each other. Koji visits his teacher Mr Yashiro, and they watch as departing soldiers make their way to Ujina Harbour, Koji thinks a lot about the part he will play in the war, and contemplates upon his own mortality. As a student he and his group of friends receive some field training, he comes to the conclusion that he's not afraid that if he has to give his life in this war he will. He meets with Chieko again before leaving for university in Tokyo, and unconventionally she proposes to him, thinking it through he goes with the decision that he wants to see more of life first, his feelings are ambiguous, retrospectively he thinks he might be making the wrong decision by turning her offer down. He hears of the defeat of the Americans in Hawaii along with news of the escalating fighting. He visits his elder brother who lives in Manchuria, and on his return to Japan his graduation is brought forward, and he joins the navy. Getting together with his friends before departing, Kurimura, one of his party confesses to the gathering, 'if the order 'suicide squad, one step forward!' is given I will serenely take one step backward'. After leaving his friends, he visits Chieko again and although they embrace, nothing is planned for their future, Koji feels that she will be waiting for him to return home.

After a brief stint at sea Koji is assigned to code breaking duty, as he was a student of Chinese for a short time he is set to work on decoding signals from China. He gets a visit from Chieko's brother Ibuki, who tells him of his near death experience as the ship he was on went down. Another friend Tanii works on decoding Britain's naval code, a daily search for the repetition of one number among many thousands, the book gives some examples on code breaking of the time, with descriptions of Domic codes. Koji's boss is the unaffected, Commander Ezaki, disinterested in what his staff tells him, he spends most of his time sitting in his office smoking his pipe, (with English tobacco), his favourite novel is Hanshichi, and he reads Ranke's The Great Powers, which he hides in a red cover so it will look like he's reading a classified document if he's caught out, but after Koji detects a British ship Ezaki begins to behave more kindly toward him, taking him more seriously. Koji is transferred to Hankow in China, and the unit hears the news of the Battle of Leyte, they interrogate a captured American serviceman and continue to monitor the movements of B-29 bombers at Chengtu airfield, the code that the Americans are using appears to be unbreakable, eventually though Koji manages to decipher that the bombers are headed their way, during the raid magnesium bombs are dropped on the city, but Koji's unit escapes from any direct hits. Recovering from the raid Koji learns that his new commanding officer will be Kihara, a man from his past, whom he suspected of stealing from his friends - a man he detests. It doesn't take long before the hatred between the two men boils to the surface, Kihara beats Koji after he exposes his crime, but knowing that he's been found out and combined with the uncertainty that the defeat will bring Kihara's morale gives out and he resorts to drinking heavily. Piece by piece news reaches the unit of food shortages, and the fact that the Yamanote district is bombed, eventually they hear of the bombing of  Hiroshima and finally of the announcement of surrender. The novel returns to Chieko, Koji's parents and teacher in Hiroshima in the immediate aftermath of the bomb, and projects further with Koji contemplating back on the war and it's implications of peace in it's aftermath.
 

Haru no shiro/Citadel in Spring won Hiroyuki Agawa theYomiuri Prize in 1952, other translations of his writings and novels that have appeared in English translation include; Burial in the Clouds, The Reluctant Admiral - Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy, (a biography), and also the harder to find novel, Devil's Heritage/Ma no isan, a novel from 1953, set in Hiroshima after the atomic bombing.

 

 

"'Love'" and Other Stories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to anthologies and collections I've a tendency not to read them cover to cover but to slowly read them story by story over a period of time, recently I've read Mishima's short story Tamago/Eggs, (1953), translated by Adam Kabat that was collected in Kodansha's Showa Anthology, a surreal satire that follows a group of students caught in a world of egg shaped authority figures, which is quite at odds with themes that are usually associated with Mishima's stories and novels, also reading Behold My Swarthy Face's recent questions and study guide for Tanizaki's Mr Bluemound, a slight tugging is now pulling me towards a reading of this story.

