Transcriber’s Notes
Table of Contents added by Transcriber and placed into the Public
Domain.
Misspelled words have been corrected. These are identified by
♦♠♥♣ symbols in the text and are shown immediately below the
paragraph in which they appear.
Details and other notes may be found at the end of this eBook.
MASTERPIECES
OF
CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FICTION
The Japan Times’ Series
*****
A Spring-Time Case
(OTSUYA KOROSHI)
BY
JUN-ICHIRO TANIZAKI
TRANSLATED
BY
ZENCHI IWADO
THE JAPAN TIMES
INTRODUCTION
During the eras of Meiji and Taisho (1868–1926) the literary life of
Japan was enriched by a wealth of many notable productions, worthy of a
place in the atheneum of the world; but strange to say, no attempt has,
as yet, been made to embody them into any part of the works forming an
international library. It is true, that some Japanese novels have been
rendered into English, but such ventures have been few and far between,
and in any case, they have been of a fragmentary nature and cannot be
considered as a part of any systematic attempt.
Literature is the mirror of a living age in which is reflected the life
of a people. It is through literature, more than any other medium,
that students of the present and future eras may more readily gain an
insight into the characteristics and life of a people. The publishers
are convinced that the placing before the world, of representative
Japanese writings and fictions, will render an inestimable service
by bringing to it fuller and better understanding of Japan and the
Japanese.
“Masterpieces of the Contemporary Japanese Fiction” comprises a few of
the most representative works of the age, embodying as it does, the
favourite productions of those authors, and which have been rendered
into English as faithfully as it has been within the power of the
translators to do so.
In this present undertaking, the publishers are not actuated by any
other motive but to allow the world to understand, and to see Japan, as
she really is.
THE PUBLISHERS.
Tokyo, June, 1927.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
Junichiro ♦Tanizaki, the author of “O-Tsuya Koroshi,” presented here
under the title of “A Springtime Case,” is a man just turning the age
of forty. His appearance on the literary stage of Japan some eighteen
years ago, made with a sensational, because so sudden, burst into
fame, and his steady climb since to the pinnacle of a literary career,
where he maintains himself to this day, with the unchallenged glory of
Phœbus’ own orb,—will preclude argument against singling him out as one
of the most popular, and even remarkable, authors of present-day Japan.
♦ “Tanisaki” replaced with “Tanizaki”
He is remarkable for a two-fold reason. First, because his popularity
and fame have shown such endurance as rarely seen in this country,
where the mind of the people is so fleeting and fickle as the very God
of Fortune they are wont to bewail of in their life and literature.
A new artist on the stage to fawn upon the smile of the public,—for
a moment,—only to slink off as swiftly never to return. Not the
fault, perhaps, so much of the artist himself as of the public
which is riding upon a tide too fast to catch its breath or pause
to scan whither it is bound. It has been swept on into an eddy that
occurs where the inexorable in-flow out of the West meets against the
thought-current of its own, still flowing on its course with a force
out of its many centuries. Under the sway of its own mind divided
betwixt a mad rush for the new and a guard over the old, it scarce
knows yet where to plant its feet and cast for bearings for the course
for its mind to pursue for the future. And the artist who wishes to
cull his fortune amidst such existing orders of life, is left all to
himself to cast about and make shift for himself the best he knows
how; and his judgment proves as often in error as his effort turns out
futile. The position ♦Tanizaki has held for a period of nearly two
decades with unwaning power, is in itself an eloquent tribute to his
own achievement, if the mass is any judge of literary quality.
♦ “Tanisaki” replaced with “Tanizaki”
He is remarkable also for the perspicuity and independence of his mind,
which has absorbed the manifold light of the new age only to flash back
a light, all its own, that takes in its clearness the colour of all
that upon which it falls, in its sweeping flight of imagination,
and exalts it with touches of exquisitely variable play and radiant
depth. His achievement is the work of a mind wherein the true artist of
his race rules with predominant force the domain of beauty over which
he has come to hold empire; it is a voice out of the past and a voice
to the new, raised in the praise of that romance which his people have
treasured since their time-old days. Influence of the Western art which
has been accepted by the younger writers of the country only to swamp
out their own creative effort, has in his case served to broaden his
outlook on life and quicken his appreciation of life, often in such
aspects as had had to remain screened from his forbears.
Himself a wide reader of Western literature, a student of Poe, George
Moore, Baudelaire, Gautier, Balzac, and other masters, he has always
shown a capacity for range and depth; a quality excelled only by his
faith in the tenets of the school of which he is the creator. Such
influence as he has gleaned out of the West, appears to have been
hitched to his vehicle, a servant of his work and purpose, scarcely
discernible save in a happy blending with the colourings of his own.
