was a Japanese writer and researcher of French Romanticism. He was a professor of French literature at

Kyushu University , abbreviated to , is a public research university located in Fukuoka, Japan, on the island of Kyushu. Founded in 1911 as the fourth Imperial University in Japan, it has been recognised as a leading institution of higher education and resear ...

. He is known as the first Japanese having a friendship with

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

and also known as a collaborator with Kōjirō Matsukata in collecting paintings and sculptures for the Matsukata Collection of the

National Museum of Western Art The is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition. The museum is in the Ueno Park in Taitō, central Tokyo. It received 1,162,345 visitors in 2016. History The NMWA was established on June 10, 1959 ...

in Ueno, Tokyo.

Early life (1892–1916)

Seiichi Naruse was born as the first son of Seikyo Naruse (成瀬正恭) on April 26, 1892. Seikyo Naruse was the president of the 15th Bank(Jūgo Ginkou) and also a manager of other banks and companies. Seiichi grew up in a wealthy environment with his brothers, including Seiji Naruse and Shunsuke Naruse (diplomat), and sisters. After he graduated from Azabu Junior High School and First Higher School, Japan (第一高等学校), he studied in the Faculty of Letters at

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

(now

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

). In his college days, he started a literary magazine "Shin-shichou"( 新思潮, a new trend of thought)　with his classmates:

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa , art name , was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story", and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. He took his own life at the age ...

, Masao Kume,

Kan Kikuchi , also known as Kan Kikuchi (which uses the same kanji as his real name), was a Japanese author and publisher. He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both ...

and Yuzuru Matsuoka (松岡譲). In this magazine, they made their debut as writers. In later years, Akutagawa and Kikuchi became most important novelists in Japan. Naruse was a good linguist. He learned English and German at high school and college. He learned French under a private teacher Hana Yamata (younger sister of Kiku Yamata). After he read the 10-volume ''

Jean-Christophe ''Jean-Christophe'' (1904‒1912) is the novel in 10 volumes by Romain Rolland for which he received the Prix Femina in 1905 and which contributed to his receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915. It was translated into English by Gilb ...

'', he became an admirer of

and his pacifist thoughts. His French was good enough to exchange letters with Rolland. Just before graduation, in cooperation with

, Masao Kume and Yuzuru Matsuoka, he published a Japanese version of Rolland's ''Life of Tolstoy'' (translated from its English version) by permission of Rolland himself.

Visit to the U.S.A and Europe (1916–1918)

In 1916, just after graduation, he went to live in New York. He had wanted to go to Europe to see Rolland, but the World War I prevented him from doing so. Though he was enrolled at the

Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (also known as GSAS) is the graduate school of Columbia University. Founded in 1880, GSAS is responsible for most of Columbia's graduate degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural scie ...

, he spent much of his time going to theaters in Broadway and going to see his favorite artworks in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

and the

Hispanic Society of America The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly appl ...

. He was also active in writing short stories and reports for "Shin-shichou". In answer to a journalist's request, he contributed a report "My First Night in New York" to a local newspaper the

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 to 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers as a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publisher Jo ...

. In his journal "Trip to Florida", he commented on the American journalism and segregation, which was a rare record of the American South on the eve of America's entry into the World War I. He was asked to write an essay on Japan by his friend, Waldo Frank. "Young Japan" was written in English and published in

The Seven Arts ''The Seven Arts'', an early example of the little magazine, was edited by James Oppenheim, Waldo Frank, and Van Wyck Brooks; it appeared monthly from November 1916 through October 1917. Jointly envisaged by Oppenheim and Frank, ''The Seven Ar ...

(pp. 616–26, April issue, 1917). In it are fully described the hope and despair of Japanese intellectuals who were at a loss in a sudden flood of Western cultures after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. Meanwhile, he moved to Boston, where he took literary courses at Boston University and worked part-time as an explainer of ''ukiyo-e'' at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

. Both in New York and in Boston, he was greatly impressed with real paintings and sculptures of the great masters, which he had only seen in books in Japan. In his college days, he often put in an order at the bookstore for foreign books such as "Collected Drawings of

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley ( ; 21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. ...

