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6 days ago
- Entertainment
Yosano Akiko: Passionate Poet and Prescient Journalist
Home Topics Yosano Akiko: Passionate Poet and Prescient Journalist Shapers of Japanese History Society Culture Society History Aug 8, 2025 Yosano Akiko burst onto Japan's literary scene in 1901 with her sensuous poetry collection Tangled Hair , published when she was 22. She is recognized as one of Japan's major twentieth-century poetic figures, but her journalistic work, often ahead of its time, has received less notice. Yawa hada no / atsuki chishio ni / fure mo mide / sabishikarazu ya / michi o toku kimi This hot tide of bloodbeneath soft skin and you don'teven brush it with a fingertip Aren't you lonely then you who preach the Way? Many Japanese people who hear the name Yosano Akiko will recall this famous tanka of hers. It appeared in Tangled Hair , her 1901 collection of dazzling, free-spirited love poems. At a time when women's lives were restricted by the traditional household system and old-fashioned values, Akiko expressed without restraint what it felt like to be a young woman in love. As well as her 24 volumes of tanka (including coauthored works), she produced translations of The Tale of Genji and many other classics into modern Japanese, in addition to writing over 100 children's stories and more than 600 other poems and children's songs. Apart from her literary activities, she wrote for a long period for newspapers and magazines on topics like education and gender equality. This was collected into 15 volumes of commentary, but her journalistic activities, brimming with foresight, have still not received proper recognition. Akiko was also a working mother, who raised 11 children, and this is likely to have influenced her contemporary stance on women's lives. Freedom and Equality The cover of Tangled Hair. (Courtesy the National Diet Library) Yosano Akiko was born in 1878, in Sakai, Osaka, to the owners of a traditional confectionery store. Her older brother Hō Hidetarō studied at Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) before becoming a professor of engineering at the institution and a famous scientist. Akiko herself excelled at science and mathematics, but as a girl she was not able to further her studies as she wished, only completing the equivalent of junior high school today. She was made to help with bookkeeping at the store from her early teens, and thus keenly felt the irrational nature of gender inequality. In 1900, she joined Shinshisha (New Poetry Society), headed by Yosano Tekkan, who was at the center of a movement to revolutionize the traditional waka form. Her poems appeared in the group's journal Myōjō (Bright Star), and her sensuous debut collection Tangled Hair was published the following year, when she was 22. It left behind the elegant depictions of nature that were customary in traditional Japanese poetry, showing that Akiko had a reformer's spirit from the start, and was a firm devotee of the new wind blowing through Japanese poetry. This was a time when freedom of speech was severely restricted. Bright Star 's use of an illustration of a naked woman was judged to be disturbing public morals, and the issue was suppressed, while other leading literary figures of the time like Nagai Kafū and Mori Ōgai had their books banned. Akiko herself must have felt how her freedom of thought and expression were under threat. Yosano Tekkan. (Courtesy the National Diet Library) For this reason, equality and freedom were vital keywords for Akiko from the beginning. And that she learned this through personal experience rather than at school or in books was her strength, more than anything. A Social Critic Ah, my brother, I weep for you Thou shalt not die .You, the last-bornwere most cherished of us all— would your parents put a sword into your handsand order you to slay a man?Would they bring you up to twenty-four then say 'Go kill, then die'? Akiko's poem expressing concern for her soldier brother 'Thou Shalt Not Die' was published in Bright Star in September 1904, in the middle of the Russo-Japanese War. It was criticized as being out of step with the mood in Japan, but Akiko countered that it should be taken only as a poem. It was not necessarily antiwar, as an expression of natural concern for her brother, while at the same time it demonstrated that she was not afraid to write what she really felt. By this point Akiko was 25, and married to her poetic mentor Tekkan, with two children already. In 1909, Akiko showed her satirical side, first with a tanka responding to successive bans on works by Kafū that made an ironic comparison with the prohibition of sales of horse racing betting slips. In a second poem, she made reference by their given names to Komatsubara Eitarō, the minister of education, and Hirata Tōsuke, the home minister, mocking them as ignorant of literature. These two men were most closely involved in censorship and to rail at them openly shows