was a novelist of the '' Buraiha'' genre in

Shōwa period Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...

Japan. His name was also pronounced "Tanaka Eiko" on occasion.

Biography

Tanaka was born in the uptown Akasaka district of

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 ...

as the son of a historian; however, he was listed under his mother's maiden name of “Tanaka” in the

family register Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events (births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differe ...

rather than his father's surname of Iwasaki. He grew up in

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

and was a graduate of

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

’s School of Political Science and Economics. While still a student, he was influenced by his newspaper journalist brother towards a literary career, and towards membership in the

Japan Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest List of political parties in Japan, political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest List of communist parties#Modern n ...

. However, he was discouraged by the corruption of the senior leadership of the party, and left before graduation. Shortly after graduation, he met

Dazai Osamu , known by his pen name , was a Japanese novelist and author. A number of his most popular works, such as ''The Setting Sun'' (斜陽, ''Shayō'') and ''No Longer Human'' (人間失格, ''Ningen Shikkaku''), are considered modern classics. His ...

, who became his mentor. Also while still a university student, Tanaka was a member of the Japanese Olympic team to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, where he participated as a

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

. Although he competed in eight events, he was eliminated during the qualifying round. This experience led to two novels: ''Orinposu no Kajitsu'' (''The Fruit of Olympus'', 1940) and ''Tantei Soshu'' (''The Boat Rower'', 1944). In 1935, he was hired by the

Yokohama Rubber Company is a Japanese manufacturing company based in Hiratsuka, Japan. The company was founded and began on October 13, 1917, in a joint venture between Yokohama Cable Manufacturing and BFGoodrich. In 1969, the company expanded to the United States ...

and was sent to

Keijo Keijo may refer to: *Keijō, a former name of Seoul, South Korea *Keijo (given name) Keijo is a masculine Finnish given name. Notable people with the name include: * Keijo Huusko (born 1980), Finnish footballer * Keijo Kuusela (1921–1984), Finni ...

, or today's

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

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 ...

under the Japanese rule. He was used by Japanese authorities in Korea to organize Korean writers for a Greater East Asia Writer's Conference, the events of which he portrayed with bitterness and cynicism in his post-war novel ''The Drunken Ship''. He married Kiyo Kojima in 1937. He returned to Japan in 1944, and lived in

Shizuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...

. In 1947, leaving his wife in Shizuoka, he moved to

Shinjuku , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...

, Tokyo with his mistress. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Tanaka re-joined the Japan Communist Party, but was so critical of its leadership that he was later expelled. He was greatly shocked by the

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

of his mentor

. In his later years, he suffered from

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

drug abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definitions ...

and mental instability. He committed suicide at the grave of Dazai Osamu in 1949 by cutting his wrists after taking an overdose of sleeping pills. His grave is at the

Aoyama Cemetery is a cemetery in Aoyama, Tokyo, Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The cemetery is known for its cherry blossoms and is popular during the season of . History The cemetery was origin ...

in central Tokyo. His works include: * * *

References

*Tsurumi, Shinsuke. ''An Intellectual History of Wartime Japan: 1931–1945''. Taylor & Francis. (2010) *Ueda, Mekoto. ''Modern Japanese Writers: And the Nature of Literature''. Stanford University Press. (1976).

External links

E-text 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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Hidemitsu 1913 births 1949 suicides People from Minato, Tokyo Writers from Tokyo 20th-century Japanese novelists Japanese communists Olympic rowers for Japan Waseda University alumni Rowers at the 1932 Summer Olympics Drug-related suicides in Japan Suicides by sharp instrument in Japan Japanese male rowers Burials at Aoyama Cemetery 1949 deaths 20th-century Japanese sportsmen

Biography

See also

References

External links