著者

Mikołaj Melanowicz

出版者

国文学研究資料館

雑誌

国際日本文学研究集会会議録 = PROCEEDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JAPANESE LITERATURE (ISSN:03877280)

巻号頁・発行日

no.15, pp.98-107, 1992-03-01

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Tanizaki is well known in the world mainly as the author of "The Makioka Sisters" (Sasameyuki, 1943-48, tr. 1957) in Edward G. Seidensticker's translation, and Howard Hibbet's "Diary of a Mad Old Man"( Fūten rōjin nikki, 1961-62, tr. 1969). In the last decade Anthony H. Chambers, "Naomi" (Chijin no ai, 1925, tr. 1985) and "The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi" (Bushōkō hiwa, 1932, tr. 1982) and Paul McCarthy's "A Cat, a Man, and Two Women" (Neko to Shozo to futari no onna, 1936, tr. 1990) and “Childhood Years, A Memoir” (Yōshō Jidai, 1955-56, tr. 1988) have enriched world literature.The bizarre novel "Bushūkō hiwa" is comparatively less acclaimed, but in which the writer's main features stand out in relief admirably well.The hero in "Bushūkō hiwa" is characterized in principle as a paragon of the samurai' ethos and his fate also was typical of that of the Japanese warrior aristocracy in the Sengoku age of civil war. "Bushūkō hiwa", though different from "Ashikari" and "Shunkinshō" in that its leading character is male, in a story, nevertheless, the main events are caused by women.Kaname (“Tade kuu mushi”) , Sasuke, Shunkin (“Shunkinshō"). O'yu ("Ashikari”), Yaichi and Oichi (“Mōmoku monogatari”), as they appear in Tanizaki's novels, hold no concepts such as race, nation, native country or faith. The concepts that extend beyond the individual have no decisive influence on their thought or behaviour. Only cultural and aesthetic inducements and inmost impulse move them. A combination of these two factors is depicted most vividly in "Bushūkō hiwa", especially in a scene where a beautiful young woman is purifying a severed head with the hero looking on. The decisive and absolute factor for the hero, that is aesthetics, will be discussed in the paper.