Kiyoshi Ishikawa (石川淳, ''Ishikawa Kiyoshi''; 7 March 1899 – 29 December 1987), known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Jun Ishikawa (written in the same ''

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

''), was a Japanese

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

author, translator and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

active during the

Shōwa era The was a historical period of History of Japan, Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the T ...

Early life

Ishikawa was born in the

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known for Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as . History The development of Asaku ...

district of Tokyo as the son of a banker. He graduated from the Tokyo School of Foreign Languages (, later Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) with a degree in

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

. After graduation, he served a tour of duty in the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

from 1922 to 1923, following which he was hired by Fukuoka University as a professor of

. His early career involved translating works such as

Anatole France (; born ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

's ''L'Immoraliste'' into Japanese. The next year, he was resigned from the university due to controversy over his participation in student protest movements. He returned to Tokyo and began a bohemian existence, living out of cheap pensions while translating

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

's ''Les Caves du Vatican'' and

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

's ''

Le Misanthrope ''The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover'' (; ) is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris by the King's Players. The play satirizes the ...

'' and '' Tartuffe''.

Literary career

His literary career began in 1935, when he began writing a series of short stories, starting with ''Kajin'' (佳人, Lady), and ''Hinkyu mondo'' (貧窮問答, Dialog on Poverty) in which he depicted the struggles of a solitary writer attempting to create a Parnassian fiction. In 1936 he won the fourth annual Akutagawa Prize for his story ''Fugen'' (普賢, The Bodhisattva). In early 1938, when Japan's war against China was at its height, Ishikawa published the brilliantly ironic ''Marusu no uta'' (マルスの歌, Mars' Song), an antiwar story soon banned for fomenting antimilitary thought. His first novel, ''Hakubyo'' (白描, Plain Sketch, 1940) was a criticism of

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

. During the war years, he turned his attention to non-fiction, producing biographies on Mori Ōgai and Watanabe Kazan. However, his main interest was in the comic verses of the

Tenmei is a Japanese era name (年号, ''nengō'', literally "years name") for the years between the An'ei Era and before the Kansei Era, from April 1781 through January 1789. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1781 : The new era name of Ten ...

era of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

(''狂歌, Kyoka''), of which he became a master. He wrote poetry using the pen-name of . Along with the likes of Osamu Dazai, Sakaguchi Ango, and Oda Sakunosuke, Ishikawa was known as a member of the '' Buraiha'' (literally "Ruffian") tradition of anti-conventional literature. In the post-war period, he wrote ''Ogon Densetsu'' (黄金伝説, Legend of Gold, 1946) and ''Yakeato no Iesu'' (焼跡のイエス, Jesus in the Ashes, 1946). The author Abe Kobo became his pupil. He also continued his work in essays, which took two forms. In ''Isai hitsudan'' (夷斎筆談, Isai's Discourses, 1950–1951), he covered a wide range of topics in art, literature and current events, in an irreverent, and at times, bitter, style. On the other hand, ''Shokoku Kijinden'' (諸国畸人伝, Eccentrics and Gallants from around the country, 1955–1957), is a series of biographical sketches of unusual persons from various points in Japanese history. He turned also to ancient Japanese history, with the serial publication of ''Shinshaku Kojiki'' (新釈古事記, Another Translation of the ''Kojiki''), ''Hachiman Engi'' (八幡縁起, Origins of Gods of Hachiman, 1957) and ''Shura'' (修羅, Demons, 1958), in which he explored the origin of Japanese nation and conflict between the Jōmon and

Yayoi The Yayoi period (弥生時代, ''Yayoi jidai'') (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence o ...

peoples. In 1964 he went to a journey to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and western Europe together with Abe Kobo. It was his first overseas travel, and resulted in ''Seiyu Nichiroku'' (西游日録, A Record of a Journey West, 1965). In 1967 he joined Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio and Abe Kōbō in issuing a statement protesting the destruction of

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chine ...

during the Chinese

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. Ishikawa was immensely popular in the post-war era, and won numerous awards. His ''Edo Bungaku Shoki'' (江戸文学掌記, A Brief Survey of Edo Literature, 1980), won the Yomiuri Literary Award. He died of lung cancer while working on his last novel, ''Hebi no Uta'' (蛇の歌, A Song of Snakes, 1988),

In English

* Ishikawa, Jun. ''The Legend of Gold and Other Stories. '' Trans. William J. Tyler. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1988. * Ishikawa, Jun. ''The Bodhisattva''. Columbia University Press (1990). Trans. William J. Tyler.

References

External links

Jun Ishikawa
at J'Lit Books from Japan

at JLPP (Japanese Literature Publishing Project)
Ishikawa, Jun 1899–1987Ishikawa Jun to Sengo Nihon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishikawa Jun 1899 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Japanese novelists Japanese male short story writers People from Taitō Writers from Tokyo Akutagawa Prize winners Deaths from lung cancer in Japan 20th-century Japanese poets 20th-century Japanese translators 20th-century Japanese short story writers 20th-century Japanese essayists 20th-century Japanese male writers

Early life

Literary career

In English

See also

References

External links