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Lieutenant-General Mori Rintarō (森林太郎, February 17, 1862 – July 8, 1922), known by his pen name Mori Ōgai (森鴎外), was a JapaneseArmy Surgeon general officer, translator, novelist, poet and father of famed author Mari Mori. He obtained his medical license at a very young age and introduced translated German literary works to the Japanese public. Mori Ōgai also was considered the first to successfully express the art of western poetry into Japanese.[1] He wrote many works and created many writing styles. The Wild Geese (1911–13) is considered his major work. After his death, he was considered one of the leading writers who modernized Japanese literature.
Mori was born as Mori Rintarō (森 林太郎) in Tsuwano, Iwami Province (present-day Shimane Prefecture). His family were hereditary physicians to the daimyō of the Tsuwano Domain. As the eldest son, it was assumed that he would carry on the family tradition; therefore he was sent to attend classes in the Confucian classics at the domain academy, and took private lessons in rangaku and Dutch.
In 1872, after the Meiji Restoration and the abolition of the domains, the Mori family relocated to Tokyo. Mori stayed at the residence of Nishi Amane, in order to receive tutoring in German, which was the primary language for medical education at the time. In 1874, he was admitted to the government medical school (the predecessor for Tokyo Imperial University's Medical School), and graduated in 1881 at the age of 19, the youngest person ever to be awarded a medical license in Japan. It was also during this time that he developed an interest in literature, reading extensively from the late-Edo period popular novels, and taking lessons in Chinese poetry and literature.
The cover of the first issue of Shigarami sōshi in October 1889.
After graduation, Mori enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Army as a medical officer, hoping to specialize in military medicine and hygiene. He was commissioned as a deputy surgeon (lieutenant) in 1882.
Mori was sent by the Army to study in Germany (Leipzig, Dresden, Munich, and Berlin) from 1884 to 1888. During this time, he also developed an interest in European literature. As a matter of trivia, Mori Ōgai is the first Japanese known to have ridden on the Orient Express.
One of his major accomplishments was his ability to create works using a style of "translation" that he obtained from his experience in European culture.[2]
Upon his return to Japan, he was promoted to surgeon first class (captain) in May 1885; after graduating from the Army War College in 1888, he was promoted to senior surgeon, second class (lieutenant colonel) in October 1889. Now a high-ranking army doctor, he pushed for a more scientific approach to medical research, even publishing a medical journal out of his own funds.
Meanwhile, he also attempted to revitalize modern Japanese literature and published his own literary journal (Shigarami sōshi, 1889–1894) and his own book of poetry (Omokage, 1889). In his writings, he was an "anti-realist", asserting that literature should reflect the emotional and spiritual domain. The short story "The Dancing Girl" (舞姫, Maihime, 1890) described an affair between a Japanese man and a German woman.
In May 1893, Mori was promoted to senior surgeon, first class (colonel). In 1899, he married Akamatsu Toshiko, daughter of Admiral Akamatsu Noriyoshi, a close friend of Nishi Amane. He divorced her the following year under acrimonious circumstances that irreparably ended his friendship with Nishi.
At the start of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, Mori was sent to Manchuria and, the following year, to Taiwan. In February 1899, he was appointed head of the Army Medical Corps with the rank of surgeon major-general and was based in Kokura, Kyūshū. His transfer was because of his responses to fellow doctors and his criticism about their fields of research in the Japanese Medical Journal of which he was editor.[3] In 1902, he was reassigned to Tokyo. He was attached to a division in the Russo-Japanese War, based out of Hiroshima.
In 1907, Mori was promoted to Surgeon General of the Army (lieutenant general), the highest post within the Japanese Army Medical Corps, and became head of the Imperial Fine Arts Academy, which is now the Japan Art Academy. Also in the same year, he also became chairman of the BRC(Beriberi Research Council) and headed their first major research case. Mori Ōgai discovered the cause of the beriberi disease and managed to create a foundation to build a remedy, but the problem was only resolved after his death.[4]
He was appointed director of the Imperial Museum when he retired in 1916. Mori Ōgai then died of renal failure and pulmonary tuberculosis six years later, aged 60.
Although Mori did little writing from 1892 to 1902, he continued to edit a literary journal (Mezamashi gusa, 1892–1909). He also produced translations of the works of Goethe, Schiller, Ibsen, Hans Christian Andersen, and Hauptmann.
