The Life of Kobayashi Hideo
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Kobayashi Hideo: The Long Journey Toward Homeland (1902-1945) In fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By James Wada A.A. (Santa Monica College) B.A. (California State University, L.A.) M.A. (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) M.Div. (Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary) Submitted in March 2006 The University of Newcastle (N.S.W. Australia) I hereby certify that the work embodied in this thesis is the result of original research and has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. __________________________ Acknowledgement I am indebted to my wife who bore with months of my absence from home, and my two supervisors Hugh Craig (2003 – 06) and Leith Morton (2001-03 and after) who saw through five years of this study. My gratitude is also extended to those who assisted, Ruth Lunney and Shigeru Sato, who helped to bring refinement and order to this study, and to the office staff, Karen Asher and Yvonne Higgins. Nettie (Kerr) Yealand assisted with editing. Russel Lunney and his computer prepared the final copy. Table of Contents Chapter Index Introduction 1 Chapter 1 – Family Background 29 Chapter 2 – Childhood Through Higher School 48 Chapter 3 – University Years and Literary Development 77 Chapter 4 – Year in Kansai 102 Chapter 5 – The Literary Critic 122 Chapter 6 – The Social Critic 147 Chapter 7 – The Early Cultural Critic 171 Chapter 8 – A “Maturing” Cultural Critic 194 Chapter 9 – Wartime, “Matured” Cultural Critic 218 Conclusion 243 Appendix 1 – Chronology of the Life of Kobayashi 251 Appendix 2 – Short List of Kobayashi’s Writings 254 Appendix 3 – Glossary 257 Appendix 4 – List of Personal Interviews 260 Appendix 5 – Charts, Photos and Maps 262 Works Cited 276 Section Index Introduction 0.1 General Intent and Scope 1 0.1.1 The Intent 1 0.1.2 Major Works of Kobayashi Hideo (1902 - 83) 3 0.1.3 Postwar Writings 5 0.1.4 The Approach to Kobayashi’s Writings 6 0.1.5 Zuihitsu Style and “Fragments of Ideas” 9 0.1.6 The “Logic of Destiny” and “Beliefs”; “Relativism” 11 0.2 Westerners’ Approach and This Study 13 0.2.1 The Uniqueness of this Study 13 0.2.2 Seidensticker, the Pioneer (1971, 1979) 14 0.2.3 Keene (1984) 15 0.2.4 Anderer (Translation 1995) and Harootunian (2000) 16 0.2.5 Two Ph.D. Dissertations (1996,1997) 17 0.2.6 Hirata (2005) 19 iv 0.2.7 Biographical Accounts of Kobayashi in Japanese 20 0.2.8 New Biographical Information (1980s and 1990s) 22 0.2.9 Translation of My Brother Hideo Kobayashi (2001) 24 0.3 Some Other Considerations 25 0.3.1 Key Tasks 25 0.3.2 Organization 26 0.3.3 The Appendix 27 0.3.4 A Note on Referencing and Translations 28 Chapter 1 – Family Background 1.0 Introduction 29 1.1 Toyozô (1874 - 1921) and Seiko (1881–1946) 29 1.1.1 Father, Kobayashi Toyozô 30 1.1.2 Mother, Seiko (to 1923) 34 1.1.3 Mother, Seiko (1924-1946) 37 1.2 The Jôyas 40 1.2.1 Uncle Jôya Moku (1884-1963) and Aunt Wakana (1889–1959) 40 1.2.2 Uncle Saburô (1893-1977) and Aunt Yûko Jôya 44 1.3 Summary 47 Chapter 2 – Childhood Through Higher School 2.0 Introduction 48 2.1 Childhood to Prep School (1902–1920) 48 2.1.1 Childhood Through