The Historical Fiction and Biography of Mori gai

Author(s): Eric W. Johnson

Source: The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, Vol. 8, No. 1, Tenth
Anniversary Issue (Nov., 1972), pp. 7-25
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Japanese
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and the Historical

"The Modern Japanese Novelist
at the twenty-fourth
annual meeting
A panel presented
for Asian Studies,
Association
March,1972

Process"
of the

THE HISTORICALFICTION AND BIOGRAPHY

OF MORI OGAI

Eric W. Johnson
The University

of Michigan

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8
of General
self-immolation
and Madam Nogi
With the shocking
of September,
on Friday,
the thirteen
the day of the Meiji
1912,
of the
whose death that July marked the start
emperor's
funeral,
fiction
and dramatically
Taisho
shifted
suddenly
Ogai's
period,
to the historical
from contemporary
The reversion
past.
settings
and so compelling
that the first
of Ogai's
was so swift
historical
and completed
works was conceived
in the five
between
day period
the deaths
of General
and Madam Nogi and their
funeral
on the
in Ogai's
The entry
for that day, the eighteenth,
eighteenth.
diary
both his attendance
at the funeral
and that this
mentions
first
of Okitsu
historical
Yagoemon
work, "The Testament
Yagoemon" (Okitsu
no isho,
and sent to Chuo Koron
had been finished
1912),
published
for publication.1
told as a formal
The story,
letter
to
by Okitsu
and heirs,
for self-immohis children
Okitsu's
motivations
probes
lation
the second
lunar month in the year 1647,2
day of the twelfth
of Nogi's
of this
The influence
death on the writing
story,
on several
that
Not so clear
is clear.
perhaps
followed,
is,
influence
should
have been or what it means and,
why that
first,
that
these
of a long standstories
indication
give clear
secondly,
in Japanese
on Ogai's
part.
They could not
ing interest
history
a shift
of interest
on by
have been written
simply
brought
through
of
but must have been the product
or culmination
Nogi's
death,
which Nogi's
The stories
death triggered.
longer
range influences,
that could not
with Japanese
indicate
clearly
familiarity
history
in a few days or months as would otherwise
have
have been acquired
been necessary.
as

The evidence
of historical
competence
expressed
by these
to historical
fiction
that Ogai might have turned
stories
indicates
this
is of
even had Nogi not committed
eventually
although
suicide,
course
Be that as it may, the death of Nogi did crysspeculative.
tallize
that had been accumulating
over a
ideas
and impressions
but which might not have found expression
of many yeras
period
tried
his hand at
Once Ogai
without
the shock of Nogi's
death.
to his sensibilifiction
he not only found it congenial
historical
as a writer.
as his mode of self-expression
but appropriate
ties,
the death of General
that while
it would appear
Nogi had a
Thus,
a
was
as
and immediate
effect-after
personal
Nogi
powerful
all,
hero whom Ogai deeply
and a national
friend
as professional
well
are
were at work which ultimately
more subtle
admired--other
things
but
suicide
of Nogi's
to us than the fact
of greater
importance
to talk about.
more difficult
which are commensurately
to these
is irrelevant
death
This is not to say that Nogi's
deepis true.
On one
the contrary
er and more difficult
clearly
arguments;
never turning
that Ogai's
to state
it is quite
level
away
possible
few exceptions,
until
he quit writing,with
fiction
from historical

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9
him in a very
that the death of General
indicates
Nogi influenced
and
Had Nogi not committed
suicide
and Ogai
lasting
way.
personal
to historical
turned
I dare say the stories
fiction,
eventually
and impact that they do.
The relationwould not have the richness
death and Ogai's
historical
fiction,
ship between
Nogi's
therefore,
in helping
is important
us to understand
these
works on a level
that
if one were to confine
is not possible
to the
his interpretation
works alone.
But this
is true of other
of these
aspects
works,
of the years
such as, for example,
their
to the tenor
relationship
in which they were written.
death
of a
is but one facet
Nogi's
that combine
to give
set of special
complex
interrelationships
these
stories
their
magnitude.
In all,
historical
Ogai wrote twenty-four
including:
works,
five
eleven
short
and short biographies
in the
stories
novellas,
from 1912 to 1916; and, finally,
from the years
1916 to 1918,
years
three
short
With the exception
of three
long and five
biographies.3
all
two of which are set in T'ang China,
are incidents
from
works,
the Tokugawa period,
or related
to it,4as
in the case of "Sahashi
an obscure
incident
in Tokugawa
1913) which treats
Jingoro" (April
to power prior
rise
to the battle
at Sekigahara.
Ieyasu's
historical
works take up nearly
four volumes
These nineteen
of the eight
of the Complete
volume edition
Works of Mori Ogai
Of the
(Mori Ogai zenshu)
published
by Chikuma Shobo in 1959.5
in the set two and a third
are devoted
to
four volumes
remaining
all
and novels
in the Meiji
written
short
stories
period
(nearly
one volume
of Meiji
from 1909 to 1912),
the last
four years
during
and literand some poetry,
and one volume of essays
of translation
the Meiji
in prose and poetry,
also done during
period.
ary diaries
of Ogai as a Meiji
the bulk
we tend to think
writer,
Thus, although
be
the historical
works can properly
of his fictional
writing--if
and if we do not include
the essays,
termed fiction
poetry
diaries,
In addition,
the Taisho
was done during
and translation-period.
followfrom the Meiji
was written
the bulk of that
fiction
period
the final
of the
four years
ing the Russo-Japanese
War, during
in 1912.
Yet Ogai
death
immediately
Nogi's
preceding
period
Meiji
not only because
he was supreme in
was a Meiji
essentially
writer,
in one fashion
or another,
for twenty
years
literary
Meiji
circles,
in particular
The Wild Goose (serialand because
memorable
works,
one's
seem to epitomize
1911 to May 1913),
ized from September
good
those
also
involves
but
because
this
about Meiji
impressions
Japan,
of the historical
more subtle
fiction.
aspects
In temperament
He was one
Ogai was part of the Meiji
period.
who seem to have felt
of many Meiji
intellectuals
alien
something
and even frightening
not that the Taisho
about the Taisho
era
era,
of the Meiji
from the final
was different
period.
years
intrinsically