Earlier works of ♦Tanizaki came forth when the literature of his
country was passing through the most dismal period in its recent
history. Against a school of writers who were desperately holding
together against the inroad of new influence, there was a section of
younger minds which was daubing in imbecile imitation of the worst
that the canons of Continental literature had to offer. The public had
turned its back upon this tribe of writers, slow to think and clumsy of
hand. It was in those days of the country’s literature at its lowest
ebb that ♦Tanizaki stalked forth and proclaimed to set up what he
conceived to be new deities in art.
♦ “Tanisaki” replaced with “Tanizaki”
Many of the writers who find themselves to-day in the fore rank of
Japan’s literary activity owe their success, directly or indirectly,
to the stimulation, and even inspiration in not a few cases, given by
♦Tanizaki’s work; and some of these were amongst those who were the
first to rally under the standard hoisted by the new prophet of the
hour. Indeed, he is due for a large measure of credit for the new age
on which the literature of Japan has now entered with a fair spurt of
vigor and a supreme confidence, an age of not a few achievements of
intrinsic value, with promises of even greater things for the future.
This accrediting is but fair acknowledgment of the work of the
writer who has been a decidedly predominant force amongst those helpful
in ushering in this new age.
♦ “Tanizaki’s” replaced with “Tanizaki’s”
Beyond this, it would perhaps be difficult to go in estimating the
position of the writer who is now at the zenith of his career, and has
still “so many springs and autumns,” as the native phrase goes, to turn
out the work of his maturing mind, as even he continues to do.
Broad of sympathy and versatile of mind, ♦Tanizaki has turned his hand
to more than one form of literary work. Scarcely less successful in
drama than in novels or tales of smaller scope, it would probably be
best to turn to his dramatic work to seek for his expression on life.
However, it is in his briefer stories that his artistic self seems more
congenial with itself, and certainly more enticingly attractive. The
subject of the present ♠translation, chosen from such a point of view,
may not be precisely typical of his mind, but typical certainly is it
of his art.
♦ “Tanisaki” replaced with “Tanizaki”
♠ “translatin” replaced with “translation”
A work of a dozen years ago, “O-Tsuya Koroshi” has been followed by
products where the author has excelled himself at his own method,
where his artist hand created characters of more compelling force,
where his imagination has woven tapestries of finer colours,—works of
deeper feelings and more polished craftsmanship; yet, amongst such an
array of brilliant records, does the present story stand out, for the
artistry of its own no less than for the sustaining power of popularity
it has displayed. A happier selection of the subject may have been
possible for the introduction of the present author abroad; but scarce
none, I am almost convinced, wherein to show to better advantage the
artist ♦Tanizaki. The plot of the story develops under circumstances
that must be those of strange unfamiliarity to the Western reader, and
the characters are sometimes concerned with problems that must be of
no less peculiarity, if not lacking in a quaint appeal of their own.
These are, however, details slightly to be treated, certain not to be
an obstruction in following the thread of the narrative, making almost
negligible demand on the imagination of the reader.
♦ “Tanisaki” replaced with “Tanizaki”
For the translation itself, many apologies are due, no doubt; but less
explanation will be necessary, I trust. If it has not been done with
the deftness of one “to the manner born,” of which I am more than
convinced, it has at least been kept faithful, so much so as
to present the process of thought and the mode of expression in the
order it was originally conceived and expressed by the author. The
translation in itself is an acknowledged defeat in its purpose, for it
falls below the artistic heights attained in the original.
Departures from the original text, which are not so many, have
been made only where the translator deemed such to be necessary as
inevitable considerations for a right, if not an exact, presentation of
the tone conveyed in the Japanese, or where,—and these are few indeed,
—a literal translation would result in such ludicrous incongruities as
never meant by the author.
In the face of such obvious difficulties, the present undertaking has
been pursued, and perhaps, with more or less the proverbial courage of
one who treads where the angel dreads, in the conviction that modern
Japan, which has forced itself into a worldly recognition in the armed
profession, should be weighed for achievement of its mind along some
different path, where its passion of a more peaceful sort, though
no less strong, and where aspirations of its living mind, are
concerned; where its people feel its true honour to be weighing in the
balance.