". His favorites in museums in New York were

Millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

, Chavanne, Rembrant and

Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

. He often wrote about his exciting experiences to his friends in Japan. In March 1918, he set sail from New York for Europe at the risk of being attacked by German U-boats, hoping to do volunteer work for the Red Cross. He arrived safely in Paris, but as the artillery fire from Germany became severe, he was evacuated to Ryon. It was not until in the middle of July that he crossed the French border into Switzerland. In Geneva, in a small island on the lake Leman, he happened to visit a statue of

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

, whose philosophy would become a longterm subject of Naruse's research. He finally met

in Villeneuve. He stayed there for about 3 weeks. Day in, day out, they discussed literature and culture both in the East and the West. Naruse gave a full account of the actual situation of Japan in those days. They foretold the outbreak of the Pacific War between America and Japan. We now know the details of their discussions, because Rolland wrote down every single word that Naruse told him in his " Journal des Années de Guerre" (November, 1916～1918), (Éditions Albin Michel, Paris). Unfortunately, the Journal was published in 1952, 34 years after their meeting in Villeneuve, 12 years after Naruse's death. On his way home from Switzerland, Naruse stayed in Pairs for a while, where he luckily encountered with the victory celebration of the World War I. He wrote his impression of it to Rolland and for a Japanese newspaper, ''Jiji shinpō''(時事新報). Soon after he got home, he decided on researching into French literature as his lifework instead of writing novels.

Life in Paris (1921–1925)

In February 1919, he married Fukuko Kawasaki, a daughter of Yoshitarō Kawasaki, granddaughter of Shōzō Kawasaki ( Kawasaki Shōzō). Shōzō Kawasaki was the founder of the Kawasaki Shipbuilding Company (川崎造船); Yoshitarō Kawasaki was the vice president of it. In 1921, Seiichi took Fukuko with him to live in Paris, where he settled down to work on literary researches at the Sorbonne (

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

), in literary salons as their members and under private tutors. Claude Monet and Fukuko Naruse

In the early stages of his four-year stay in Paris, he assisted Kōjirō Matsukata (president of the Kawasaki Shipbuilding Company) in collecting art works for the Matsukata Collection. Naruse and Matsukata went around art dealers and galleries such as Durand-Ruel and

Bernheim-Jeune Bernheim-Jeune gallery is one of the oldest art galleries in Paris. Opened on Rue Laffitte in 1863 by Alexandre Bernheim (1839-1915), friend of Delacroix, Corot and Courbet, it changed location a few times before settling on Avenue Matignon. ...

, often with

Yukio Yashiro was a Japanese academic, art historian, Botticelli scholar and Director of the Institute for Art Research in Tokyo. Biography In 1960, he became the founding director of the Museum of Japanese Art ('' Yamato Bunkakan'') in Nara, Nara. This mus ...

. Naruse recommended Matsukata to buy works by

Gustave Moreau Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism ...

and

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...

in particular. In 1921, he visited

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

at Giverny several times with Fukuko, Kōjirō Matsukata,

, Shizuka Sakazaki (art historian) and Sanji & Takeko Kuroki (Matsukata's niece). Naruse and Fukuko were good friends of

Michel Monet Michel Monet (17 March 1878 – 3 February 1966) was the second son of Claude Monet and Camille Doncieux Monet. Early life Born on 17 March 1878, 26 rue d'Édimbourg, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, where the Monets had moved from Argenteui ...

and

Blanche Hoschedé Monet Blanche Hoschedé Monet (10 November 1865 – 8 December 1947) was a French Painting, painter who was both the stepdaughter and the daughter-in-law of Claude Monet. Early life Ernest and Alice Hoschedé Blanche Hoschedé was born in Paris ...

, too. In 1923, the couple visited

with

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the poli ...

at a hospital in Neuilly when Claude had an operation for cataract. Naruse also visited

Léonce Bénédite Léonce Bénédite (14 January 1859 – 12 May 1925) was a French art historian and curator. He was a co-founder of the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français (Society for French Orientalist Painters) and was instrumental in establishi ...

at the

Musée Rodin The Musée Rodin () of Paris, France, is an art museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as well as just ...

with Matsukata. Naruse bought a bust of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

(the original plaster figure) from Bénédite himself. His literary researches were mainly on French Romanticists in the 18th and 19th century such as

, Chateaubriand,

, Gautier,

Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...

and

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal so ...