Primary School (1902–1915) 49 2.1.1.1 Early Childhood 49 2.1.1.2 Primary School Years: A “Rascal” with a “Holistic” Education 52 2.1.1.3 The Top Pupil of Mr. Ozawa 54 2.1.2 Middle School and Preparatory Studies (April 1915–March 1921) 55 2.1.2.1 School Life in the Middle School Years (1915–1920) 56 2.1.2.2 Resisting School Rules 58 2.1.2.3 Preparatory Studies (April 1920–March 1921) (Age 18) 61 2.2 Higher School (April 1921 to March 1924) 62 2.2.1 First Year at Higher School (April 1921–March 1922) 62 2.2.1.1 “Suicide of an Octopus” 63 2.2.2. Second Year (April 1923–March 1924) 65 2.2.2.1 In Higher School as a Rebel 66 2.2.2.2 The Great Kantô Earthquake and Financial Ruin (1923–1924) 67 2.3 Third Year at Higher School (April 1924–March 1925) 68 2.3.1 First Semester, Third Year (April 1924–August 1924) 68 2.3.1.1 “One Brain” (Published July 1924) 69 2.3.1.2 Reading Baudelaire (February) and Rimbaud (Spring) 70 2.3.1.3 Kobayashi Meets Shiga Naoya (Summer 1924) 72 2.3.2 Second Semester (September 1924 - March 1925) 73 2.3.2.1 Letter to Shiga 73 2.3.2.2 Letters: Tominaga and Kobayashi (Fall 1924–March 1925) 74 v Chapter 3 – University Years and Literary Development 3.1 First Year in University (April 1925 to March 1926) 77 3.1.1 The First Semester (April 1925 to September 1925) 78 3.1.1.1 Meeting of Three Symbolists 78 3.1.1.2 Nakahara, Kobayashi and Tominaga in Tokyo (Spring) 79 3.1.1.3 Tominaga’s Illness and Yasuko (Summer) 81 3.1.2 Second Semester (September 1925 to March 1926) 82 3.1.2.1 The “Strange” Kobayashi and Tatsuno Sensei 83 3.1.2.2 Kobayashi’s Intensive Reading: Valéry 84 3.1.2.3 Illnesses of Both Tominaga and Kobayashi (November) 86 3.1.2.4 The Illness of Yasuko (From November) 88 3.2 The Second Year (April 1926–March 1927) 90 3.2.1 Kobayashi’s Test-Report on Mallarmé (Spring 1926) 90 3.2.2 Studying Rimbaud 91 3.2.3 Début of Nakahara as a Symbolist 93 3.3 Last Year in University (April 1927–March 1928) 94 3.3.1 The First Semester (April to August 1927) 94 3.3.1.1 Caring for Yasuko (Summer 1927) 95 3.3.1.2 Kobayashi the Thinker 96 3.3.2 The Second Semester (October 1927 to March 1928) 97 3.3.2.1 Kobayashi Moves to Tokyo 97 3.3.2.2 Return to Baudelaire (November) 98 3.3.2.3 Three Months Before Graduation: Ôoka Shôhei Meets Kobayashi 99 3.3.2.4 Graduation (March 1928) 100 Chapter 4 – Year in Kansai 4.0 Introduction 102 4.1 In Osaka and Kyoto (April 1928) 103 4.1.1 From Osaka: Letters to Takamizawa 103 4.1.2 Studying Buddhism at Uncle Shimizu’s (April 1928) 105 4.1.2.1 His Stay at Uncle Shimizu’s 105 4.1.2.2 Kobayashi’s Despair: Fourth and Fifth Letters to Takamizawa 107 4.1.2.3 Kobayashi and Buddhism 108 4.2 In Nara 110 4.2.1 Arrival in Nara 110 4.2.2 Translation and Toward Renewal 111 4.3 Summer to Winter of 1928 113 4.3.1 Fujieda, Hamamoto and Shiga 114 4.3.2 Fall: Seventh Letter and First Lecture 116 4.3.3 Eighth Item of Correspondence from Kobayashi 118 4.3.4 Cousin Nishimura’s Important Visit (November 7) 119 4.3.5 Winter Months in Nara 120 vi Chapter 5 – The Literary Critic 5.0 Introduction 122 5.1 Geijutsuron (Discussions of Literary Criticism, 1931) 123 5.1.1. “Deceptions” and Critics’ Failures 123 5.1.1.1 “Deceptions” 123 5.1.1.2 “Critics’ Failures