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10
mood which seems to have prevailed
The ambivalent national
during
in late Meiji at the end
the early years of Taisho began developing
of the Russo-Japanese
War with the announcement of peace terms that
the nation.
At the same time, it became
shocked and disappointed
in early Meiji had been
clear that the national
goals established
although perhaps not with that final touch of glory the
achieved,
as a
Japan had empire, equality
Japanese might have wished for.
and
and
naval
so
forth.
Yet
military
strength,
nation,
colonies,
in the year
it was an era of uncertainty
and disquiet,
especially
the death of the Meiji emperor.
or two following
Partly this was
to take the
because there were no clear national
goals or threats
the
the
Russoof
those
of
because
Meiji
partly
place
period,
for what was gained, and partly
Japanese War had been too costly
such as the Russian presence in the Far
because future threats,
unarticulated.
largely
East, were still
What seems to have emerged in these years from 1905 to the
kind of nationaloutbreak of World War I in Europe was a peculiar
in nature and quite chauvinistic,
as
ambivalent
ism distinctly
is in its essence.
On the one hand there was
perhaps nationalism
but on the other there was
pride in the state and its achievements,
It should not surprise
us to find that the
fear for the future.
to drastic
new generation
which emerged after the war was subjected
to the dangers facing the nation and
for its indifference
criticism
and moral fiber.6
for its lack of ethics
Indeed, this new generaoften represented
as one of the great dangers.
tion was itself
little
threat prior to the war
The anarchists
who had represented
This new generation,
were now viewed by the government with alarm.7
of the
so criticized
as unworthy by so many, was the offspring
In the
Meiji era and its headlong plunge into nation building.
a
the
nation
had
new
to
secure
its
generaproduced
frenzy
shores,
tion trained in Western nation building
ways, with Western ideas
and Western mores, although we might well question what this really
The older generations
were shocked to find that the youth
means.
had strughad cast off those very values they the older generation
least that is the way it appeared to them.
gled to preserve--at
of the Meiji state was at
In a very real sense, the victory
for those who were aware
The implication,
the same time its loss.
to cope with.
of them, were difficult
Ogai developed the poignancy,
and irony of this theme of ambivalence perhaps better
bitterness
Had the
than any other Meiji or Taisho writer or intellectual.
that
It was Nogi's suicide
been worth the sacrifice?
struggle
in Ogai's mind and forced
this question
seems to have crystallized
with its deeper, emotional implications.
him to struggle
dominated Ogai's
Until 1912 the European world had largely
in his
one
influence
can
see
its
although
receding
thinking,
As the shift to historical
consciousfiction
from 1910 to 1912.

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11
ness in 1912 indicates,
something began surfacing,
something more
This
authentic,
something which in essence was more Japanese.8
with the West (which in Ogai's case
pattern of early infatuation
followed by a rediscovery
of one's native
was quite sophisticated)
of the West is common among modern Japanese
Japan to the exclusion
and intellectuals.
In addition,
writers
given Ogai's idiosyncracies as a writer,
we find that in terms of technique and psycholoof fiction
made the Tokugawa
gy Ogai's approach to the writing
to him.
more congenial
That he continued to write in the
setting
even after purging his consciousness
of Nogi's
historical
setting
to this.
one
in
self-immolation
can
that
attests
argue
Thus,
for his story material
turning to Tokugawa history
Ogai was able
to achieve full maturity as a writer.
a restless
mind and grew bored easily.
And
Ogai possessed
his works are remarkably consistent,
thematically
while,
speaking,
new techhe constantly
experimented with new forms, new genres,
whatever suited
borrowing and altering
niques and new approaches,
of other
his style.
influenced
He was greatly
by the activities
and was not always the leader,
the
especially
following
writers,
with his
War. And he was not always successful
Russo-Japanese
the
One genre which was developing
experiments.
rapidly
following
psycholowar, and which Ogai tried his hand at, was the so-called
It is quite clear from the trends we see in his
gical novel form.
several novels written between the years 1909 and 1912 immediately
uncomfiction
that he became increasingly
preceding the historical
too that
fortable
At the same time, one suspects
with this genre.
it could not satisfy
the short
story form as he was practicing
him.
the Russo-Japanese
that began to emerge following
The fiction
to his sensibilities
as a writer.
War of 1904-05 was not congenial
unable
One senses an acute awareness in him after 1910 of being
most of them members of the new
to compete with new writers,
that something within would not permit
and of realizing
generation,
that was developing
him to write the new kind of modern fiction
him proaffected
around him.
Call it arrogance or whatever--it
to the study
foundly as a writer,
perhaps turning him increasingly
as a scholar.
well suited to his inclinations
of history,
an activity
of
in the fiction
At the same time, the themes of youth prevailing
him to turn to his own youth in his stories.
late Meiji influenced
of a very
Out of this tendency toward youth one sees the beginnings
as early, perhaps,as
definite
trend toward the past in his fiction
writer of fiction.9
1909, the very year he emerged as a full-fledged
Another aspect of the shift to the Tokugawa period for the
of his fiction
was that, in a sense, Ogai was already
setting
That is to say, one can speak of
in historical
fiction.
practiced
fiction--which
fiction-as
his imaginative
opposed to the historical

