was a
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
novelist, short-story writer and essayist during the late
Meiji and
Taishō periods. His two younger brothers, and , were also authors. His son was the internationally known film and stage actor,
Masayuki Mori.
Early life
Arishima was born in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
, Japan into a wealthy family as the son of an ex-
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
official in the
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Ec ...
. He was first sent to a mission school in
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
, where he was taught English, after which he entered preparatory school of the prestigious
Gakushuin peer's school, when he was 10 years old.
After he graduated from the Gakushuin at age 19, he entered the
Sapporo Agricultural College
was a school in Sapporo, Hokkaidō established in September 1875 for the purpose of educating students in the agriculture industry.
History
The first president of the college was Zusho Hirotake.
Dr. William Smith Clark, a graduate of Amhers ...
(the present-day Faculty of Agriculture at
Hokkaido University
, or , is a Japanese national university in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was the fifth Imperial University in Japan, which were established to be the nation's finest institutions of higher education or research. Hokkaido University is considered ...
). During his studies at the university, he attempted
suicide with . The suicide failed, and Arishima subsequently became influenced by
Uchimura Kanzō
was a Japanese author, Christian evangelist, and the founder of the Nonchurch Movement (Mukyōkai) of Christianity in the Meiji and Taishō period Japan. He is often considered to be the most well-known Japanese pre-World War II pacifist.
Ea ...
and became a
Christian in 1901. Morimoto later went on to establish several women's schools around Japan.
After graduation and a mandatory short stint in the
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
, Arishima took English lessons from
Mary Elkinton Nitobe
Mary Patterson Elkinton Nitobe (1857-1938) was an American-Quaker, the wife of the Japanese economist Nitobe Inazō.
Life
Mary Patterson Elkinton was born in 1857 to a prominent Quaker family in Philadelphia. She met Nitobe Inazō in Baltimore, a ...
,
Inazo Nitobe's wife, and in July 1903, he obtained a position as a foreign correspondent in the United States for the ''
Mainichi Shimbun
The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by
In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...
''. In the United States he enrolled at
Haverford College (a
Quaker institution outside of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
) and later
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. After graduation, he briefly worked in an insane asylum operated by the Quaker sect. He recorded his experiences from his journey to America in his diary.
During his time in America, he became critical towards
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, attracted to
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
, and influenced by the works of writers such as
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
,
Henrik Ibsen, and
Peter Kropotkin. His time and experiences in America and subsequent year in Europe also profoundly influenced his writing style and his outlook on the world, resulting in feelings of alienation from Japanese society.
After he returned to Japan in 1907, he re-entered the army briefly before becoming an English and ethics teacher in 1909 at his alma mater.
Literary career
Through his brother Arishima Ikuma, he also became acquainted with authors who graduated from the Gakushuin, including
Naoya Shiga
was a Japanese writer active during the Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan, whose work was distinguished by its lucid, straightforward style and strong autobiographical overtones.
Early life
Shiga was born in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, ...
and
Saneatsu Mushanokōji
was a Japanese novelist, playwright, poet, artist, and philosopher active during the late Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. Later on in life he requested that the pronunciation of his surname (as far as was concerned) be changed from the usua ...
. Arishima and these writers formed a group, which was named after their
literary magazine '', which was first published in 1911.
He wrote
novels and
literary criticisms and was known as one of the central figures in the ''Shirakaba'' group.
Arishima first achieved fame in 1917 with , which depicts God’s curse on both man and nature through the eyes of a self-destructive tenant farmer. In 1919 he published his best-known work: , a moral and psychological
melodrama about a strong-willed woman struggling against a hypocritical male-dominated society. While critically acclaimed for his style, the themes and characters of Arishima’s works did not appeal to many contemporary Japanese readers.
Later life
In 1922, Arishima implemented the
socialist philosophy he had been developing by renunciation of the ownership of a large
tenant farm
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
in Hokkaidō, which he had inherited from his father, publicly stating that he wanted to distance himself from the
petit bourgeois in the coming revolution.
Arishima married in 1910, but his wife died in 1916 of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
leaving him three children. In 1922, Arishima met Akiko Hatano, a married woman and an
editor working for the ''
Fujin Koron Fujin may refer to:
*Fujin, Heilongjiang, city in Heilongjiang, China
*Fūjin, Japanese god of the wind
*Fujin (Final Fantasy VIII), Fujin (''Final Fantasy VIII''), a character in the game ''Final Fantasy VIII''
*List of Mortal Kombat characters#F ...
'', a famous women's magazine. Their relationship quickly developed into an extramarital affair, which came to be known by Hatano's husband. This led to Arishima and Hatano committing suicide in
Karuizawa by hanging themselves. Due to the isolated location, their bodies were not discovered for over a month, and were identified largely by the suicide note left behind. Arishima's grave is at the
Tama Cemetery
in Tokyo is the largest municipal cemetery in Japan. It is split between the cities of Fuchu and Koganei within the Tokyo Metropolis. First established in April 1923 as , it was redesignated Tama Cemetery in 1935. It is one of the largest green ...
in Tokyo.
Legacy
After his death, Arishima became known for his detailed diaries, covering more than twenty volumes, with an intimate record of his life, fears and hopes. His contemporaries regarded Arishima as a philosopher and social critic as much as a novelist. His writing was critical of Christianity and strongly influenced by socialism; emotionally intense, humanistic, and employed ideas from the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
,
Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
, and anarchic socialism.
Arishima's major works include:
* 1919
* , 1917
Available in English
* ''A Certain Woman'', transl. by
Kenneth Strong
Major-General Sir Kenneth William Dobson Strong (9 September 1900 – 11 January 1982) was a senior officer of the British Army who served in the Second World War, rising to become Director General of Intelligence. A graduate of the Roy ...
, University of Tokyo Press, 1978, 382 pages, .
* ''Labyrinth''. Madison Books (2000).
''The Descendants of Cain'', transl. by John Morrison, University of Utah Press, 1955.
* ''The Agony of Coming Into the World''. Hokuseido Press (1955). ASIN: B0006AV8GE
* ''Death'' (A Play), transl. by Yozan Iwasaki and Glenn Hughes, D. Appleton and Company, NY, 1930.
References
* Anderer, Paul. ''Other Worlds: Arishima Takeo and the Bounds of Modern Japanese Fiction''. Columbia University Press (1985).
* Morton, Leith. ''Divided Self: A Biography of Arishima Takeo''. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (1989).
External links
at
Aozora Bunko
Aozora Bunko (, literally the "Blue Sky Library", also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-o ...
*
Arishima Takeo Memorial Museum in Niseko, Hokkaido
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arishima, Takeo
1878 births
1923 suicides
Japanese writers
Japanese Christians
Shirakaba-ha
People from Tokyo
Haverford College alumni
Harvard University alumni
Suicides by hanging in Japan
People of Meiji-period Japan
Tolstoyans
Joint suicides
Imperial Japanese Army personnel
Critics of Christianity
Japanese socialists