Fortunately an affordable copy of "'Love'" and Other Stories of Yokomitsu Riichi, translated and introduced by Dennis Keene, (Tokyo University Press), came my way recently, alongside Kawabata Yasunari, Yokomitsu, (1898-1947), is probably one of the most well known exponents of late Taisho/early Showa era modernism, together with other writers they famously formed the group Shinkankakuha. As it's been noted by many observers though  Yokomitsu seemed to keep his distance to any particular school of writing. 'Love and Other Stories' presents eleven of Yokomitsu's stories, including the story Smile/Bisho which was published posthumously the year after his death in 1947, also included is Spring Riding in a Carriage and the much discussed story Machi no Soko/The Depths of the Town, or Depths of the City as it's also often referred to. Reading the stories out of sequence the first that I found myself totally immersed in was After Picking Up a Blue Stone/Aoi ishi o hirotte kara, the narrative of which follows a man tripping on a stone which after he studies it notes it's blue hue, he briefly meets up with his girlfriend before getting the urge to return home to his sister in Kobe. Whilst there they receive a telegram from their mother in Korea informing them that their father has passed away, the narrator crosses over to Korea. On arrival he learns of the financial straits his parents were in due to the fact that they had lent money out, including to their neighbours where the father of the house is suffering from dysentery. The portrait of his parent's neighbour-hood is one of destitution, poverty is rife, a beggar stumbles around the neighbourhood where gangs of youths roam on drugs, the narrator finds that he has to adjust to the role of debt collector to find the funds so that he and his mother can return to Japan. It's while the narrator goes about this that he undergoes a kind of transformation, he breaks off his engagement with his fiancee, and when he picks up the box containing his father's ashes and feels the remainder of his bones knocking the edges Yokomitsu manages to transform his narrator's incredulous feelings about death and his inability to reconcile his father's passing to the point where the reader begins to question the tangibility of life, the narrator does manage to recuperate enough money to get their return fare and on his return he suffers a dissolution of his will and struggles to repress feelings of suicide. Toward the end of the story the narrator comes across a black stone and contemplates on what would have happened if it had been black to begin with, the arbitrariness of the paths life takes, or that of the decisions his characters make that lead them there is a reoccurring element in Yokomitsu's stories.

The following story, The Pale Captain/Aoi taii , sees some of the same events or scenes of After Picking Up a Blue Stone, although from a slightly different perspective, this experimenting quality works to expand the original story to the degree where it could be easy for the reader to begin to question which of them is the original story?. Here the narrative examines the household of his mother's neighbours in Korea to a further degree, the figure of the daughter is referred to almost in passing in After Picking Up a Blue Stone, but here much more detail is filled in her character, the narrator sees the potential of a possible relationship with her and the reason that he broke off his engagement becomes apparent, other plot lines hinted to in the previous story are also given fuller explanation in The Pale Captain, a masochism of the narrator becomes apparent in him when he reduces the daughter to tears as her father's illness has brought him close to death, but there's also the notion that this is an attempt to dissipate their joint grief, although there's also the notion that he is taking advantage of her, he leads her off to a place out of sight. Another key scene in The Pale Captain is toward the end and the narrator is walking in the muddied paths of the neighbourhood, we learn that the beggar has passed away and the narrator morbidly looks around for the death mask imprinted in the mud where the beggar fell face down, looking at the impression of the face, the scene has an over all feeling of a dark sublimity.