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12
era as historthe last
four years
of the Meiji
written
during
which are set in mid and late
These works,
interpretations.
and implications
of
very much deal with the interpretation
Meiji,
and
the
of
from
view of one conlate Meiji
point
society
history
to them.
a part of an
more overtly
They are,
temporary
therefore,
of
than are the works of most other writers
historical
process
in them an increasing
alienation
from
One senses
that period.
of
toward the implications
and a growing
apprehension
society
of this,
about him.
There are many examples
events
place
taking
between
his novels
such as in the stark
contrast
The Wild Goose,
which is set in the idyllic
and Ashes(Kaijin,
past of early Meiji,
1911 to December
which is set in the
serialized
September
1912),
world
of the naturalists
of late Meiji.
dark contemporary
The
which read like
sides
of a coin,
were publishtwo novels,
opposite
in serial
ed simultaneously
form, but Ashes was never finished.
at the time of Nogi's
aside
death and never
Ogai set the novel
the clearest
is perhaps
in all
took it up again.
Ashes
expression
of his frustration
of Ogai's
with the psychological
novel
writing
form.
were
ical

and technique,
both fictional
and
Thus, in terms of approach
one can argue that the two periods
of Ogai's
writingnon-fictional,
of imaginative
fiction
from 1909 to 1912 and the historthe period
of the period
fiction
from 1912 to 1918-are inseparable.
ical
one to the other
and their
in
works are all,
They flow logically
a sense,
reaction
to one continuous
historpersonal
part of Ogai's
ical
process.
to an historical
which finally
But if Ogai was reacting
process
of historical
him to the writing
that
is not to
brought
fiction,
an historian,even
though he does exhibit
say that he was therefore
of the good historian,
in his
many characteristics
especially
and methods,
and in his apparent
attention
to
research
techniques
What marks him as a writer
factual
rather
than as an
accuracy.
of his research.
is what he did with the fruits
historian
Ogai's
fiction
is primarily
dramatization
of personal
historical
interpreof the past and of history,
and not expository
tations
delineation
of impartial
The eye of the novelist
is more in
investigations.
than that of the historian,
even though admiration
evidence
for
on his prowess
to center
and
tends
as a scholar
Ogai as a writer
and
not necessarily
and
as a novelist
upon his expertise
stylist,
of fiction.
This is true even though the effectiveness
of
writer
and
as novelist
these
stories
depends
very much upon his skill
of
the
fiction
some
historical
is
storyteller.
quite
Furthermore,
a historical,
as is
1916) is a good example,
"Takasebune"(January
to May 1916),
which often
seems
the biography
Shibue Chisai
(January
And on more than one
a curious
non-historical
to express
quality.
in favor of dramatic
he ignored
evidence
historical
occasion
or

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13
thematic effect,
as in his story about the life
YU Hsuan-chi
(Gyo Genki, July 1951).

of T'ang poetess

What Ogai wrote does not constitute

a systematic
scheme of
the stories
historical
are a series
of
interpretation;
rather,
into certain
excursions
areas of Japanese history
almost exclusiveobscure samurai or little
known women of the Tokugawa
ly involving
The subjects
he wrote about seem to have appealed to him
period.
at a particular
moment in quite a personal,
and often revealing,
way.
despite
Ogai's primary interest,
Nogi's death and other
seems to have been that of storyteller,
as he conceived
factors,
the storyteller's
It was partly his conception
of this role
role.
that gave this historical
fiction
shape and made it something new
do not
in Japanese letters.
This in part is why these stories
That was not
seem to reduce down to a consistent
view of history.
as works by a
Ogai's purpose.
Yet, to view these exclusively
of them
does not satisfy
one's impressions
gifted
storyteller
either.
that the historical
Ogai does seem to have believed
novelist,
like the historian,
should seek after the truth of what happened
of this truth his story will derive
and that from his understanding
he should not specuits power as a work of fiction.
Furthermore,
late except within careful
although to some extent
guidelines,
too severely
such a condition
interpreted
might limit unnecessarily
the range and power of his imagination,
as seems to have happened
for
to Ogai at times.
Choice of story,
then, would be crucial
truths of the stories
expressing
meaning beyond the historical
That is to say, Ogai would not select
themselves.
just any story,
but would choose only those which seemed to express something of
and pressing
importance to him, such as those which reflect
personal
And a carefully
selected
the death of General Nogi.
story could
and exist on its own terms--a not unimportant
speak for itself
for a writer.
consideration
Ogai was not always conAdditionally,
of factual
or historical
in his expression
sistent
truth, which
than mere factual
seems to indicate
greater truth to these stories
Choice of story was indeed important.
of the past.
interpretation
ones--and yet ultitruths overshadow factual
Too often fictional
And does
mately is this not as it should be in works of fiction?
a kind of truth in itself?
this not represent
have not
and biographies
novellas
In Japan, Ogai's historical
who are
among the general reading public,
enjoyed great popularity
to what they
not entertained
by them and who do not seem sensitive
is not just the
The reason for this lack of popularity
contain.
of reading these works--many are quite easy.
apparent difficulty
Ogai's historical
Rather, we find that those who most appreciate
who have reached a
kinds of intellectuals
works are particular

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14
certain
stage in their life when they feel Ogai says something of
Whatever this may be, it is
great importance to them as Japanese,
as though Ogai manages to touch a chord of an intellectual
archeThese Japanese intellectuals,
who include scholars,
critics
type.
and writers--and
their response is genuine--regard
generally
Ogai's
fiction
and biography as among the great works of Japahistorical
nese literature.
Some say that Ogai's biography of Shibue Chusai
in modern Japanese letters,10
is the great masterpiece
of JapaOgai has not enjoyed much appeal among the students
nese literature
in this country, perhaps
because he does not, for
the most part, appeal to our literary
But then,
sensibilities.
neither does he consistently
and entertain
the general
excite
kind of
It seems to require a certain
reading public in Japan.
of Japan, Japanese life
understanding
person, who has a certain
and Japanese history,
who has perhaps reached a certain
stage in
the sophistication
to appreciate
his maturity,
and depth represented by Ogails historical
and biographies.
novellas
This person is
often a dilletente,
in the first
sense of the word, one who appreof a certain
kind of high intellectual
and
ciates
literature
emotional caliber,
which make these particular
works
qualities
often seem cold and forbidding.
Although such people seem to get
won over in thorough fashion,
the problem is not so simple for the
rest of us.
Not only do we in this country know very little
about
the significance
of Ogai's life,
which seems to be embodied in
these works, but we seem to expect something quite different
out of
fiction
from Twhat he gives us,
Style is one of the important holds that Ogai seems to have on
the kind of Japanese intellectual
I have been describing.
Ogai is
renowned in Japan as a stylist.
His first work, "The Dancing Girl"
in a beautiful
style which is
(Maihime, January 1890), is written
but which is also filled
with western and
basically
classical,
The work is romantic,
Chinese phraseology,11
yet not sentimental,
It is a pity that Ogai did not write more than he did at that stage
of Hans Christian
in his career.
His translation
Andersen's
has conImprovisatoren
September 1902) apparently
(Sokkyo shijin,
siderable
on late Meiji and Taisho letters.12
Kafi and
influence
admiration
for this work.
The young writers
Kyoka both expressed
that emerged following
War evidently
owed somethe Russo-Japanese
Rather
although just how is not clear.
thing to this translation,
difficult
to read, its classical
style is nonetheless
quite captithe work shows that even at this late date
vating.
Interestingly,
classical
Japanese as his writing
preferred
(1902), Ogai still
of this work, for the standards it set
medium. But the influence
in translation
and style,
seems to have little
to do with the story
that is told, although it is a kind of auto-biography,
largely
about youth told in the first
Its power in the
person by a poet.

