WAR LITERATURE

WAR LITERATURE: translation

Tales of military valor (gunki, gundan) were an important genre prior to the Meiji period, with such works as the 14th-century Heike monogatari (Tale of the Heike) and Taiheiki (Chronicle of the Peace) appearing in both written and oral versions throughout the Tokugawa period. Nationalism soared following Japan’s defeat of Qing China (1894–95), and when Japan fought Russia in 1904–5, many writers and poets participated in this new, modern war, often as correspondents for newspapers. Some wrote of the events using classical allusions to earlier war tales, while others, such as Yosano Akiko, took an antiwar stance in her poetry.Japan’s militarism during the 1920s and 1930s led to greater literary oppression. Writers were subject to heavy censorship, and paper was strictly rationed. Many novels published during this time, such as those by Hino Ashihei, glorified the war and even served as propaganda. Some authors, such as Tanizaki Jun’ichiro and Kawabata Yasunari, largely avoided censorship by writing beautiful but politically neutral love stories. Others distinctly opposed the war, including Ishikawa Tatsuzo, Oguma Hideo, and Kuroshima Denji, attempting to publish antiwar literature or disturbing, realistic accounts of attacks. Many of these writings, however, were not published until after the war was over. Some writers spent time working as war correspondents in China and Southeast Asia and later drew on these wartime experiences for their literary and nonfiction works. Military tales remain a staple of popular Japanese fiction, which contains a plethora of samurai stories as well as tales of valor and tragedy from World War II.

See also ATOMIC BOMB LITERATURE; KINOSHITA NAOE; MISHIMA YUKIO; MORI OGAI; NOMA HIROSHI; NOSAKA AKIYUKI; PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATION FOR JAPANESE LITERATURE; POSTWAR LITERATURE; PROLETARIAN LITERATURE; SAKAGUCHI ANGO; SHIMAO TOSHIO; TAKAMI JUN; TAKEDA TAIJUN; THIRD GENERATION; THOUGHT POLICE; TSUBOI SHIGEJI.