Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, art name Chōkōdō Shujin, was a Japanese [List of Japanese people|Japanese authors|writer] active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story", and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. He took his own life at the age of 35 through an overdose of barbital.
Early life
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was born in Irifune, Kyōbashi, Tokyo City, the eldest son of businessman Toshizō Niihara and his wife Fuku. His family owned a milk production business. His mother experienced mental illness shortly after his birth, so he was adopted and raised by his maternal uncle, Michiaki Akutagawa, from whom he received the Akutagawa family name. The Akutagawa lineage was part of the warrior class and served the Tokugawa clan as okubōzu, who managed the tearoom and served tea. Ryūnosuke's adoptive family enjoyed art. He was interested in classical Chinese literature from an early age, as well as in the works of Mori Ōgai and Natsume Sōseki.He entered the First Higher School without taking entrance exams thanks to his middle school academic record in 1910 and developed relationships with classmates such as Kan Kikuchi, Masao Kume, Yūzō Yamamoto, and, all of whom would later become authors. He began writing after entering Tokyo Imperial University in 1913, where he studied English literature. While still a student, he proposed marriage to a childhood friend, Yayoi Yoshida, but his adoptive family did not approve the union. In 1916 he became engaged to, whom he married in 1918. They had three children: Hiroshi Akutagawa was an actor, Takashi Akutagawa was killed as a student draftee in Burma, and Yasushi Akutagawa was a composer.
Following graduation, Akutagawa taught briefly at the Naval Engineering School in Yokosuka, Kanagawa as an English language instructor, before deciding to devote his efforts to writing fulltime.
Literary career
In 1914, Akutagawa and his former high school friends revived the literary journal Shinshichō, where they published translations of William Butler Yeats and Anatole France along with works they had written themselves. Akutagawa published his second short story Rashōmon the following year in the literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku, while still a student. The story, based on a twelfth-century tale, was not well received by Akutagawa's friends, who greatly criticized it. Nonetheless, Akutagawa gathered up the courage to visit his idol, Natsume Sōseki, in December 1915 for Sōseki's weekly literary circles. In November, he published the work in the literary magazine Teikoku Mongaku. In early 1916 he published Hana, which received a letter of praise from Sōseki and secured Akutagawa his first taste of fame.It was also at this time that Akutagawa started writing haiku under the haigo Gaki. Akutagawa followed with a series of short stories set in Heian period, Edo period or early Meiji period Japan. These stories reinterpreted classical works and historical incidents. Examples of these stories include: Gesaku zanmai and Kareno-shō, Jigokuhen ; Hōkyōnin no Shi, and Butōkai. Akutagawa was a strong opponent of naturalism. He published Mikan and Aki which have more modern settings.
In 1921, Akutagawa interrupted his writing career to spend four months in China, as a reporter for the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun. The trip was stressful and he suffered from various illnesses, from which his health would never recover. Shortly after his return he published Yabu no naka. During the trip, Akutagawa visited numerous cities of southeastern China including Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou. Before his travel, he wrote a short story Nankin no Kirisuto ; the novel the Chinese Christian community according to his own imaginative vision of Nanjing, as influenced by classical Chinese literature.
Influences
Akutagawa's stories were influenced by his belief that the practice of literature should be universal and could bring together Western and Japanese cultures. The idea can be seen in the way that Akutagawa used existing works from a variety of cultures and time periods and either rewrites the story with modern sensibilities or creates new stories using ideas from multiple sources. Culture and the formation of a cultural identity is also a major theme in several of his works. In these stories, he explores the formation of cultural identity during periods in history where Japan was most open to outside influences. An example of this is his story Hōkyōnin no Shi which is set in the early missionary period.The portrayal of women in Akutagawa's stories was mainly shaped by the influence of three women who acted as his mother figures. Most significant was his biological mother Fuku, from whom he worried about inheriting her madness. Although Akutagawa was removed from Fuku eight months after his birth, he identified strongly with her and believed that, if at any moment he might go mad, life was meaningless. His aunt Fuki played the most prominent role in his upbringing, controlling much of Akutagawa's life as well as demanding much of his attention, especially as she grew older. The women who appear in Akutagawa's stories, much like his mother figures, were for the most part written as dominating, aggressive, deceitful, and selfish. Conversely, men were often represented as the victims of such women.
Later life
The final phase of Akutagawa's literary career was marked by deteriorating physical and mental health. Much of his work during this period is distinctly autobiographical, some with text taken directly from his diaries. His works during this period include Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei and Tenkibo.At this time, Akutagawa had a highly publicized dispute with Jun'ichirō Tanizaki over the importance of structure versus lyricism in stories. Akutagawa argued that structure was more important than the content or plot of the story, whereas Tanizaki argued the opposite.
Akutagawa's final works include Kappa, a satire based on the eponymous creature from Japanese folklore, Haguruma, Aru ahō no isshō, and Bungeiteki na, amari ni bungeiteki na.