Akiko's startling courage. Readers who went into a frenzy over Tangled Hair may have been baffled by the change in register. Her magazine articles of the period also ridicule censors and describe her unique method of trying to keep her children unaware of the differences between boys and girls until adolescence. Her 1912 trip to Europe with her husband helped these aspects of her writing to blossom. She met with the sculptor Auguste Rodin and was interviewed by the press in France, which fostered her confidence and pride as a journalist. The Rise of Women's Magazines There are two major reasons why Akiko wrote so much social commentary after her return from Europe. One was that the media saw her as a vital contributor, and another was that she had topics that she wanted to write about. Akiko put the most energy into this form of writing in the Taishō era (1912–26), when Japan's print media was in its heyday and at its most influential. As the people matured as citizens and sought out information, newspaper circulation soared. The rise in female readers cannot be ignored. Government support for girls' secondary schooling had resulted in more educated women, and many women's magazines were founded to cater for them. As someone who had broadened her horizons through travel to Europe and also had experience of motherhood, Akiko must have been in great demand as able to write on a wide variety of topics. From this perspective, it was not so much that the media needed Akiko as that the times did. Akiko also had topics she wanted to write about, including how to achieve equality and freedom. She wrote for the media for more than 20 years, because she felt that she herself had room for improvement, due to a lack of schooling and culture, and even when swamped with things to do, she never stinted on reading books, newspapers, and magazines. One of her rare talents was the ability to deepen her personal thinking in this way. 'In the ideal family, women are financially independent and men and women are equal.' 'Men today work for too long. They should be involved with raising children and housework.' 'If we became a society where everyone worked, working hours would be shortened, and we could use our leisure time in many different ways.' 'Learning should not only take place in school. People should learn throughout their lives.' Akiko's writings are full of prescience, considering that she was writing at a time when there was no concept of gender equality, work-life balance, or lifelong learning. As the number of women working in factories was increasing, there was a growing debate over ideal ways to 'protect motherhood,' touching on issues including the improvement of poor labor conditions that impacted mothers' health and economic measures to support them. Akiko engaged in debate with the commentator Hiratsuka Raichō and the activist Yamakawa Kikue, but her views were so far ahead of their day that the two sides were constantly at cross-purposes. Only a handful of people must have been able to understand Akiko's ideal for the social system and individuals' way of life. A Celebrity and Influencer Akiko's media involvement went beyond her work with newspapers and magazines. With the economic development of the Taishō era came urbanization, the emergence of a mass consumer society, and advertising culture. As the slogan 'Today the Imperial Theater, tomorrow Mitsukoshi' indicates, department stores like Mitsukoshi were blossoming as enticing new spaces. Akiko became an advisor to Takashimaya Department Store, and was involved in organizing the store's Hyakusenkai event for kimono designs for more than 20 years. This meant not only judging products sent from across the country each season but also performing the tasks of a contemporary copywriter, such as selecting and naming fashionable colors and providing poems for posters and guides. Jānaristo Yosano Akiko (Yosano Akiko, Journalist) by Matsumura Yuriko, 2022. The cover photograph shows Akiko at the Hyakusenkai venue. Published by Tanka Kenkyūsha. In 1920, advertisements for the Calpis beverage using Akiko's poems appeared several dozen times in newspapers, such as: Karupisu wa / kushiki chikara o / hito ni oku / atarashiki yo no / kenkō no tame (By the power / of Calpis— / The miracle of / health for / our new world). Mishima Kaiun, who created the lactic acid drink Calpis (known overseas as Calpico), was a skilled marketer, and after visiting the Yosano home with samples of the beverage, asked Akiko if she could write poems to use in advertisements. This episode indicates her power as a celebrity and influencer. 