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15
Japanese
historical

seems to be its
fiction.

style--the

same is perhaps

true

of the

But in view of the grandeur of style Ogai employed in much

of the historical
it is nonetheless
that he
troubling
fiction,
should have selected
such obscure people to write about, people
who played no great role in the development of modern Japan, but
At times characters
who merely represent
and exemplify.
appear lueven
dicrous,
which, one should add, Ogai does cleverly
exploit,
in intent.
are serious
And
though the works themselves
clearly
that one should find these stories
at once depressing,
and yet
effect
to interpret.
is a complicated
It is his
exhilarating,
Yet while the style
style which seems to impart the exhilaration.
at times seems to approach epic proportions,
none of the stories
or subjects
of his biographies
do.
Perhaps this was deliberate,
One can only say that style is an important element of the historical fiction
and the impression
these stories
make on the
ultimately
reader.
and biographies
all are written
The stories
in a kind of
sinicized
"The Testament of Okitsu Yagoemon" is written
Japanese.
in sorobun, but this style as used in this story is not so differThe
ent from the other stories,
the biographies.
particularly
of a
is the modification
general language used in these stories
in the Tokugawa period used for rendering Chinese
style prevalent
into Japanese,
and which was popular among samurai scholar-officials
as a documentary and narrative
style.
Ogai refined
it,
it to heights
not equaled before or since,
apparently
bringing
The style
somehow is admirably suited to the historical
fiction,
themone might have about the stories
whatever the misgivings
selves.
sentence endings and simplified
Ogai added modern colloquial
the grammatical forms, and he used German tense aspect.
Unqueshis language is more modern than that of the Tokugawa
tionably
of the
clear indication
period,
although one sees in these stories
of Chinese belles-letters,
but
Tokugawa writer and the influence
The
one usually
with the letter.
associates
without the floridity
in the fashion of the samurai bureauis heavily
Chinese,
vocabulary
of Tokugawa Japan.
And Ogai so often uses the
crat-historian
Chinese reading of a character where today the Japanese reading
of this old
The heightening
would be used almost exclusively.
imparts to the
language with new forms and modes of expression
The stories
reader a remarkable sense of historical
presence.
belong to the past, but the writer has made them part of
clearly
and approach used
On the whole, the technique
the present as well.
is prein these stories
is quite modern, while the psychology
the reverse often seems
not to contradict
modern, although,
myself,

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16
In short,
as one can perhaps
true also.
there
is
of these
guage and style
works,
of the modern with the pre-modern
writer.

see in analyzing
the lanan effective
assimilation

with almost
natural
Ogai used technical
vocabulary
accuracy
and in such a way that he could
and facility
imply much without
he is explicit,
On occasion
as in describing
explanations.
lengthy
of "dog's
death"
in The House of Abe(Abe
the meaning
ichizoku,
when such explanations
are crucial
to the story,
September
1913),
but as a rule he does not do this,
He
Ogai did not waste words.
a certain
of knowledge
on the part of the reader,
level
a
assumes
of Tokugawa history,
and
as well
as of its
literature
knowledge
And although
he does not demand thorough
the
romance.
knowledge,
to these
more one can bring
the more one can appreciate
stories,
Aside
from language,
this
is one element
which makes these
them.
difficult
to read and appreciate.
But this
stories
was his style
It is part of what makes his better
and his art.
move with
stories
power and drama.
and combines
and clear,
is pure,
austere
His prose
dignity
with often
irresistable
One can perhaps
hear
rhythm and movement.
his tale
with exquisite
and sensitivthe narrator
weaving
language
like
the traditional
of old.
In the
something
storytellers
ity,
the ring of authority
novellas
imparted
by the style--perhaps
of his moral judgement--tends
from the strength
to overderiving
whelm the reader
such that he cannot
doubt the truth
of what the
At his best
a sense
of mystery
author
is saying.
Ogai combines
of inevitability,
and the outward calm
with a hint
with which he
and restrained
adds to the sense
of inward tension
writes
power.
Even the dry, traditional
is used with great
effect.
geneology
of style
and aspects
of the writer
These techniques
are those
than of the historian.
rather
with care and economy,
At his best
scenes
and with
Ogai sets
to climaxes
that strike
an eye to the dramatic,
steadily
building
of the sword and
for example,
there
is a flash
swiftly.
Suddenly,
on
a man is cut down, in one or two phrases,
Ogai does not dwell
of violence
when he depicts
the
the gruesome
it;
aspects
rather,
and the narrative
We are
moves on.
cuts the flesh,
sword swoops,
in the Tokugawa fashion
how many inches
told
deep the cuts were,
and little
The effect
is sometimes
what bones were severed,
more.
can be found in the novella
A number of such scenes
chilling.
and although
such scenes
Oshio Heihachiro
1914),
(January
quoting
in one the magistrate
and his
their
reduces
out of context
impact,
one of Oshio's
men try to capture
for interrogation
conspirators.
of
the office
on the rule that anyone entering
Their plan hinges
In their
nervousness
the magistrate
must do so unarmed.
they
task completely:
their
bungle

