was a
Japanese author who was one of the major writers of modern
Japanese literature, and remains perhaps the most popular
Japanese novelist after
Natsume Sōseki. His works often dealt a rather shocking world of women and destructive erotic obsessions, yet finding beauty in very traditional Japanese values.
Biography
Early life
Birthplace of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro
Tanizaki was born to a well-off merchant class family in the
Nihonbashi area of
Tokyo, where his father owned a
printing press, which had been established by his grandfather. Tanizaki admitted to having a pampered childhood in his autobiographical "Yosho Jidai ("The Childhood Years"). His family's finances declined dramatically as he grew older until, he was forced to reside in another household as an
apprentice. Tanizaki attended the Literature Department of
Tokyo Imperial University, but dropped out in 1910 due to lack of money, and due to a scandal involving a maid from the household where he was apprenticed.
Early literary career
Tanizaki began his literary career in 1909. His first work, a one-act stage play, was published in a
literary magazine which he helped found. In his early years Tanizaki became infatuated with the West and all things modern. He moved from Tokyo to
Yokohama, which had a large expatriate population, living briefly in a Western-style house and leading a decidedly
bohemian lifestyle. This bohemian outlook is very strong in his earlier writings.
Tanizaki's name became known with the publication of the
short story ''Shisei'' ("The Tattooer") in 1910, which was strongly influenced by
Edgar Allan Poe and
Oscar Wilde. In the story, a
tattoo artist inscribes a giant spider (the symbol of evil) on the body of a beautiful young woman. Afterwards, the woman's beauty takes on more of a demonic, compelling power, in which
eroticism is combined with masochism. The
femme-fatale was a theme repeated in many of Tanizaki’s early works, including ''Kirin'' ("Giraffe", 1910), ''Shonen'' ("Youth", 1910), and ''Akuma'' ("Devil", 1912).
Tanizaki's other works in the
Taisho period include ''Shindo'' (1916) and ''Oni no men'' (1916), which are partly autobiographical. Tanizaki married in 1915; however, his first marriage was in fact a love triangle between himself, his wife Chiyoko, and fellow writer Sato Haruo. The psychological stress of a relationship between two men and one woman is found in his early works, include the stage play ''Aisureba koso'' ("If Indeed One Loves", 1921), his first novel, ''Kami to hito no aida'' ("Between Men and the Gods", 1924) and in ''Chijin no ai'' ("A Fool's Love", 1924-25).
He had a brief career in Japanese
silent cinema, working as a script writer for the ''Jun Eiga Ka'', or 'pure cinema movement' where he was instrumental in bringing modernist themes to Japanese film. He wrote the scripts for the films ''Amateur Club'' (1922) and ''Lasciviousness of the Viper'' (1923) (the inspiration for
Mizoguchi Kenji's ''Ugetsu Monogatari'').
Period in Kyoto
Tanizaki's reputation really began to take off when he moved to
Kyoto after the 1923
Great Kanto earthquake. The loss of Tokyo's historic buildings and neighborhoods in the quake triggered a change in his enthusiasms, as he redirected his youthful love for the West and modernity into a passion for traditional Japanese aesthetics and culture, particularly the culture of the
Kansai region comprising
Osaka,
Kobe and
Kyoto. Inspired by the Kansai dialect, he wrote ''Manji'' ("Swastika", 1931), in which he explored the theme of lesbianism. This was followed by the classic ''Tade ku mushi'' (''
Some Prefer Nettles'', 1928-29), showing how Tokyo's modern culture was superficial compared with Japan’s ancient cultural currents. In ''Yoshinokuzu'' ("The Arrowroot of Yoshino", 1931), he turned towards classical Japanese literature and story-telling techniques.