'Health' was a relatively new concept at the time, showing Akiko's discernment in using it in a poem. Frontispiece photograph for the 1923 commentary collection Ai no sōsaku (The Creation of Love). (© Kyōdō) Politics and Poetry Akiko's eighth collection of commentary was called Gekidō no naka o iku (Passing Through a Turbulent Age). Indeed, she lived through a time when Japan was involved in a major conflict around every decade, from the 1894–5 Sino-Japanese War through the Russo-Japanese War to World War I. She expressed her wish for peace in an article titled 'Sensō ni tsuite no kōsatsu' (Thoughts on War) written for a magazine in April 1918, toward the end of World War I. If individuals kill and wound each other to prove they are right, or take weapons and force their way into unarmed people's homes to attain justice, they are clearly evil, no matter how beautiful the words used to express such acts. . . . Is it possible to say that something unforgivable for individuals is glory, justice, or good conduct when performed by a state? In July of the same year, she wrote the following poem for a newspaper. It was later included in her collection The Firebird . Onna yori / chie ari to iu / otokotachi / kono tatakai o / yamenu kashikosa We are wiser thanwomen, goes the male claim How superior the wisdom that can not stop this war! There was no contradiction in Akiko between being both a poet and a journalist. Her constant interest in what was taking place in the world can still encourage us today. Tangled Hair was published in Japanese under the title Midaregami , and The Firebird as Hi no tori . (Originally published in Japanese on June 20, 2025. All poem translations © Janine Beichman. Banner photo courtesy National Diet Library.) literature Yosano Akiko poetry
Asahi Shimbun
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: ‘Most difficult homework' in the words of author Kunio Yanagita
A black-and-white photo shows a group of 10 or so schoolchildren staring at an announcement in vertical script on a bulletin board in 1928. That year, men aged 25 and older were given the right to vote, and the notice proclaimed the first general election under the new law. The children may have gathered at the bulletin board out of curiosity. The photo was captioned rather cynically: 'The most difficult homework.' The photo graces the pages of 'Meiji-Taisho-shi: Seso Hen' (History of the Meiji and Taisho eras: Chapter on social climate), a book written by Kunio Yanagita (1875-1962) that stands as a masterful portrayal of social trends during the Meiji (1868-1912) and Taisho (1912-1926) eras. Focusing on a broad array of subjects, ranging from housing to diet, clothing, work and romantic relations, Yanagita analyzed how the lifestyle of 'ordinary' Japanese citizens had changed through the years. In conclusion, he wrote: 'In other words, we were sick and poor as citizens.' I was intrigued by the strangeness of that statement. 'Yanagita is lamenting,' said Masami Ishii, an emeritus professor at Tokyo Gakugei University and the author of a detailed annotation to Yanagita's autobiography. That means, Ishii explained, that Yanagita was aware of society's inability, despite the acute need, to educate its citizens to become voters capable of exercising good judgment, irrespective of their socio-economic standing. Yanagita graduated from Tokyo Imperial University, now the University of Tokyo, and worked at the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. He later joined The Asahi Shimbun where he served on the Editorial Board until 1930. When his book was published in 1931, Yanagita was 'beginning to focus on folklore, having seen the limits of journalism,' according to Ishii. True, Yanagita wrote in his book that 'the reality of social affairs' is more complex than anything newspapers could report. Probably sensing his own limitations, he decided to trace the history of the common people rather than that of the powers that be. Travelling around the nation, he listened to the voices of the people and collected old tradition and lore. July 31 marks the 150th anniversary of his birth. With self-admonition, I am now asking myself: Am I fully attuned to people's small voices? Am I tackling, and not shirking, 'the difficult homework'? --The Asahi Shimbun, July 26 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
Shaped by Conflict: Japanese Literature After World War II
The second of a series on Japanese literature in the Shōwa era (1926–89) mainly considers books written from 1945 to 1954 (Shōwa 20–29), as the country recovered from and reflected on World War II. It also includes a few later works with strong wartime themes. No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu A Japanese edition of Ningen shikkaku ( No Longer Human ) by Dazai Osamu. (© Shinchōsha) On June 13, 1948, Dazai Osamu (1909–48) jumped into the Tamagawa canal together with his mistress, ending his life by drowning at the age of 38. The previous year his novel The Setting Sun had depicted the postwar fall of Japan's aristocracy; his death came shortly before the publication of his masterpiece No Longer Human . 