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17
and removed his short
Koizumi came down the hall
alone
sword
in order to lay it down.
To one side of the hallway
was the room
of the magistrate's
As Koizumi
laid
the sword down
aide.
personal
a man leaped
out of the aide's
room and held the sword to the
The startled
Koizumi
for the sword.
In the scuffle,
floor.
grabbed
Koizumi
the sheath
slid
armed
a
naked
with
blade,
leaving
off,
Atobe
"Cut him
who had been watching,
( the magistrate),
said,
the archery
room before
from
he was struck
down:" Koizumi reached
behind
into the top of his
whose blow cut two inches
by Ichijo
The next blow cut four inches
into his right
shoulder
head.
the tip of his collar
he took
As Koizumi
bone.
through
staggered
a full
into his right
A senior
officer
thrust
side.
for the east
Koizumi Enjiro,
whose existence
numbered a mere eightmagistrate,
of the plot.
een years,
lost
his life
as the first
It is
victim
wife was like
a flower.
said that his promised
(OZ, V, 159)
in to long and sentimentalized
Lesser
writers
might have given
on the gore,
or have concentrated
but Ogai disposes
descriptions
of events
with swiftness
and impersonality.
such as this
of this
Another
is to be found in his story
example
technique
In this
"Sahashi
the
story
dispatches
Jingoro,"
Tokugawa Ieyasu
to assassinate
Amari Shigoro.
One
General
young Sahashi
Jingoro
a moon viewing
with waka--at
which
after
banquet--complete
evening,
Sahashi
and
Amari
are
left
Amari drank rather
alone.
heavily,
to play the
Amari lays his head in Sahashi's
lap and asks Sahashi
the
candle
chime
As the night
burns
Crickets
flute.
low.
deepens,
Sahashi
and
stops
Suddenly
drowsy.
playing,
in, and Amari feels
if he isn't
him on the
touches
the general
cold,
lightly
asking
left
breast:
almost
to himself:
he's
thought
straightAmari,
asleep,
as cold
something
ening my open robe for me.
Simultaneously,
which Amari thought
now is the open palm of his hand
as ice,
Somethat touches,
sank deep into the base of his breast.
to his throat.
and warm rose from his breast
thing
strange
Amari lost
consciousness,
(OZ, V, 88)
these
two passages
As perhaps
suggest,
Ogai was a visual
scene
which seems to
of visual
One fine
writer.
example
setting,
of his inis the first
as a poet,
skill
chapter
depend on Ogai's
one not only can visualize
novel Ashes.
There,
complete
however,
in that
about the temple
the leaves
garden described
blowing
of
the
is in
visual
This
sense
one
even
hears
but
them.
chapter,
of the historical
with the dramatic
quality
keeping
novellas,
alfor the stage,
read as though they were written
which often
would have
such as Oshio Heihachiro
a novella
though clearly
in order to adapt it to the stage.
drastic
reworking
required
and ruthcamera angles,
elaborate
sets
At times
one can visualize

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18
as for the cinema when reading this novella,
less editing
yet its
flow that might
dramatic impact depends upon a kind of narrative
well into film.
not translate
Thus, while Ogai does use stage and
do not dominate the
these
"cinematic"
techniques
techniques,13
but rather help to give them shape and structure.
stories,
Despite the dramatic nature of the historical
works, Ogai
and natural
seems to have had difficulty
writing
convincing
of
effect
from the overall
Often it seems to detract
dialogue.
a particular
though at
appear comical,
work, making characters
Some of the passages of diatimes this was done intentionally.
at Sakai (Sakai Jiken, February 1914) are good
logue in Incident
but heavy-handed comedy. As a general
examples of deliberate,
in the amount of diatrend, there seems to be a steady decrease
and in the biographies,
fiction
logue as the historical
develops,
on
is minimal, although I perhaps could be challenged
dialogue
It is in The House of Abe that we perhaps see most
this point.
of sonorous narrative
with dramatic staging
the alternation
clearly
and dialogue.
The House of Abe was the first historical
novella,
and is, in some ways, the least polished.
the inner workings of the
depicting
Ogai also had difficulty
His novella Oshio Heihachiro
minds of his characters.
perhaps
in the
treatment
the lack of sustained
epitomizes
psychological
inhistorical
although Ogai did not lack psychological
fiction,
about it
The novella has some quality
sight into his characters.
than in most of his other
which makes this lack more noticeable
for the
historical
fiction.
However, the reader is comfortable
most part, for when Ogai in the novella does indulge in psychologthose few places that he does,
and probes motivation
ical analysis
the result
seems forced and contrived.
Perhaps these few passages
and which make one dissatisfied
are what make the lack noticeable
in this work.
that Ogai did not do more with psychological
analysis
on the
to
inclined
move
too
too
seems
although
Ogai
on,
austere,
he seems to
does enhance the comical effect
whole this quality
Is it simply that one's
have been trying to create in the work.
has been whetted that makes one wish to know more about
curiosity
to accept Ogai's
Oshio?
Or is it that one is not quite willing
the
of him? What were Ogai's motives for writing
interpretation
that however repugnant Ogai felt
work? It adds to one's curiosity
Oshio fascinated
him.
Why did Ogai not take that extra step and sketch Oshio a bit
Or it might have
more fully?
Partly it might have been arrogance.
of the scale of the work.
been Ogai's conception
Perhaps more
as a reason is that this lack seems to have everything
compelling
in the
fiction
to do with Ogai's reasons for turning to historical
laments all through that work
As the hero of Ashes
first
place.
he cannot idento become more than a would-be writer,
as he tries