Towards the end of his life, Akutagawa suffered from visual hallucinations and anxiety over the fear that he had inherited his mother's mental disorder. In 1927, he survived a suicide attempt, together with a friend of his wife. He later died of suicide after taking an overdose of Veronal, which had been given to him by Mokichi Saitō on 24 July of the same year. In his suicide note, addressed to his friend Masao Kume, he wrote that he felt a "vague insecurity" about the future. He was 35 years old.
Legacy and adaptations
During the course of his short life, Akutagawa wrote 150 short stories. A number of these have been adapted into other media. Akira Kurosawa's famous 1950 film Rashōmon retells Akutagawa's "In a Grove", with the title and the frame scenes set in the Rashomon Gate taken from Akutagawa's "Rashōmon". Ukrainian composer Victoria Poleva wrote the ballet Gagaku, based on Akutagawa's "Hell Screen". Japanese composer Mayako Kubo wrote an opera entitled Rashomon, based on Akutagawa's story. The German version premiered in Graz, Austria in 1996, and the Japanese version in Tokyo in 2002. The central conceit of the story has entered into storytelling as an accepted trope.In 1930, Tatsuo Hori, a writer, who saw himself as a disciple of Akutagawa, published his short story "Sei kazoku", which was written under the impression of Akutagawa's death and even made reference to the dead mentor in the shape of the deceased character Kuki. In 1935, Akutagawa's lifelong friend Kan Kikuchi established the literary award for promising new writers, the Akutagawa Prize, in his honor.
In 2020 NHK produced and aired the film A Stranger in Shanghai. It depicts Akutagawa's time as a reporter in the city and stars Ryuhei Matsuda.
Selected works
| Year | Japanese title | English title | English translator |
| 1914 | 老年 Rōnen | "Old Age" | Ryan Choi |
| 1915 | 羅生門 Rashōmon | "Rashōmon" | Glen Anderson; Takashi Kojima; Jay Rubin; Glenn W. Shaw |
| 1916 | 鼻 Hana | "The Nose" | Glen Anderson; Takashi Kojima; Jay Rubin; Glen W. Shaw |
| 1916 | 芋粥 Imogayu | "Yam Gruel" | Takashi Kojima |
| 1916 | 手巾 Hankechi | "The Handkerchief" | Charles De Wolf; Glenn W. Shaw |
| 1916 | 煙草と悪魔 Tabako to Akuma | "Tobacco and the Devil" | Glenn W. Shaw |
| 1917 | 尾形了斎覚え書 Ogata Ryōsai Oboe gaki | "Dr. Ogata Ryosai: Memorandum" | Jay Rubin |
| 1917 | 戯作三昧 Gesaku zanmai | "Absorbed in Letters" | |
| 1917 | 首が落ちた話 Kubi ga ochita hanashi | "The Story of a Head That Fell Off" | Jay Rubin |
| 1918 | 蜘蛛の糸 Kumo no Ito | "The Spider's Thread" | Dorothy Britton; Charles De Wolf; Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Howard Norman; Jay Rubin; Glenn W. Shaw |
| 1918 | 地獄変 Jigokuhen | "Hell Screen" | Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Howard Norman; Jay Rubin |
| 1918 | 枯野抄 Kareno shō | "A Commentary on the Desolate Field for Bashou" | O’er a Withered Moor Charles De Wolf |
| 1918 | 邪宗門 Jashūmon | "Jashūmon" | W.H.H. Norman |
| 1918 | 奉教人の死 Hōkyōnin no Shi | "The Death of a Disciple" | Charles De Wolf |
| 1918 | 袈裟と盛遠 Kesa to Moritō | "Kesa and Morito" | Takashi Kojima; Charles De Wolf |
| 1919 | 開花の良人 Kaika no Otto | "An Enlightened Husband | Charles De Wolf |
| 1919 | 魔術 Majutsu | "Magic" | |
| 1919 | 竜 Ryū | "Dragon: the Old Potter's Tale" | Jay Rubin |
| 1920 | 舞踏会 Butōkai | "A Ball" | Glenn W. Shaw |
| 1920 | 秋 Aki | "Autumn" | Charles De Wolf |
| 1920 | 南京の基督 Nankin no Kirisuto | "Christ in Nanking" | Van C. Gessel |
| 1920 | 杜子春 Toshishun | "Tu Tze-chun" | Dorothy Britton |
| 1920 | アグニの神 Aguni no Kami | "Agni" | Glen Anderson |
| 1921 | 山鴫 Yama-shigi | "A Snipe" | |
| 1921 | 秋山図 Shūzanzu | "Autumn Mountain" | |
| 1921 | 上海游記 Shanhai Yūki | "A Report on the Journey of Shanghai" | |
| 1922 | 藪の中 Yabu no Naka | "In a Grove," or "In a Bamboo Grove" | Glen Anderson; Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Jay Rubin |
| 1922 | 将軍 Shōgun | "The General" | Bryan Karetnyk; W.H.H. Norman |
| 1922 | トロッコ Torokko | "Minecart" | |
| 1923 | 保吉の手帳から Yasukichi no Techō kara | "From Yasukichi's Notebook" | |
| 1923 | 侏儒の言葉 Shuju no Kotoba | "Aphorisms by a Pygmy" | |
| 1924 | 一塊の土 Ikkai no Tsuchi | "A Clod of Earth" | Takashi Kojima |
| 1924 | 創作 Sousaku | "Writer's Craft" | Jay Rubin |
| 1925 | 大導寺信輔の半生 Daidōji Shinsuke no Hansei | "Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years" | Jay Rubin |