'I have lived a life of much shame,' the narrator tells readers at the beginning of No Longer Human , and then, near the end (in the recent translation by Juliet Winters Carpenter), 'Now I am neither happy nor unhappy. Everything passes.' These words leave a vivid and powerful impression. Dazai was born as the tenth child of 11 to a major landowner in Tsugaru, Aomori, in northern Japan. Self-destructive by nature, after joining the French department at Tokyo Imperial University (today's University of Tokyo) he took part in illegal Communist Party activities, then fell into a life of pleasure-seeking before planning a joint suicide at 21 with a Ginza waitress he had only just met. She died, but he survived and lived with the guilt for the rest of his life. After this, he lived with a geisha he called down from Aomori to Tokyo, but fell into despair when she was unfaithful. He made another unsuccessful attempt at suicide, became addicted to a painkiller, and was admitted to a mental institution. Even so, he showed signs of recovery after entering an arranged marriage at the age of 30, based on a recommendation by his mentor, the writer Ibuse Masuji. He wrote a number of great short works from this time, including 'One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji' and 'Run, Melos!' but the chaotic situation in Japan after its surrender led Dazai toward destruction again. In No Longer Human , Dazai makes a confession of his 'life of much shame' in the form of a frank memoir. Today, there are few authors who inspire such fervent devotion from their fans and continue to be widely read (Mishima Yukio is another). Dazai's works have taken on an eternal life, and No Longer Human was his last will and testament. Ningen shikkaku is translated as No Longer Human in separate versions by Juliet Winters Carpenter and Donald Keene and as A Shameful Life by Mark Gibeau. is translated as in separate versions by Juliet Winters Carpenter and Donald Keene and as by Mark Gibeau. Shayō is translated as The Setting Sun in separate versions by Juliet Winters Carpenter and Donald Keene. is translated as in separate versions by Juliet Winters Carpenter and Donald Keene. 'Fugaku hyakkei' is translated as 'One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji' by Ralph McCarthy. 'Hashire Merosu' is translated as 'Run, Melos!' in separate versions by James O'Brien and Ralph McCarthy. The Inugami Curse by Yokomizo Seishi A Japanese edition of Inugamike no ichizoku ( The Inugami Curse ) by Yokomizo Seishi. (© Kadokawa) Japan's defeat cast a long shadow over many popular literary genres that found fresh vigor in the postwar era. The Inugami Curse by Yokomizo Seishi (1902–81), which has become a classic in the mystery genre and been adapted many times, takes inspiration from tragedies of demobilized soldiers returning home. The Inugami Curse is part of a popular series about the great detective Kindaichi Kōsuke, coming after The Honjin Murders, Death on Gokumon Island , and The Village of Eight Graves . Set in a fictional city in Nagano Prefecture after World War II, the novel centers on the battle among the assembled relatives of the Inugami clan over the huge estate of the late, wealthy patriarch Inugami Sahei. His will states that whichever of his three grandsons marries Tamayo, the beautiful granddaughter of his great benefactor, will inherit the estate. The oldest, Sukekiyo, has returned from fighting in Burma; due to a terrible injury, he wears an eerie rubber mask. There are also inheritance rights for Sahei's mysterious illegitimate child, whose whereabouts are unknown after demobilization. A series of bizarre murders ensues. The drama reaches its height as Kindaichi solves a cunning trick and approaches a solution, but the tragedy that assails the Inugami clan is the war itself. The author writes of how the prewar pride and sense of responsibility had been lost, and Sukekiyo laments his ignorance of the great transformation in the feelings of people who remained in Japan. The collapse of the values that the returning soldiers believed in leaves them at the mercy of fate. Inugamike no ichizoku is translated as The Inugami Curse by Yumiko Yamazaki. is translated as by Yumiko Yamazaki. Honjin satsujin jiken is translated as The Honjin Murders by Louise Heal Kawai. is translated as by Louise Heal Kawai. Gokumontō is translated as Death on Gokumon Island by Louise Heal Kawai. is translated as by Louise Heal Kawai. Yatsuhakamura is translated as The Village of Eight Graves by Bryan Karetnyk. Fires on the Plain by Ōoka Shōhei The author Ōoka Shōhei (1909–88) was described by his friend Shiroyama Saburō (who appears later in this article) as having been a soldier from start to finish, saying that 'he spent his whole life grinding his teeth at the enormity of the things that he'd lost and that had been taken from him, while also hating those things.' After studying French literature at Kyoto Imperial University, Ōoka began his working career. In 1944, however, he was drafted and dispatched to the Philippines, where he was taken prisoner the following year by US forces and sent to a prisoner of war camp on the island of Leyte. It was a miracle that he survived such