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19
of the novel he is trying to write.
tify with the main character
Psychologically
Ogai was not equipped to tackle the kind of psywe might expect in Oshio Heihachiro.
interpretation
chological
That is not a judgement we make necessarily,
but one we sense Ogai
to have made himself.
he found that his nature
Although he tried,
a different
an approach he exploited
dictated
approach to writing,
as fully as he could in his historical
He was, afterall,
fiction.
a creature of his times and
as all writers must be to some extent,
circumstances.
personal
Although he experimented widely with a
a kind of virtuosity
in itself,
great many forms and techniques,
I think Ogai understood his
he could only go so far as an artist.
limitations
contexts
as he understood that in certain
quite well,
weaknesses become strengths.
as a writer
Many of his weaknesses
in the historical
became strengths
fiction,
Ogai did not lack
from
his
different
was
imagination
imagination;
quite
rather,
someone like Soseki.
this very trait of not being
Paradoxically,
of the inner life of his
able to conduct sustained
exploration
novel
which in part caused him to drop the imaginative
characters,
as a writing medium after 1912, somehow seems to impart to these
At the same
historical
works their awful, impersonal truths.
time we find in these works a kind of empathy expressed
for the
works by other Japanese
Tokugawa period that makes many historical
writers
seem shallow in comparison.
The novellas
written between 1912 and 1914 display rather
and feeling
into Tokugawa society,
profound insight
insight
quite
The
that seems to dominate in these works.
beyond the violence
of very strange
people who populate these works live in a society
The violence
is secondary
strange to us at least.
impersonality,
is not
to the theme of any individual
the violence
work, although
intended to be dissociated
from either theme or drama. The vioand thematic
the impersonality
in fact,
seems to underline
lence,
of Ogat's historical
In The House of Abe the
structure
world.
reader watches,
as an entire warrior family-perhaps with horror,
the
not just the men and the sons, but the women, the children,
and the retainers--is
Event follows upon irservants
destroyed.
event in an unbreakable chain leading to the inevitable
rational
all stemming from a
of the entire Abe family--and
annihilation
perverse whim of the fief's
dying lord.
in this story is secondary to the primary theme
The violence
of samurai society
in the
of the arbitrary
and impersonal cruelty
the cowardly Osakan
Oshio Heihachiro
In contrast,
1640's.
depicts
These Osakans are men afraid to die, yet
samurai of the 1839's.
take one- third of a city with them in flames, all because their
but well-intentioned
zealot prevented them
ties to one irrational
from doing otherwise.
seems to be secondary
Again, the violence
of
to the major theme of the work, which centers on the relationship

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20
at a particular
these men to their society
case famine and bureaucratic
indifference.

time of crisis,

in this

at Sakai dramatizes
the forced suicides
of soldiers
Incident
at the port of Sakai in the last year of
who killed
French sailors
The story seems to imply that the spirit
the Tokugawa period,
1868.
and code of the warrior was now harbored in the ranks of the lowly
not in men of samurai rank.
These men echo the coufoot-soldier,
of the Abe warriors,
but at the same time seem to
rageous spirit
found in Heihachiro
and his men.
depict the ludicrous
qualities
When Leon Roche departs because he can no longer stand to watch
of the ritual
the barbaric violence
disembowelment of the twenty
that these low ranking "patriots"
condemned men, one soon realized
of barbaric necessity.
The primary concern of the
were victims
to whom we are not endeared, was to appease
governmental
leaders,
and to keep it
the French and maintain their country's
integrity
free
from foreign domination.
The condemned soldiers,
although
of their actions
not realizing
the consequences
at the beginning
their role at its end more fully than
of the story,
appreciated
For men not even samurai until
perhaps the reader does.
necessity
and yet the ritual
of
made them so, their deaths are pitiful,
first
line of defense.
suicide was in this case their country's
of this story and the way Ogai tells
it
The ironic
implications
into something quite horrifying.
The violence
turn this incident
is but one aspect of the horror:
official
The heralding
read, "Minoura Inokichi",
as if
Everyone in and near the temple grounds fell silent
hit by cold water.
trousers
Minoura, wearing formal warrior's
beneath a formal black woolen coat,
stepped up to the disHis second, Baba, stood about three
embowelment platform.
feet behind him, Minoura bowed once to Governor Nomiya and
his subordinate
drew to himself
the plain wooden
officials,
and took the short
sword
stand set out by the intermediaries
in his right hand.
Suddenly his thunderous voice resounded.
He said, "Listen,
I do not die
Frenchmen,
I die for the empire.
Watch carefully
of you.
a man of Japan."

for the likes

this death by

Minoura loosened his clothing,

and, holding the short
sword with the point down, thrust it deep into his left side,
and cutting
downward three inches,
pulled it across to his
With the blade
right side and then cut upward three inches.
in so deeply,
the wound gaped open.
Minoura, glaring at the
the sword, inserted
his right hand into
Frenchmen, discarded
the wound, and grasping the peritonital
membrane, pulled it
out.

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21
Baba drew his sword and struck him once across
of the neck, but the blow was shallow.
Baba's
a crunch.

second

stroke

severed

the cervical

the back

vertebrae

with

"I'm still
Minoura let out a scream once again.
alive"
Cut more"" His voice was three times louder than before.
who had been watching Minoura's
The French minister,
behavior from the start,
was at once struck with fright and
the minister,
when
awe. Already ill at ease in the gallery,
loud voice at this unexpected
he heard this unexpectedly
moment, stood up, not knowing what to do in his bewilderment.
Baba finally
V, 274)

lopped

off

the head on the third

try.

