''Taiyō no nai Machi'' (太陽のない街, "The Street without Sunlight") is a Japanese novel written by Sunao Tokunaga. The novel was adapted into a film in 1954 directed by

Satsuo Yamamoto was a Japanese film director. Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima City. After leaving Waseda University, where he had become affiliated with left-wing groups, he joined the Shochiku film studios in 1933, where he worked as an assistant director to Mi ...

Overview

''Taiyō no nai Machi'' is a

proletarian The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philoso ...

novel by Sunao Tokunaga (1899–1958). It was first published in serialized form in the

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

Senki ''Senki'' (戦旗, "Battle Flag") was a Japanese proletarian literary magazine in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Overview ''Senki'' was a Japanese proletarian literary magazine published between May 1928 and December 1931. Background In ...

'' between June and November of 1929.

Background

The novel was partly inspired by Tokunaga's experiences being fired from his job at a printing company following his participation in a labour strike in 1926. He began writing the novel in 1928. Different accounts of the origins of the work were presented by

Fusao Hayashi was the pen name of a Japanese novelist and literary critic in Shōwa period Japan. He is known for his early works in the proletarian literature movement, although he later became a strong ultranationalist. His real name was Gotō Toshio (後� ...

in his 1955 memoirs and Tokunaga himself in a 1930 essay. Literary historian

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japan ...

places more trust in Hayashi's account, which is presented below. In the spring of 1929, Tokunaga presented an early manuscript to Hayashi, an acquaintance who was glad to assist the writing career of a truly working-class author. Hayashi was distressed about the writing style of the work, which resembled that of a popular magazine, but Tokunaga responded with the concern that proletarian readers would be unable to understand a work written in a more literary style. Hayashi nevertheless suggested Tokunaga rewrite the book, loaning him a copy of a Japanese translation of

Fyodor Gladkov Feodor Vasilyevich Gladkov (russian: Фёдор Васильевич Гладков) – December 20, 1958) was a Soviet and Russian socialist realist writer. Gladkov joined a Marxist group in 1904, and in 1905 went to Tiflis (now Tbilisi) an ...

's 1925 novel ''

Cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

'' and recommending he follow Gladkov's writing style. Tokunaga admitted to Hayashi a few days later that he had read ''Cement'' but would be unable to mimic Gladkov's style. Hayashi offered to rewrite the opening to provide Tokunaga with a model, going on to completely rewrite the first ten or so pages and extensively revise the rest. After Tokunaga presented the completed work to Hayashi, Hayashi recommended it to the publishers of ''Senki''.

Reception

''Taiyō no nai Machi'' was well received on initial publication, selling 40,000 copies and turning Tokunaga into the first writer of the proletarian movement whose book was so successful as to allow him to build a house on the proceeds. Contemporary proletarian writer

Shigeharu Nakano was a Japanese writer and Japanese Communist Party (JCP) politician. Nakano was born in Maruoka, now part of Sakai, Fukui. In 1914 he enrolled in middle school in Fukui, Fukui, and attended high school in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa and Kanazawa, Ish ...

praised the work as a rare well-written novel by a member of the working class. Keene called the work Tokunaga's "most important work". While noting that the work has been critically acclaimed, Keene himself dismisses it as "not a good novel" relying on "stock types" of characters being placed in "implausibly melodramatic situations."

Translations

The work was translated into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

in 1930 and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

in 1932, before going on to appear in several other European languages.

Film Cast

* Sumiko Hidaka as Takae Haruki * Hiroshi Nihonyanagi as Hagimura *

Seiji Miyaguchi was a Japanese actor who appeared in films of Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai and many others. He succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 71. Distinctions One of Kurosawa's iconic ''Seven Samurai'', Miyaguchi won the 195 ...

as Father of Okimi *

Eijirō Tōno was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting more than 50 years, appeared in over 400 television shows, nearly 250 films and numerous stage productions. He is best known in the West for his roles in films by Akira Kurosawa, such as ''Seven Samu ...

as president Kunio *

Tanie Kitabayashi was a Japanese actress and voice actress. Born Reiko Ando in Tokyo, she began as a stage actress. Kitabayashi was a founding member of the famed Mingei Theatre Company, founded in 1950. Early in her career, she became well known for portraying o ...

as grand mother of Matsutaro *

Masao Shimizu was a Japanese actor. His wife was actress Yumi Takano. His first starring role in the film was in ''Momoiro no Yuwaku'' in 1931. In 1947, he formed the Mingei Theatre Company. Shimizu often work with Akira Kurosawa. He appeared in more than 25 ...

as president Okawa *

Isao Tamagawa was a Japanese actor. He appeared in the Japanese film ''Branded to Kill'', as Michihiko Yabuhara: the yakuza boss that hires Hanada and seduces his wife. Upon the discovery that his diamond smuggling operation has been burgled, he employs Hanada ...

as Moriyama *

Toshio Takahara was a Japanese actor. Notable film appearances were ''Seven Samurai'' and ''Twenty-Four Eyes''. He is also known for his role as Commander Gonpachi Edogawa in the tokusatsu superhero series ''Himitsu Sentai Gorenger''. He started his acting ca ...

as young man *

Toru Abe was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1944 to 1985. Selected filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abe, Toru 1917 births 1993 deaths Japanese male film actors 20th-century Japanese male ...

as detective *

Kō Nishimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's ''The Bad Sleep Well'' and '' Yojimbo'', Kihachi Okamoto's ''Sword of Doom'', Yoshitaro Nomura's ''Zero Focus'', and Kon Ichikawa's '' The Burmese Harp'' ( ...

as detective *

Taiji Tonoyama was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company Ki ...

as Genichi Inoue *

Yoshi Katō was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 175 films between 1949 and 1988. He won the award for Best Actor at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival for his role in ''Hometown''. He married the actress Isuzu Yamada in 1950, but ...

as Ishizuka

References

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taiyou no nai machi 1929 novels Proletarian literature Shōwa-period works