a deadly battleground. A Japanese edition of Nobi ( Fires on the Plain ) by Ōoka Shōhei. (© Shinchōsha) When the war was over Ōoka became an author, recording his own experiences in Taken Captive: A Japanese POW's Story , and writing the novel Fires on the Plain , a book of mourning, which depicts the precarious existence of individual soldiers living on in the Philippines after the defeat of Japanese forces. It is set on Leyte in the last stages of the war. At a time when weapons, ammunition, and food supplies have run out, the protagonist Private Tamura, who must also contend with resurgent tuberculosis, is told by his squad leader to blow himself up with a hand grenade like a true imperial soldier. In one scene at a crude field hospital, wounded soldiers who have lost all desire to fight can only wait with empty stomachs for death. Relentless bombardment by US forces, however, sends them running for the hills. In the distance, smoke rises. As Tamura wanders through the war zone, he repeatedly sights mysterious fires. An abandoned corpse is missing flesh from its buttocks. When his starvation reaches its extreme, Tamura eats 'monkey meat' offered by a fellow soldier. Is it really from a monkey or from a human? Ōoka presents the tragedy of a soldier abandoned by his nation under the purported ideals of 'loyalty to the emperor and love of country.' The author was later recommended as a member of the Japan Art Academy, but declined to join, maintaining his anti-establishment thinking. Nobi is translated as Fires on the Plain by Ivan Morris. is translated as by Ivan Morris. Furyoki is translated as Taken Captive: A Japanese POW's Story by Wayne P. Lammers. Twenty-Four Eyes by Tsuboi Sakae A Japanese edition of Nijūshi no hitomi ( Twenty-Four Eyes ) by Tsuboi Sakae. (© Iwanami Shoten) Twenty-Four Eyes by Tsuboi Sakae (1899–1967) is an antiwar novel about the obscure ordinary people whose lives were overturned by the conflict. It is set in a small fishing village by the Seto Inland Sea, and vividly portrays the heartwarming relationships between a young woman called Ōishi Hisako, newly graduated from a teacher's college at the beginning of the story, and her initial class of 12 first-grade children. The events of the novel span from 1928 to 1946, with the peaceful life of the village in the first half disturbed by gathering war clouds. Ōishi's naive doubts, expressed when a colleague is accused of being a communist, lead to herself falling under suspicion. When the children reach sixth grade, they start to think of the future. Influenced by the atmosphere of the day, the boys talk of becoming soldiers. While she cannot openly oppose them, Ōishi is troubled, losing faith in education and resigning her job. She marries a sailor and has three children, but her husband is killed in the war. The writer asks why people give birth to, love, and raise children if all that awaits them is war. Many of the children in the story, portrayed with such individuality, face harsh destinies, including death in battle. Readers are likely to be in tears when Ōishi returns to teaching in middle age, after the war is over, and meets again with the survivors of her first class. Tsuboi was encouraged by her husband, a literary scholar, to start writing children's books in the 1920s. A 1954 film adaptation of Twenty-Four Eyes , directed by Kinoshita Keisuke and starring Takamine Hideko, became a major hit, helping to establish the classic status of Tsuboi's book. Nijūshi no hitomi is translated as Twenty-Four Eyes by Akira Miura. Black Rain by Ibuse Masuji A Japanese edition of Kuroi ame ( Black Rain ) by Ibuse Masuji. (© Shinchōsha) Although not written in the immediate aftermath of the war, it is impossible to leave out Black Rain from a selection of World War II literature. While many books have taken the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a theme, this story stands out as a masterpiece. The author Ibuse Masuji (1898–1993) was born in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, so the hibakusha victims of the bombing were a familiar presence. Before the war, he wrote one of his most famous stories, 'Salamander,' in 1929. He also won the Naoki Prize in 1937 for John Manjirō: A Castaway's Chronicle , about a fisherman who became one of the first Japanese people to go to the United States. He was over 40 years old when he was drafted into the army in 1941 and sent to Japanese-occupied Singapore. After he returned one year later, he lived in his hometown until the end of the war. The main characters of Black Rain are Hiroshima residents Shizuma Shigematsu, his wife Shigeko, and their niece Yasuko, who lives with them. At the time of the bombing, Shigematsu is at the station and suffers burns to his face. He is diagnosed as suffering from radiation sickness and begins to experience symptoms like fatigue and hair loss. Shigeko was at home and Yasuko working at a factory outside the city, so neither were injured by the blast. Four