(OZ,

the three novellas

Taken together
perhaps document the decline
At the
of the samurai tradition
and the need for a new order.
for men of action-same time, one senses in these works admiration
in what
men who did things,
not because they necessarily
believed
they did, but because they had no choice.
no katakiuchi,
OctThe GojiinAahara Vendetta (Gojiingahara
of katakiuchi,
account of the practice
ober 1913) is the depressing
or vendetta,
whereby the family of a murdered samurai could obtain
of the defrom the shogunate a stipend for the sons or brothers
and
ceased and leave from their lord to hunt down the perpetrator
romanticized
and writers
of fiction
kill him,
Tokugawa storytellers
this institution,
praise upon it and making the avengers
lavishing
into legendary heroes who sometimes fought whole bands of men,
of this in his
Ogai did quite the opposite
defeating
every one.
the practice
as something shabby, which it
He depicted
novella.
After reading
It had no place in a modern state.
probably was.
set in Japan
stories
this
work, one can never again read vendetta
This work changed forever
and excitement.
with the same thrill
I should think that for this reason
the vendetta
story in Japan.
alone, The GoliinAahara Vendetta must occupy some place of imporfiction
aside from whatever other
tance in Japanese historical
merits the work might possess.
these novellas,
Ogai entered a second phase in his
Following
This second phase
fiction.
development as a writer of historical
The stories
lasted from roughly the spring of 1914 to early 1916.
in this phase tend to be short and less violent.
They give the
as though Ogai could not sustain
of hasty composition,
impression
in them. World War I was in progress and seems to have
interest
evidence of this that
affected
him, although there is no direct

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22
to home, Ogai's
mother Mineko,
I am aware of.
Closer
was terminalnot
second
She died in 1916 at the end of this
ly ill,
phase,
his biography
Shibue
serially
Ogai began publishing
long after
of the third
and final
Chusai which marked the start
phase.
on senA romantic,
a historical
at times bordering
quality,
in the works of this
second
seems to predominate
timentality,
theme one might say that in contrast
with the
As an overall
phase.
in this
first
by events,
phase man survives
phase of man destroyed
on women:
find that many of these
center
stories
We also
events.
"The
"Madame Yasui"
"Yii Hsiian-chi",
April
Fujin,
1914),
(Yasui
"The Old Man and the
no ikku,
October
Last Word" (Saigo
1915),
and "Suginohara
Shina"
Old Woman" (Jiisan-baasan,
1915),
September
"Takasebune"
and "Han Shan and Shih Te" (Kanzan
1916).
(January
to this
as does Sansho Dayu
1916) belong
January
phase,
Jittoku,
I think,
the low ebb of
This phase represents,
1915).
(January
of Ogai as an imagibut not necessarily
historical
Ogai's
works,
native
writer,
have
rather
romanticized
stories
Some of these
apparently
are widely
in Japan,
several
because
considerable
partly
appeal
and partly
because
read in high schools
they seem to touch certain
almost
emotional
within
the Japanese
despite
wellsprings
psyche,
sense
into the past.
sentimental
They do exhibit
Ogai's
insight
as some of
but not to the same degree
of the historically
proper,
in novella
Their
the earlier
and more important
statements
form.
of anchoring
historical
stems from Ogai's
technique
any
propriety
no matter
how fictional,
into a definite
historical
setting
story,
whatever
little
evidence
there might have been to justify
such an
was to
The result,
as in the case of "Takasebune",
adaptation.
and verisimilitude
which is
lend an air of historical
authenticity
That is to say, one accepts
but not ineffective.
quite
deceptive,
are cast
and acin which these
stories
framework
the historical
of these
The psychological
basis
the stories
as part of it.
cepts
historical
to do with actual
stories
circumstances,
may have little
is an
"Takasebune"
and in fact may be quite
"ahistorical",
again
to
his
tries
cut
who
The death of the younger
example.
brother,
the prisoner,
and pleads
with his elder
throat
with a razor
brother,
it out,
could have been set at any point
to help him die by pulling
of the description
in history.
is reminiscent
The scene
Ogai's
in one of her books of the death of
sister,
gives
Koganei
Kimiko,
from internal
who suffocated
hemorrhaging
Ogai's
younger
brother,
in Ogai's
a number of times
This image appears
within
the throat.
not published
In one story
and seems to have haunted
stories
him.
of his broththe dissection
until
after
his death,
Ogai describes
at the autopsy,
which he attended,
er's
throat
The most

flagrant

example

of

pinning

a story

down to

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a par-

23
ticular
or no supporting
evidence is
year on the basis of little
"Han Shan and Shih Te".
The story is set in a specific
year of
the T'ang dynasty, when scholars
are not even sure of the century
Han Shan lived.
It is no accident
that "Han Shan and Shih Te" is
the weakest of all of Ogai's historical
In stories
such
fiction.
in which not only the date, but the specific
as Oshio Heihachiro,
hour of events can be pinned down through historical
Ogai
records,
albeit more subtly and with much greater efuses this technique,
"Han Shan and Shih Te" is useful
in calling
attention
fectiveness,
to this device which at times seems to help impart verisimilitude.
of it
and variations
If one looks, he will find this technique
used all through Ogai's stories
and novels,
not just in the historical fiction,
Sansho Dayu, which is quite long, is based on legend, but set
in a definite
year (or years in this case).
Ogai wrote an essay,
this story,
entitled
which discusses
"History as is and History
In
1915).
Imagined" (Rekishi sonomama to rekishi
banare,January
that he found Sansho Dayu uncomfortable
this essay Ogai confesses
to write.
to write because the story
Perhaps it was uncomfortable
or at the
has no firm basis in fact,
Sansho Dayu is fiction,
of the story does seem to show
very least,
Ogai's writing
legend.
of the factual past
that he tried to break out of the confinement
but at that
and tried to write something more purely imaginative,
for him
stage in his career this seems to have been very difficult
to do.
of subjective
interpretation
Although we find the principle
at times
which
all through Ogai's historical
in operation
fiction,
that would
evidence or broader contexts
led him to ignore factual
from his, Ogai felt most comfortdifferent
suggest interpretations
able shaping his imagination
settings.
through the use of factual
in the last phase are final testament
written
The three biographies
on the
The novella
from the first
to this.
phase Oshio Heihachiro,
of the uprising
in Osaka in
one hand a subjective
interpretation
in part
as a work of fiction
1837, is, on the other, convincing
that Ogai felt
It is not surprising
because it is based on fact.
as all this
novel form, because,
with the imaginative
uncomfortable
to his temit was not congenial
psychologically
perhaps suggests,
the
teller
of tales,
He was not unlike the old-fashioned
perament.
and predeof oral history
who depended upon tradition
transmitter
but who, when he mastered his art, created his own repercessors,
toire,
In the final phase from 1916 to 1918, Ogai wrote biography,
of obscure Tokugawa doctors,
three long biographies
specifically
of other doctors and Confucian
as well as five short biographies
is
The scale and approach employed in these biographies
scholars.

