Hirotsu Naoto (15 July 1861 - 15 October 1928), known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

, was a Japanese novelist during the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

. He is credited with the creation of the genre in Japanese literature.

Early life

Hirotsu was born in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

Buzen province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northeastern Kyūshū, corresponding to part of southeastern Fukuoka Prefecture and northwestern Ōita Prefecture. Buzen bordered on Bungo Province, Bungo to the south, and Chikuzen Pro ...

(present-day

Nagasaki prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

), to a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

''-''class family originally from

Kurume Domain 270px, Arima Yorishige, final daimyo of Kurume Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Chikugo Province in modern-day Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Ja ...

. His father had been trained as a doctor, and was in Nagasaki studying

western medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

at the time of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. Under the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

, he became a diplomat, and was involved in the ''

Seikanron The ''Seikanron'' (; ; or 'Proposal to Punish Korea' or 'Argument for a Conquest of Korea') was a major political debate in Japan during 1873 regarding a punitive expedition against Korea. The ''Seikanron'' split the Meiji government and the res ...

'' issue between Japan and

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

. Hirotsu was sent to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in 1874 to study the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

, and subsequently enrolled in the medical preparatory school of

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

, but left without graduating in 1877. The following year, at the invitation of his father's friend

Godai Tomoatsu was one of the Satsuma students of 1865 who were smuggled out of Bakumatsu period Japan to study in Great Britain. He returned to become Japan's leading entrepreneur of the early Meiji period. Early life Godai was born in Satsuma domain (in wha ...

, he moved to

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, and obtained a position as a bureaucrat in the

Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce The was a cabinet-level ministry in the government of the Empire of Japan from 1881 to 1925. It was briefly recreated as the during World War II. History The original Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce was created on April 7, 1881, initially ...

from 1881 to 1885. Around this time, he read the

Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...

classic ''

Outlaws of the Marsh ''Water Margin'' (), also called ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' or ''All Men Are Brothers'', is a Chinese novel from the Ming dynasty that is one of the preeminent Classic Chinese Novels. Attributed to Shi Nai'an, ''Water Margin'' was one of the ea ...

'' and the Japanese fantasy novel ''

Nansō Satomi Hakkenden ''Nansō Satomi Hakkenden'' (; ), commonly known as ''Satomi Hakkenden'' () or simply ''Hakkenden'' (), is a Japanese epic novel ('' yomihon'') by Kyokutei Bakin, originally published over the course of twenty-eight years ( 1814–42). Set in t ...

'' by

Kyokutei Bakin , born , was a Japanese novelist of the Edo period, who wrote under the pen name . Later in life he took the pen name . Modern scholarship generally refers to him as , or just as n. He is regarded as one of, if not the, leading author of early ...

. These works, combined with the death of his father, formed a turning point in his life, and he decided to abandon his secure career in the government for life as a writer.

Literary career

In 1899, Hirotsu met

Ozaki Kōyō was a Japanese author and poet. His real name was , and he was also known by various noms de plume including and . Biography Ozaki was the only son of Kokusai (), a well-known carver in the Meiji period. Ozaki is known as a classic Japanes ...

, and joined his literary group '' Ken'yūsha''. In 1895, he published two novels which enabled him to achieve literary recognition: ''Hemeden'' and ''Kurotokage''. These were the first of a new

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japa ...

, the "tragic novel", which he created. Heavily influenced by earlier

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

gesaku is an alternative style, genre, or school of Japanese literature. In the simplest contemporary sense, any literary work of a playful, mocking, joking, silly or frivolous nature may be called gesaku. Unlike predecessors in the literary field, gesa ...

'' writing, his stories are filled with improbable or incredible events,

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

and rather wooden characterization. His plots are typified by an inexorable progression of the protagonist through a series of pathetic and wretched experiences towards destruction dictated by an inflexible fate. His most famous work, ''Imado Shinjū'' (''Suicide at Imado''), was published in 1896. Hirotsu retired from writing in 1908, and died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in 1928. His grave is at the

Yanaka Cemetery is a large cemetery located north of Ueno in Yanaka 7-chome, Taito, Tokyo, Japan. The Yanaka sector of Taito is one of the few Tokyo neighborhoods in which the old Shitamachi atmosphere can still be felt. The cemetery is famous for its beautif ...

in Tokyo. The writer

Hirotsu Kazuo was a Japanese novelist, literary critic and translator active in the Shōwa period. Early life Hirotsu was born in the Ushigome neighborhood in Tokyo as the second son of the noted novelist Hirotsu Ryurō, whose pupils included Kafū Nagai. ...

is his son.

Notes

External links

E-texts of works
at

Aozora Bunko Aozora Bunko (, , also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousand works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that t ...

(Japanese site) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirotsu, Ryuro 1861 births 1928 deaths 19th-century Japanese novelists 20th-century Japanese novelists People from Nagasaki

Early life

Literary career

See also

Notes

External links