years after the war, they live in Shigematsu's home village, far from the center of the city, but the people there spread rumors that Yasuko suffers from radiation sickness and keep their distance. One day, there is talk of a possible husband for her, but the matchmaker wants to know of her movements since the bombing took place. The Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome in Hiroshima in 1945. (© Jiji) Shigematsu and Yasuko write a diary every day. Shigematsu copies past entries from his diary in an effort to disprove rumors to the matchmaker. Ibuse's presentation of their peaceful daily life together with diary entries reconstructs in detail the tragedy of the atomic bombing. Disaster follows as Yasuko, once healthy, starts to show signs of radiation sickness, caused by contaminated 'black rain' that fell on her after the bombing. A sudden shattering of everyday existence changes the lives of the characters. Rather than shouting about the inhumanity of atomic weapons, Ibuse depicts the reality of the devastation through simple descriptions, and his superb ability brings the hellish event in front of readers' eyes. 'Sanshōuo' is translated as 'Salamander' by John Bester. Jon Manjirō hyōryūki is translated as John Manjirō: A Castaway's Chronicle by Anthony Liman and David Aylward. is translated as by Anthony Liman and David Aylward. Kuroi ame is translated as Black Rain by John Bester. War Criminal: The Life and Death of Hirota Koki by Shiroyama Saburō A Japanese edition of Rakujitsu moyu ( War Criminal: The Life and Death of Hirota Koki ) by Shiroyama Saburō. (© Shinchōsha) One final book I would like to introduce is War Criminal: The Life and Death of Hirota Koki by Shiroyama Saburō (1927–2007), who was known for his historical novels. This tackles the life of Hirota Kōki, who was the only civilian to be executed as a Class A war criminal in the Tokyo Trials organized by Allied powers, and it questions the responsibility of wartime leaders. Shiroyama volunteered to join the Imperial Navy when he was a college student and was undergoing training in a tokkōtai special attack unit (often called the kamikaze) when the war ended. His question of what the leaders had been thinking was a motivation for him to write. He saw Hirota as one of the men in suits who had reluctantly become entangled in the war machine. Hirota served as prime minister and foreign minister in the 1930s, and did his best to stop Japan becoming embroiled in conflict, but could not stand up to the pressure of the military. He made no defense of himself at the Tokyo Trials and was sentenced to death by hanging. His family respected his wishes and also said nothing. Shiroyama had difficulties gathering information, but won assistance from Ōoka Shōhei, who was good friends since school days with Hirota's eldest son. With Ōoka's persuasive words, the family talked to Shiroyama. In particular Hirota's third son, who had acted as his father's secretary when he was prime minister, provided some new stories that were not previously known. This detailed research provided the basis for Shiroyama's novel. Rakujitsu moyu is translated as War Criminal: The Life and Death of Hirota Koki by John Bester. Selected Japanese Literature (1945–54) and Other Books Related to World War II 'Discourse on Decadence' by Sakaguchi Ango, translated by Seiji M. Lippit from 'Darakuron' (1946) The Setting Sun by Dazai Osamu, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter from Shayō (1947) by Dazai Osamu, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter from (1947) No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter from Ningen shikkaku (1948) by Dazai Osamu, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter from (1948) Taken Captive: A Japanese POW's Story by Ōoka Shōhei, translated by Wayne P. Lammers from Furyoki (1948) by Ōoka Shōhei, translated by Wayne P. Lammers from (1948) The Inugami Curse by Yokomizo Seishi, translated by Yumiko Yamazaki from Inugamike no ichizoku (1951) by Yokomizo Seishi, translated by Yumiko Yamazaki from (1951) Fires on the Plain by Ōoka Shōhei, translated by Ivan Morris from Nobi (1951) by Ōoka Shōhei, translated by Ivan Morris from (1951) Twenty-Four Eyes by Tsuboi Sakae, translated by Akira Miura from Nijūshi no hitomi (1952) by Tsuboi Sakae, translated by Akira Miura from (1952) Ningen no jōken (The Human Condition) by Gomikawa Junpei (no English translation) (1958) (The Human Condition) by Gomikawa Junpei (no English translation) (1958) Black Rain by Ibuse Masuji, translated by John Bester from Kuroi ame (1965) by Ibuse Masuji, translated by John Bester from (1965) War Criminal: The Life and Death of Hirota Koki by Shiroyama Saburō, translated by John Bester from Rakujitsu moyu (1974) Note that some works have multiple translations, but only one is given for each in this list. (Originally published in Japanese on June 2, 2025. Banner photo: From left, Ibuse Masuji, Dazai Osamu, and Ōoka Shōhei. All © Jiji.)