It was during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) that Mori started keeping a poetic diary. After the war, he began holding tanka writing parties that included several noted poets such as Yosano Akiko.
Mori Ōgai helped found a new magazine called Subaru (literary magazine) in 1909 with the help of others such as Yosano Akiko and Yosano Tekkan.
His later works can be divided into three separate periods. From 1909 to 1912, he wrote mostly fiction based on his own experiences. This period includes Vita Sexualis, and his most popular novel, Gan (雁,The Wild Geese, 1911–13), which is set in 1881 Tokyo and was filmed by Shirō Toyoda in 1953 as The Mistress.
In 1909, he released his novel Vita Sexualis which was abruptly banned a month later. Authorities deemed his work too sexual and dangerous to public morals.[5] Mori Ōgai, during the period he was writing Vita Sexualis, focused on making a statement regarding the current literary trends of modern Japanese literature. He approached the trend on sexuality and individualism by describing them as a link between body and soul. Ōgai points out problems concerning the art and literature world in the 19th century in his work. His writing style, depicted from the Meiji government's perspective, derived from naturalism and was implemented with his thoughts that were brought up from writers who focused on the truth.[3]
His later works link his concerns with the Ministry of Education regarding the understanding of "intellectual freedom" and how they police and dictate the potential of literature.[3]
From 1912 to 1916, he wrote mostly historical stories. Deeply affected by the death of General Nogi Maresuke in 1912, he explored the impulses of self-destruction, self-sacrifice and patriotic sentiment. This period includes Sanshō Dayū (山椒大夫), and Takasebune (高瀬舟).
From 1916 to 1921, he turned his attention to biographies of three Edo period doctors.[6]
As an author, Mori is considered one of the leading writers of the Meiji period. In his literary journals, he instituted modern literary criticism in Japan, based on the aesthetic theories of Karl von Hartmann.
A house which Mori lived in is preserved in Kokurakita Ward in Kitakyūshū, not far from Kokura Station. Here he wrote Kokura Nikki ("Kokura Diary"). His birthhouse is also preserved in Tsuwano. The two one-story houses are remarkably similar in size and in their traditional Japanese style.
One of Mori's daughters, the author Mori Mari, who was nineteen years old at the time of his death, wrote extensively about her relationship with her father. Starting with her 1961 novella, A Lovers' Forest (恋人たちの森,Koibito Tachi no Mori), she wrote tragic stories about love affairs between older men and boys in their late teens which influenced the creation of the Yaoi genre, stories about male-male relationships, written by women for women, that began to appear in the nineteen seventies in Japanese novels and comics.[7] Mori's sister, Kimiko, married Koganei Yoshikiyo. Hoshi Shinichi was one of their grandsons.
Mori is a character in the manga and anime adaptation of Bungo Stray Dogs. Bungo Stray Dogs uses the names, stories and biographical details of authors to create its characters.
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (24 April 1915; Third Class: 29 November 1904; Fifth Class: 25 November 1896; Sixth Class: 24 November 1894)
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (7 November 1915; Second Class: 1 April 1906; Sixth Class: 20 September 1895)
Sansho the Bailiff (1954), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, is based on a short story by the author[8] and is considered a milestone in Japanese movie history.[9]
The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868–1945 (Modern Asian Literature Series) (vol. 1), ed. J. Thomas Rimer and Van C. Gessel. 2007. Contains "The Dancing Girl," and "Down the Takase River."
Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology, ed. Ivan Morris. 1961. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1966. Contains "Under Reconstruction."
The Historical Fiction of Mori Ôgai, ed. David A. Dilworth and J. Thomas Rimer. 1977. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991. A one-volume paperback edition of an earlier two-volume collection of stories.
Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology, ed. Ivan Morris. 1961. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1966. Contains "Under Reconstruction."
Sansho-Dayu and Other Short Stories, trans. Tsutomu Fukuda. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1970.
Vita Sexualis, trans. Kazuji Ninomiya and Sanford Goldstein. 1972. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 200.
The Wild Geese, trans. Ochiai Kingo and Sanford Goldstein. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1959.
The Wild Goose, trans. Burton Watson. 1995. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, 1998.
Youth and Other Stories (collection of stories), ed. J. Thomas Rimer. 1994. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1995
^Nagashima, Yōichi. "From "Literary Translation" to "Cultural Translation": Mori Ōgai and the Plays of Henrik Ibsen." Japan Review, no. 24 (2012): 85–104. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41592689.
