was a Japanese writer, translator, and literary critic. His writings are in the realist style popular in the mid to late 19th century. His work ''

The Drifting Cloud is an 1887 Japanese novel by Shimei Futabatei. Published in three parts (with the last one in serialised form) between June 1887 and August 1889, it is usually being referred to as the first modern Japanese novel. Plot ;Part One The reader is ...

'' (''Ukigumo'', 1887) is widely regarded as Japan's first modern novel.

Biography

Futabatei was born Hasegawa Tatsunosuke in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

(now

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

). After quitting his studies at the Russian language department at the Tokyo Foreign Language School in protest over administrative restructuring, Futabatei published the literary criticism ''Shōsetsu Sōron'' at the encouragement of the critic and author

Tsubouchi Shōyō __NoTOC__ was a Japanese author, critic, playwright, translator, editor, educator, and professor at Waseda University. He has been referred to as a seminal figure in Japanese drama. "Wetmore deals cleanly with Japanese theatre as part of the mod ...

in 1886. Futabatei's first novel '' Ukigumo'' is often said to be unfinished, but its realist style strongly influenced fellow authors in his day. Futabatei was accomplished in Russian and translated the work of

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

and other Russian realists into Japanese. In 1902, he learned

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communic ...

in Russia. Returning to Japan in 1906, he published the first Japanese-Esperanto instruction book ''Sekaigo''. Futabatei died of tuberculosis on the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...

while returning from Russia as a special correspondent for the ''

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...

'' newspaper. He was cremated and buried in Singapore. The origin of Futabatei's pen name (a reference to "kutabatte shimae", lit. "drop dead") has been the repeated subject of speculation (including the allegation that these had been his father's words when he learned of his son's plans to study literature). Futabatei claimed that these were the words of his inner voice while in conflict between his artistic ideals and monetary aspirations.

Works

Novels

* 1887: ''Ukigumo'' (浮雲) * 1906: ''An Adopted Husband'' (其面影, ''Sono Omokage'') * 1907: ''Heibon'' (平凡)

Essays

* 1885: ''Bijutsu no hongi'' * 1886: ''Shōsetsu Sōron'' (小説総論)

References

External links

e-texts of Shimei's works
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 ...

Shimei's grave in Singapore's Japanese Cemetery
* *
''An_Adopted_Husband''_[Sono_Omokage
/nowiki>_(English_trans._1919).html" ;"title="ono Omokage">''An Adopted Husband'' [Sono Omokage
/nowiki> (English trans. 1919)">ono Omokage">''An Adopted Husband'' [Sono Omokage
/nowiki> (English trans. 1919) {{DEFAULTSORT:Futabatei, Shimei 1864 births 1909 deaths 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Japanese Esperantists Hitotsubashi University alumni People who died at sea 19th-century Japanese novelists 20th-century Japanese novelists The Asahi Shimbun people Tuberculosis deaths in India