, born , was a Japanese novelist.Suzuki, Tomi. ''Narrating the Self: Fictions of Japanese Modernity''.

Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It is currently a member of the Ass ...

, July 1, 1997. , 9780804731621. p
44
Jim Reichert, author of ''Yamada Bimyō: Historical Fiction and Modern Love,'' wrote that Bimyō was "one of the most influential literary reformers of the 1880s" who had "an instrumental role" in producing ''rekishi shōsetsu'', the modern form of a Japanese historical novel.Reichert, p
99
According to Reichert, during the 1880s the public perceived Bimyō "to be at the forefront of the literary reform movement, offering a fresh and exciting strategy for reforming Japanese literature." Louis Frédéric, author of the ''Japan Encyclopedia'', wrote that Bimyō was, along with Kōda Rohan, "the most representative authors" of the first modern school of literature to appear in Meiji Japan.

History

Bimyō was a part of the "Ken'yūsha" ("Friends of the Inkstone") Meiji literary group formed in February 1885, along with

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 ...

, Ishibashi Shian, and Maruoka Kyūka. Bimyō married the writer Tazawa Inabune (Tazawa Kin) after she traveled to Tokyo to meet him.Tanaka, Yukiko. ''Women Writers of Meiji and Taisho Japan: Their Lives, Works and Critical Reception, 1868-1926''.

McFarland McFarland may refer to: People *McFarland (surname) Places in the United States *McFarland, California, a city *McFarland, Kansas, a city *McFarland, Missouri, a ghost town *McFarland, Wisconsin, a village Other uses * USS ''McFarland'' (DD-237) ...

, September 1, 2000. , 9780786481972. p
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At the time, Bimyō's financial situation was deteriorating, and Inabune's family was wealthy. Yukiko Tanaka, author of ''Women Writers of Meiji and Taisho Japan: Their Lives, Works and Critical Reception, 1868-1926'', stated that the marriage would not have occurred if his financial troubles did not exist.Tanaka, Yukiko. ''Women Writers of Meiji and Taisho Japan: Their Lives, Works and Critical Reception, 1868-1926''.

, September 1, 2000. , 9780786481972. p
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During the marriage Bimyō had affairs with other women. Bimyō told Ozaki Kōyō, who criticized his affairs, that the dalliances were to enhance his artistic abilities. The marriage attracted scrutiny from the press, and after three months Bimyō and Inabune divorced, and Inabune was forced to return home. The man's relationships with his colleagues eventually deteriorated.Miller, J. Scott. ''The A to Z of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater'' (Volume 187 of The A to Z Guide Series).

Scarecrow Press Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns ...

, April 1, 2010. , 9781461731887. p
141
Bimyō's ex-wife died in 1896, and many newspapers erroneously reported that she had committed suicide. Melek Ortabasi, author of "Tazawa Inabune (1874-1896)", wrote that Inabune's death ended Bimyō's career "in large part" because Bimyō received criticism for how he had treated Inabune.Ortabasi, p
158
Bimyō died at age 42. At the time of his death he was in a poor economic situation. In 2006 Reichert stated that Bimyō had "faded into relative obscurity".

Writing style

Yamada Bimyō in 1910 Tomi Suzuki, author of ''Narrating the Self: Fictions of Japanese Modernity'', wrote that Bimyō's writing style "was in fact far from the spoken languages of the time." Bimyō favored '' genbun-itchi'' ( 言文一致), which means unifying spoken and written language, and also used Western literature features including different grammatical persons, ellipses, passive voice, personification, and Western tense styles. He wrote an 1889 article advocating ''genbun-itchi''.

Works

*''Shōnen Sugata'' ("On the Beauty of Youths", 1885-1886) - A collection of poems *" Musashino" (武蔵野 "Plain of Musashi", 1887) - First printed in the November and December issues of the ''

Yomiuri Shimbun The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ''The Asahi Shimbun'', the ''Chunichi Shimbun'', the ''Ma ...

''.Sullivan p. 31. *''Kochō'' ("Butterfly", 1889) *"Outline of ''genbun-itchi'' theory" ("Genbun-itchi ron gairyaku", 1889) **The author compared and contrasted ''genbun-itchi'' and ''futsūbun'', or the standard written language. * Josō no tantei (女装の探偵, 1902) * Chi no namida (地の涙, 1903) * Shōsetsu hane neke tori (小説・羽ぬけ鳥, 1903) * Sabigatana (さびがたな, 1903) *"Bakin no bunsho ryakuhyo" (Brief comments on Bakin's writing)

Collections

* '' Natsukodachi'' - "Musashino" is within this collection

References

* Ortabasi, Melek. "Tazawa Inabune (1874-1896)". In: Copeland, Rebecca L. and Melek Ortabasi (editors). ''The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan'' (Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture).

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

, August 13, 2013. , 9780231510660. Start p
151
* Reichert, Jim.
Yamada Bimyō: Historical Fiction and Modern Love
(Chapter 4). ''In the Company of Men: Representations of Male-male Sexuality in Meiji Literature''.

, 2006. , 9780804752145. * Sullivan, Daniel J. "Yamada Bimyō’s “Musashino” and the Development of Early Meiji Historical Fiction" (Chapter 2). In: Williams, Philip F. (editor).
Asian Literary Voices: From Marginal to Mainstream
'
Archive
.

Amsterdam University Press Amsterdam University Press (AUP) is a university press that was founded in 1992 by the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is based on the university press model and operates on a not-for-profit basis. AUP publishes scholarly and trade ...

, 2010. . p. 31-40. Available at the OAPEN Library. * Wallace, B. Alan, Kirk A. Denton, and Ju-Chan Fulton.
The Ken'yūsha, Ozaki Kōyō, and Yamada Bimyō
(Chapter 10). ''The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature'' (Columbia series in science and religion).

, August 13, 2013. , 9780231507363.

Notes

External links

*
Yamada Bimyō
-

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 ...

*
第67回：山田美妙(やまだびみょう)

City of Morioka {{DEFAULTSORT:Yamada, Bimyo Japanese historical novelists Japanese lexicographers 1868 births 1910 deaths Place of birth missing