Two more of the stories work in the same way of examining the same events and characters from different perspectives, or from different points of time within the same story - Spring Riding in a Carriage/Haru wa basha ni notte and Ideas of a Flower Garden/Hanasono no shiso, Spring Riding in a Carriage follows the narrator as he nurses his wife who is dying of T.B, whilst reading the story it's hard not to see parallels with Hori Tatsuo's Kaze Tachinu/The Wind Has Risen, (Studio Ghibli adaption forthcoming), which must have been written around the same time, although Yokomitsu's approach is not quite so detached to the extent of Hori's. Yokomitsu's fascination with science has been well documented, this can be seen in some of the stories here, his prose sometimes  reads with an almost scientific detachment, which in places reminded me of Abe Kobo, particularly in the industrial setting of The Machine/Kikai, which follows a worker who through a set of shifting circumstances finds himself working in a nameplate factory, at first the narrator scrupulously observes the man who is senior, Karube, and his ingratiating ways, the situation worsens when after a large order is received a worker, (Yoshiki), from a rival firm is used to help them complete the order, suspicions arise that he is stealing the secrets of their work methods. The story also has a slight metaphorical quality to it, the machine as well as referring to the industrial equipment around them also refers to the process of living, or perhaps the struggle of existence, the narrator at various times re-examines his reasons and motives for staying in the job, he doubts the sanity of his boss whom it always seems to be loosing money.

Probably one of the fascinating elements of these stories is of Yokomitsu's ability to transcend and merge different styles, Machi no soko/The Depths of the Town, displays an interesting use of lyrical abstraction, it's essentially a plotless story, the narrative presents a panoramic perspective of a town/city scape, the story is a slow moving pictorial snapshot. The Defeated Husband/Maketa otto offers an in depth psychological portrait of a loveless marriage, seen through the eyes of the husband who we discover is caught between conflicting emotions for three women - his wife, who often cheats on him, a woman who works at a bookstore, and also Kanko, a woman from the narrator's hometown, whom the narrator feels is the only woman who truly ever loved him. Yokomitsu adds a twist to the portrait that every time the man suffers a defeat at the hands of his wife he falls into a cycle of self hatred and loathing, it seems almost impossible for the narrator to break out of this circle. After a visit from an old friend, Mishima, the narrator returns to his hometown and perhaps to potentially take up with Kanko, but this attempt at escape proves futile and he dutifully returns home to a devastating discovery, the story ends with the cycle being broken and the narrator finds himself out on the street, suddenly facing a tall building in front of him which represents his renewed sense of freedom and confidence.

Another story that seems to dip into different styles is The Carriage/Basha, another penetrating psychological portrait follows Yura, a man who is suffering from mental exhaustion due to overwork. Through arrangements made by a friend he takes a trip to an onsen for people suffering from similar complaints. At first he warily observes the other people at the onsen contemplating what maladies each of them suffer from, after a while he meets a man who starts talking to him enthusiastically about the skill of divining the future, later we learn his name is Dr Kona, another character that features is a man who displays erratic behaviour at first referred to as the Tenri man. Slowly another plot line emerges describing a village close by called Yumedono, (Keene notes the name "Dream Hall", also pointing to the octagonal hall of the same name at Hōryū-ji/ 法隆寺 Temple in Nara), which is home to a leper colony, the village is seen as being cut off from the civilised world, but Yura learns of a beautiful young woman who lives there who appears not to be affected by the disease. Through the progression of the story it becomes apparent that the woman is Dr Kona's daughter, Hanae, and as Yura becomes closer to Dr Kona the Tenri man's behaviour becomes more erratic, making advances towards Yura which spurs Yura into numerous conjectures, a scene at the onsen where the Tenri man licks the legs of Yura is one which could possible figure from a scene found in ero guro. Through Yura's hypothesizing he comes to the understanding that perhaps the Tenri man is jealous of his closeness to Dr Kona and Hanae who the Tenri man has feelings for, and also that potentially Dr Kona is trying to arrange it that Yura marries Hanae. At the center of these interests is Hanae, and Yura is left facing the decision to stay or to return to Tokyo, to the point where the carriage comes to return Hanae to the village, leaving him but a moment to make his decision. An important collection which it could be said is somewhat of a travesty to have been allowed to slip out of print.

Through Keene's translations we get an insight into the narrative power of Yokomitsu's stories, and finishing reading them provokes a reading of a number of other books, including -

Yokomitsu Riichi - Modernist - Dennis Keene

Kannani and Document of Flames - Yuasa Katsuei

Topographies of Japanese Modernism - Seiji M. Lippit

Shanghai - Yokomitsu Riichi

An interesting article on Shinkankaku at ejcjs