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24
from the historical
fiction
that preceded,
very different
although
all nineteen historical
works have roots and qualities
in common.
The first biography,
Shibue Chusai, is a strange intermingling
of
It possesses
the present with the past.
a dynamic quality,
an
that belies
its apparent scholarly
foundations.
underlying
tension,
but never really makes Shibue come
Ogai feels close to his subject,
to life.
Either he was afraid to take that last step or could not.
There is a peculiar
distance
between the author and his subject,
their obviously
despite
being kindred spirits.
Ogai can never come
to grips with Chusai the living man as we should like to see.
There is perhaps a peculiar
lack of commitment, a subconscious
desire not to make the bridge too complete.
There is very little
in the biography,
almost none of it spoken by Chusai, who
dialogue
only a page or two of lines in this three hundred
speaks, in total,
one is
When Chusai dies midway through the biography,
page work,14
left with the peculiar
that he has known only the shadow of
feeling
in
the man. We know him mostly by his works, which Ogai describes
of friends,
and by the major
rather sparse detail,
by his circle
one gets, despite
some interestevents in his life.
The impression
at the
such as ChusaiTs activities
ing scenes and descriptions,
time Perry's black ships arrived,
in the back rooms of the
or life
is that one is cut off from this past.
Shbgun's palace,
Ogai carries the work forward to the present through Chusai's descendents,
more about
but to little
even though we do learn a little
avail,
If anything,
this use of Chusai's descendents
Chusai,
emphasizes
the gulf between author and subject.
of this
Herein may lie the significance
so much how the work is cast, or that it is
the pinnacle
of style
or that it represents
if
indeed
it
of
The
does.
grandeur
letters,
of the present
any, is its unique impcsition
while demonstrating
past and the historical,
between them as enforced by the movement of
work is at the same time its poignancy.

It is not
biography.
a biography in process,
in modern Japanese
the work, if it has
and personal upon the
the unbridgeable
gulf
The joy of the
time.

Isawa Ranken (June 1916 to September 1917), the next and not
as highly regarded biography,
is about one of Shibue Chusai's
It runs 900 pages in the complete works15
and seems
teachers.
to be at least one third kambun, Ho i Katei
(September to Decand also heavily
ember 1917,at 500 pages,lb
laced with kambun,
as well as documents in s6orbun, is highly regarded, but seems
unfinished,
H-oj Katei was one of Isawa Ranken's teachpeculiarly
read chronologically
constitute
a
ers; thus, the three biographies
flow of history,
kind of reverse
as though Ogai, who was losing his
was retreating
farther and farther into the
powers, unconsciously
past and tracing his psychic roots deeper and deeper into Tokugawa
history,

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25
Notes:
1.
Volume XI, page 53 of the thirty-five
volume Iwanami edition
of Ogai's
hereafter
referred
to as OZ.
complete
(1938)
works,
two versions
of the story.
There are actually
The later
2.
in the first
half
of 1913.
was written
sometime
The two
version
in tone,
are quite
different
with the revised
version
versions
The thirty-five
volume Iwanami
perhaps
superior
artistically.
of Ogai's
the first
edition
works does not include
(1938)
complete
it
in
the
is
contained
Chikuma
1959
edition.
although
version,
in this
are not discussed
short
The five
3.
biographies
essay.
"Toko Tahe," "Suzuki
Juami no tegami,
Tokichiro",
They include:
in the Osaka
and "Kojima Moso".
"Saikai
All were serialized
K-i",
and Tokyo Nichinichi
between
Mainichi
1917.
May 1916 and October
Sansho Dayu.
is the story
The other
4.
exception
is
are several
The Iwanami edition
5.
versions)
(of which there
but the Chikuma edition
those works
much more inclusive,
contains
and writings
of Dgai's
considered
to be of literary
importance.
of this
Oka Yoshitake,
For a detailed
discussion
see:
6.
problem,
no seicho",
in Shiso,
"Nichi-Ro
senso
sedai
go ni okeru atarashii
and part II pp. 361-376.
part I pp. 137-149,
1968,
and the Russo-Japanese
The Japanese
7.
Shumpei Okamoto,
Oligarchy
Columbia
War (New York:
1970) p.94
University
Press,
out by Professor
Peter
Duus as discussThis point
was brought
8.
at
on Japanese
held March 26, 1972
ant for the panel
literature
in New York.
the Association
for Asian Studies
annual meeting
Trial
affected
Events
such as the Great Treason
9.
Ogai as a
but discussion
of
as did increasing
government
censorship,
writer,
is beyond the scope of this
these
essay.
things
in Gendai no
Ishikawa
"Shibue
For example,
10.
Chusai",
Jun,
in collecoften
is
VI
This
173ff.
(1968),
reprinted
essay
espuri,
as
about Ogai and his works.
It originally
tion of essays
appeared
Mori Ogai,
Ishikawa
Jun zenshu
pp. 11-181.
part of his biography,
1962).
(Tokyo,
see: Masubuchi
discussion
For a detailed
11.
Tsunekichi,
in Bumpo, I (1969),
no bunsho
"'Maihime'
No. 10.,
oboegaki",
pp. 81-85.
translation
is from the Danish.
The English
12.
Apparently
Ogai
If true,
some
this
worked from a German translation.
might explain
and English
the Japanese
of the variances
between
versions.
of course,
unknown then.
as we know them were,
Movies
13.
are based on the 1938 Iwanami
The page counts
14, 15 and 16.
of Ogai's
edition
works.
complete

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