. His interest had already passed away from

, perhaps because Rolland had become too keen on the Soviet Communist Party. Naruse's study of Romanticism covered not only literary works and theatrical arts, but also personal histories of writers, the social trends and the living conditions of the periods. In 1925, he decided to return to Japan. He had been recommended for a position at

(one of the seven national universities in Japan) in Fukuoka-shi, Kyushu.

Teaching at Kyushu University (1925–1936)

As a professor of French Literature in the Law and Literature Faculty, he taught the history of French Literature and Romanticism. His lectures were well prepared. In teaching each novel, poem or play, he shed light on the personality of the writer, took the social context into account, and cited examples from the original text. He also devoted some of his lectures to deal with comedies mostly performed at the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

. His successful lectures were supported by his dozens of neatly written notebooks in which he organized his massive amount of research material gathered through many years. He often compared French writers with those of other countries, setting about a project in the new genre of

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

Third Visit to Paris (1935)

In 1935, he was given a grant for research by the Kaln Foundation (Albert Kaln). He studied in Paris for 8 months, focusing on the theme: the influence of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

on the French Romanticism. He was also active in taking part in some official events. In May, he was invited as a guest speaker in the Great Auditorium at the Sorbonne(

). He gave a talk titled "

Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne ( ; ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), commonly known as Michel de Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularising the essay as ...

and the Wisdom of the Far East", in which he compared the selfless mental state of

with that of Yoshida Kenkō. Kenkō is the author of a famous essay named Tsurezuregusa(written in 1330～1331). In the same auditorium, he participated in the Semicentury Anniversary of

's Death as a delegate from Japan. His long friendship with

, which was not at all strong as in his youth, was seen in his letter to his wife Fukuko in which he was concerned about a souvenir from Japan for Rolland's new wife. After he returned to Japan at the end of 1935, he was in poor health. On 13 April 1936, he died suddenly of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 43. Death bereaved him of his wife Fukuko and three children. His successor as a researcher of French and comparative literature was one of his students, Yukio Ōtsuka(大塚幸男), who became a professor at

Fukuoka University Fukuoka University is a private research university located in Fukuoka, Japan. The university has nine faculties with a total of around 20,000 students, 800 of whom are foreign. Its two campuses are in Nanakuma and Kitakyushu. Fukuoka Universit ...

in later years.''Biography-Sei-ichi Naruse'', Yasuyoshi Sekiguchi, Japan Editors School, August 1994 ()

References

Literary works

*“A letter from

(ロオラン氏の手紙)”, Sihn-shichou, June 1916 *“Life of Tolstoy” by

(translation into Japanese from its English version), Shinchou-sha, March 1916 *“Voyage (航海)”, Sihn-shichou, November 1916 *“From New York – American Literature, Theater and Museum (紐育より – アメリカの文壇、劇場、美術館)”, Shin-shichou, November 1916 *“Individuality and Criticism in Creative Literature (創作における個人性と文芸批評)”, Shin-shichou, March 1917 *“Trip to Florida (フロリダ行き)”, Teikoku Bungaku, November 1917 *“Young Japan",

(pp. 616–26), April 1917 *“Travel to Canada (カナダの旅行)”, Teikoku Bungaku, February 1918 *“Three-weeks with

(ロオランとの三週間)”, Jiji-Shimpou, January 1919 *“Travel to Switzerland (瑞西の旅)”, Chu-ou Ko-ron, April 1919 *“Ivory Shimada (象牙島田)”, Yu-ben, May 1917 *“My Visit to

(ロマン・ロオラン訪問記)”, Ningen, February 1920 *“Literary Salons in the 18th Century (十八世紀に於ける文芸サロン)”, Literary Research, Kyushu University, 1932 *“Montaigne et la Sagesse d'Extrême-Orient", Université de Paris, Institut d'Etudes japonaises, Travaux et Conférences, Fascicule II, 1935 *“Research in French Literature, Volume I (仏蘭西文学研究　第一号)", edited by the Naruse Seiichi Memorial Committee, Hakusui-Sha, 1938 *“Research in French Literature, Volume II(仏蘭西文学研究　第二号)", edited by the Naruse Seiichi Memorial Committee, Hakusui-Sha, 1939 {{DEFAULTSORT:Naruse, Seiichi 1892 births 1936 deaths Japanese writers French literature Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Boston University alumni Academic staff of Kyushu University Writers from Yokohama