^ abcHopper, Helen M. "Mori Ogai's Response to Suppression of Intellectual Freedom, 1909–12." Monumenta Nipponica 29, no. 4 (1974): 381–413. doi:10.2307/2383893.
^Alexander Bay; Book review: Ōgai Mori rintarō to kakkefunsō. East Asian Science, Technology and Society 1 December 2011; 5 (4): 573–579. doi:10.1215/18752160-1458784
^Marcus, Marvin. "Mori Ōgai and The Biographical Quest." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 51, no. 1 (1991): 233–62. doi:10.2307/2719246.
^Vincent, Keith (2007). "A Japanese Electra and Her Queer Progeny". In Lunning, Frenchy (ed.). Mechademia 2. University of Minnesota Press. p. 64. ISBN9780816652662.
Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the separation of Buddhism in Japan. Eventually, Japanese literature developed into a separate style, although the influence of Chinese literature and Classical Chinese remained until the end of the Edo period. Since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th century, Western and Eastern literature have strongly affected each other and continue to do so.
Natsume Sōseki
Natsume Sōseki, born Natsume Kin'nosuke, was a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, kanshi, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note. In Japan, he is often considered the greatest writer in modern Japanese history. He has had a profound effect on almost all important Japanese writers since.
Mokutaro Kinoshita
Mokutarō Kinoshita was the pen-name of a Japanese author, dramaturge, poet, art historian and literary critic, as well as a licensed doctor specializing in dermatology during Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan. His other pen names included Horikason (堀花村), Chikaisshakusei (地下一尺生), Sounan (葱南) and others. As professor of dermatology and a noted leprosy researcher, he served at four universities.
Masuji Ibuse
Masuji Ibuse was a Japanese author. His most notable work is the novel Black Rain.
Saitō Ryokuu
Saitō Masaru, better known by his pen name Saitō Ryokuu, was a Japanese author and critic who lived during the Meiji Era.
Mori Mari
Mori Mari was a Japanese author. New York University Professor Keith Vincent has called her a "Japanese Electra", referring to the Electra complex counterpart put forth by Carl Jung to Sigmund Freud's Oedipal complex.
Sansho the Bailiff is a 1954 Japanese period film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Based on a short story of the same name by Mori Ōgai, which in turn was based on a legendary folklore, it follows two aristocratic children who are sold into slavery.
The Wild Geese (Mori novel)
Mori Ōgai's classical novel, The Wild Geese or The Wild Goose, was first published in serial form in Japan, and tells the story of unfulfilled love set against a background of social change and Westernization. The story is set in 1880 Tokyo. The novel contains commentary on the changing situation between the Edo and Meiji periods. The characters of the novel are diverse, including not only students preparing for a privileged intellectual life and commoners who provide services to them, but also a pair of highly developed female characters. Mori sympathetically portrays the dilemmas and frustrations faced by women in this early period of Japan's modernization.
Masajirō Kojima
Kojima Masajirō was a Japanese novelist active in Shōwa period Japan.
Tekkan Yosano
Tekkan Yosano was the pen-name of Yosano Hiroshi, a Japanese author and poet active in late Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa period Japan. His wife was fellow author Yosano Akiko. Cabinet minister and politician Kaoru Yosano is his grandson.
Isamu Yoshii
Count Isamu Yoshii was a Japanese tanka poet and playwright active in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. Attracted to European romanticism in his youth, his later works were more subdued.
Morita Sōhei
Morita Sōhei was the pen name of Morita Yonematsu, a Japanese novelist and translator of Western literature active during the late Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japan.
Ryōichi Yazu
Ryōichi Yazu was a Japanese inventor. He is best known for his invention of Japan's first mechanical calculator.
Takasebune
"Takasebune" is a short story by the Japanese writer Mori Ōgai, who is considered along with Natsume Sōseki to be one of the most important figures in modern Japanese literature. It is one of the author's best-known works. The plot concerns a boat that carried criminals from Kyoto to Osaka during the Edo period.
The Abe Clan (1995 film)
The Abe Clan is a 1995 Japanese historical television film directed by Kinji Fukasaku. It is an adaptation of the 1913 Japanese short story "Abe ichizoku" by Mori Ōgai, which had previously been adapted into a 1938 theatrical film directed by Hisatora Kumagai and released by Toho.