I”: Focusing on Humankind 125 5.1.1.3 “Critics’ Failures II”: Focus on the Humankind of Nature 127 5.1.2 “Various Patterns”: “Rule of Innate Tendencies” (人生論) and “Theory of Destiny” (宿命の理論) 128 5.1.2.1 Key Term: “Designs” (Patterns) in the Title and Epigraph 129 5.1.2.2 Key Term: “Rule of Innate Tendencies” 130 5.1.2.3 Key Term: “Destiny” (as that which “circulates with one’s blood”) 131 5.1.2.4 Key Term: “Theory of Destiny 133 5.2 Accounts of “the Man” of Three Geniuses 133 5.2.1 “The Man” of Shiga 134 5.2.1.1 Shiga, A Man of Life 135 5.2.1.2 Shiga, a “Primitive” Man of Benign Nature 136 5.2.2 “The Man” of Aoyama Jirô (1901–79) 136 5.2.2.1 Background: Aoyama and Kobayashi 137 5.2.2.2 Aoyama as Teacher and Molder 139 5.2.2.3 Aoyama: Destroyer of Concepts 140 5.2.3 “The Man” of Kobayashi: “Letter to X” 141 5.2.3.1 Two Halves of the “Letter to X” 141 5.2.3.2 Non-conformist Instructor at Meiji University (1932) 144 Chapter 6 – The Social Critic 6.0 Introduction 147 6.1 “See society” and Bungakkai 148 6.1.1 Early Beginnings of Bungakkai (1933–1934) 150 6.1.2 Kobayashi’s Alter-ego, Dostoevsky (1935–37) 151 6.1.3 Kobayashi as Advisor of Bungakkai and Sôgen Press (1936–40s) 152 6.2 “Shishôsetsuron,” the “Socialized I,” and “Form” 154 6.2.1 “Shishôsetsuron” and the Life of Shimaki Kensaku (1903–45) 154 6.2.2 A New “I”: Affirmation of Life (1938) 156 6.2.3 The Critical Impasse 158 6.3 Aoyama Jirô, M.S. and Marriage 161 6.3.1 “Forms of Beauty” and M.S. 161 6.3.2 The Second Step ― a Feeling for a New Form 163 6.3.3 Kobayashi’s Marriage 164 6.4 A New Form in “The Life of Dostoevsky” 165 6.4.1 Reasons for Writing on Dostoevsky 165 6.4.2 Echoes in “The Life of Dostoevsky” 167 6.4.2.1 Dostoevsky, the Man (“Behind literature, see the man.”) 167 6.4.2.2 The Problem of Evil 168 6.4.2.3 The Man in Society (“Behind the man, see society.”) 169 vii Chapter 7 – The Early Cultural Critic 7.0 Introduction 171 7.1 The Years Before the First Trip (1933–37) 172 7.1.1 “A Frog in the Well” (March 1936) 173 7.1.2 Five Months Before: “Fate,” “Reactionary,” and “Contradictions” 174 7.1.3 Two Months Before: “Demagogues” and ”Doubts” 175 7.1.4 The Third Stage under Aoyama: From “Feeling” to “Seeing (Eyes)” 177 7.2 The First Trip (March 25–April 26 and after, 1938) 178 7.2.1 First Trip and After: “A Dark Heart” and “Seed of Culture” 178 7.2.2 Sense of “Isolation” and “Decay of Civilization” 180 7.3 “Wisdom of Silence” on the China War: The Second Trip (October–December 1938) 181 7.3.1 Cultural Affinity and Distance 181 7.3.2 “Japanese Manner,” “Wisdom,” and “Subtlety” 182 7.3.3 “Lack of Expression” 183 7.3.4 An Approach to “Nationalism”: Common Sense 185 7.3.5 Missionary Christie: “Personal Impressions” (March 1939) 186 7.3.6 ”Makers of History” 188 7.4 “On History” (1938–39) 189 7.4.1 The Inevitable 189 7.4.2 The “Duality” of “All will pass away forever” 191 7.4.3 What is (Human) History? 192 Chapter 8 – A “Maturing” Cultural Critic 8.0 Introduction 194 8.1 Third Trip (August 1940) and After 195 8.1.1 Third Trip (August 1940) 195 8.1.2 “The physical body called nature” 197 8.1.3 Return to Rape of Nanking 199 8.1.4 Fukuzawa and “Beliefs” in History (January 1941) 201 8.2 Comments on “History and