| 1926 | 点鬼簿 Tenkibo | "Death Register" | Jay Rubin |
| 1927 | 玄鶴山房 Genkaku Sanbō | "Genkaku Sanbo" | Takashi Kojima |
| 1927 | 蜃気楼 Shinkirō | "A Mirage" | |
| 1927 | 河童 Kappa | "Kappa" | Geoffrey Bownas; Seiichi Shiojiri |
| 1927 | 仙人 Sennin | "The Wizard" | Charles De Wolf |
| 1927 | 文芸的な、余りに文芸的な Bungei-teki na, amarini Bungei-teki na | "Literary, All-Too-Literary" | |
| 1927 | 歯車 Haguruma | "Spinning Gears" or "Cogwheels" | Charles De Wolf; Howard Norman; Jay Rubin |
| 1927 | 或阿呆の一生 Aru Ahō no Isshō | "A Fool's Life" or "The Life of a Fool" | Charles De Wolf; Jay Rubin |
| 1927 | 西方の人 Saihō no Hito | "The Man of the West" | |
| 1927 | 或旧友へ送る手記 Aru Kyūyū e Okuru Shuki | "A Note to a Certain Old Friend" | - |
Works in English translation
- Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan, Vol. 2. Trans. Eric S. Bell & Eiji Ukai. Tokyo: Kaitakusha, 1930.
- Tales Grotesque and Curious. Trans. Glenn W. Shaw. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1930.
- Hell Screen and Other Stories. Trans. W.H.H. Norman. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1948.
- Kappa. Trans. Seiichi Shiojiri. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1951.
- The Three Treasures. Trans. Sasaki Takamasa. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1951.
- The Real Tripitaka and Other Pieces. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1952.
- Rashomon and Other Stories. Trans. Takashi Kojima. Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1952.
- Modern Japanese Literature. Grove/Atlantic, 1956.
- Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology. UNESCO, 1961.
- Posthumous Works of Ryunosuke Akutagawa: His Life, Suicide, & Christ. Trans. Akio Inoue. 1961.
- Japanese Short Stories. Trans. Takashi Kojima. New York: Liveright Pub. Corp., 1961.
- Exotic Japanese stories: The Beautiful and the Grotesque. Trans. Takashi Kojima & John McVittie. New York: Liveright Pub. Corp., 1964.
- Tu Tze-Chun. Trans. Dorothy Britton. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1965.
- Kappa. Trans. Geoffrey Bownas. London: Peter Owen Publishers, 1970.
- A Fool's Life. Trans. Will Petersen. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1970.
- La fille au chapeau rouge. Trans. Lalloz ed. Picquier. in
- Cogwheels and Other Stories. Trans. Howard Norman. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1982.
- The Spider's Thread and Other Stories. Trans. Dorothy Britton. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1987.
- Hell screen. Cogwheels. A Fool's Life. Eridanos Press, 1987.
- Akutagawa & Dazai: Instances of Literary Adaptation. Trans. James O'Brien. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University Press, 1988.
- The Kyoto Collection: Stories from the Japanese. 1989
- Travels in China. Trans. Joshua Fogel. Chinese Studies in History 30, no. 4.
- The Essential Akutagawa. New York: Marsilio Publishers, 1999.
- Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories. Trans. Jay Rubin. Penguin Classics, 2006.
- The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature, Vol. 1: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868-1945. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
- A Fool's Life. Trans. Anthony Barnett & Toraiwa Naoko. Lewes, England: Allardyce Books, 2007.
- Mandarins. Trans. Charles De Wolf. Archipelago Books, 2007.
- 3 Strange Tales. Trans. Glen Anderson. New York: One Peace Books, 2012.
- Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories. Trans. Bryan Karetnyk. London: Pushkin Press, 2020.
- In Dreams: The Very Short Stories of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Trans. Ryan Choi. London: Paper + Ink, 2023.
English
- Keene, Donald. Dawn to the West. Columbia University Press;.
- Ueda, Makoto. Modern Japanese Writers and the Nature of Literature. Stanford University Press. Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories - the Chronology Chapter, Trans. Jay Rubin. Penguin Classics.
Japanese
- Nakada, Masatoshi. Akutagawa Ryunosuke: Shosetsuka to haijin. Kanae Shobo.
- Shibata, Takaji. Akutagawa Ryunosuke to Eibungaku. Yashio Shuppansha.
- Takeuchi, Hiroshi. Akutagawa Ryunosuke no keiei goroku. PHP Kenkyujo.
- Tomoda, Etsuo. Shoki Akutagawa Ryunosuke ron. Kanrin Shobo.