The change in his attitudes can be seen in his multiple translations into modern Japanese of the eleventh-century classic ''
The Tale of Genji'' and in his masterpiece ''Sasameyuki'' ("A Light Snowfall", published in English as ''
The Makioka Sisters'', 1943), a tale about four daughters of a waning Osaka merchant family. His characters often reflect his own turning away from Western modernism in favor of traditional Japanese aesthetics, with the hero of Naomi, for example, being seduced by Westernized women and led to his destruction, while Kaname in
Some Prefer Nettles is torn between an affair with a traditional Japanese woman and his wife, who pursues an extramarital affair of her own with a modern man.
Though his early novels paint a rich atmosphere of 1920s Tokyo and Osaka, during the 1930s Tanizaki turned away from contemporary affairs to write about Japan's feudal past, perhaps as a reaction to the growing mood of
militarism in society and politics.
Postwar period
After
World War II Tanizaki again emerged into literary prominence, winning a host of awards and until his death regarded as Japan's greatest living author. He was awarded the
Order of Culture by the Japanese government in 1949.
His first major post-war work was ''Shūshō Shigemoto no haha'' (''
Captain Shigemoto's Mother'', 1949-1950), with the theme of love between mother and son. The novel also introduced the issue of sexuality in old age, which would reappear in Tanizaki’s later works, such as ''Kagi'' (''
The Key'', 1956). Kagi is a lurid psychological novel, in which an aging professor arranges for his wife to commit adultery in order to boost his own sagging sexual desires.
Tanizaki's characters are often driven by obsessive erotic desires. In one his final novels, ''Futen Rojin Nikki'' (''Diary of a Mad Old Man'', 1962) an aged diarist is struck down by a stroke caused by an excess of sexual excitement. He records both his past desires and his current efforts to bribe his daughter-in-law to provide sexual favors in return for Western baubles.
Tanizaki died of a
heart attack in
Yugawara, Kanagawa, south of Tokyo, on
30 July 1965.
Legacy
Most of Tanizaki's works are highly sensual, a few particularly centered on eroticism, and virtually all are laced with wit and ironic sophistication. Though he is remembered primarily for his novels and short stories, he also wrote poetry, drama, and essays. He was, above all, a masterful storyteller.
Bibiliography
Selected Works
Some works published in English
★ Naomi. Vintage Press (1998). ISBN 0375724745
★ The Key & Diary of a Mad Old Man. Trans. Howard Hibbert. Vintage Press (2004). ISBN 1400079004
★ ''
Seven Japanese Tales'' Vintage Press (1963). ISBN 0679761071
★ ''
The Gourmet Club'' Oxford University Press (2001). ISBN 4770029721
★ The Makioka Sisters. Vintage Press (1995). ISBN 0679761640
★ Some Prefer Nettles. Vintage Press (1995). ISBN 0679752692
★ Quicksand. Vintage Press (1995). ISBN 0679760229
★ A Cat, a Man, and Two Women. Kodansha International (1992). ISBN 4770016050
★ The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi and Arrowroot. Vintage Press (2003). ISBN 0375719318
References
★ Boscaro, Adriana, et al., eds. ''Tanizaki in Western Languages: A Bibliography of Translations and Studies''. University of Michigan Press (1999). ISBN 0939512998
★ Boscaro, Adriana and Chambers, Anthony, eds. ''A Tanizaki Feast: The International Symposium in Venice''. University of Michigan Press (1994). ISBN 0939512904
★ Chambers, Anthony, ''The Secret Window: Ideal Worlds in Tanizaki's Fiction''. Harvard University Asia Centre (1994). ISBN 0674796748
★ Gessel, Van C. ''Three Modern Novelists''. Kodansha International (1994). ISBN 4770016522
★ Ito, Ken Kenneth. ''Visions of Desire: Tanizaki's Fictional Worlds''. Stanford University Press (1991). ISBN 0804718695
★ Keene, Donald. ''Dawn to the West''. Columbia University Press (1998). ISBN 0231114354.
External links
★
Tanizaki Memorial Museum, Kobe
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