And it is my prayer to the Eight Million Deities that are told to guard
over the shores of Japan, that the present work may speed on its way
overseas, and, though seen through a filmy screen brought on its face
of beauty in the process of recasting in a strange language, may meet
with such reception as it merits in those countries where the people
have shown themselves so ready with their sympathy in the cases of
_Hiroshige_ and _Hokusai_, of whom ♦Tanizaki, different as the mode
may be, chosen for the expression of his artistic soul, is certainly a
disciple of no mean distinction.
♦ “Tanisaki” replaced with “Tanizaki”
♦ZENCHI IWADO.
♦ “ZENCH” replaced with “ZENCHI”
_Kamakura, May, 1927._
AN INTRODUCTION
The scenes of the present story are laid in the town of Tokyo which in
those days was still known as “Yeddo”—a name to-day seldom mentioned
save in connection with that period of some two hundred years leading
close up to the dawn of the Modern Age of Japan, generally known as the
Restoration, when the fine arts and literature of the country, with
their centre at Yeddo, reached a state of splendid activity, with few
parallels in the history of the country. It were not going too far,
in fact, to say that the name of “Yeddo” to-day conjures up a period
of peace, with the whole nation glorying in a free and full enjoyment
of life, following the dictates of their own hearts and minds, in a
complete deliverance of spirit from the black reign of the War God. The
nation which had returned to peace some eighty years since, and claimed
the rightful heritage of life which had been denied them under war-like
conditions prevailing throughout a period of some three hundred
years, had by this time developed a civilization quite unique for its
romantic fervour. Not a civilization to be considered in terms of
“steam whistles and bicycles,” to be sure; but a state of artistic
emancipation where the soul of man was honoured and the aspirations
of mind exalted. Under the administration of the Shogun Government,
the country fared well, and even waxed rich in so far as the welfare
of the people was concerned. The piper piped; the people danced. The
blade hitherto kept whetted sharp was now allowed to rest rusting in
its sheath. The hand hardened in war-like training had now turned to
the plough or to the brush and the chisel. Art grew rich and literature
advanced. In the age of the Genroku, the new spirit of the country had
reached a state of ripened mellowness; its name carries to this day
visions of vivid colours and brilliant freedom.
It is back to those times of the “Yeddo” period, deep into the life
of that age, that ♦Tanizaki takes us in his present story. If he has
treated the subject with a modern touch in some aspects, his canvas
is nevertheless done true to the tradition which masters of the age
have left in their supreme understanding of colour and line. ♦Tanizaki
consistently displays himself an unerring judge of the tools at his
service, and is ever sure of the effect to be attained. His colours
are striking, if often bold; his lines always forceful, because simple.
♦ “Tanisaki” replaced with “Tanizaki”
The story concerns a great deal with one particular side of Japanese
life, as it existed in those days of old, and even continues to this
day with but slight changes in certain aspects. It is just the side
where the impassive mask of the Japanese stoic is thrust aside in a
true enjoyment of life; where the best and sweetest in the Japanese
woman is brought forth for the benefit of man. It is a world of the
“geisha” which is generally translated as “singing girls,” an epithet
so misleading, because whatever vocal talent they may be called upon
to display is given not on the stage or in the public, as it suggests,
but is given for the entertainment of men who have elected to confine
themselves in their private company. Not a community where licensed
vice is ♦trafficked; but an institution where the woman’s artistic
attainments and wits, no less than her personality, are thrown in
direct touch with men within encompassed society,—a system born out of
a moral notion that disfavoured open association between men and women.
♦ “trafficed” replaced with “trafficked”
Here one particular class of girls and women enjoying social
freedom in much the same sense as we understand it to-day. So different
from their sisters, more honoured but more unfortunate in many points,
the geisha are trained in full consciousness of social opportunities,
developing such qualities as make their personalties attractively
pleasing, and often make possible their own advancement in life
marrying into fortune or position. If the men of the country, warped
in their view of womanhood by the dictates of certain moral schools,
have failed to appreciate their women more fully than they have done
in the past, they have here, at least, developed a society of unique
arrangement to do more justice to their women, limited though they are
in number, and offer them such opportunity as is denied to the ordinary
woman. Nor would it be too sweeping a statement to say that much of
the best in Japanese womanhood has been brought out only in the girls
and women of the geisha class, who are, at the least, the real moving
spirit of social life of the country.
Those are ♦generalities; not an attempt to deny the existence of two
sides to anything. There are geisha who cheapen or even disgrace their
profession, beside those who grace it, make it dear not only to
the hearts of men, but even of women. If wine flows too freely where
geisha are present, it is not so much their fault as the men’s. If
there are paramour loves where they are concerned, those things are but
incidents, for which the geisha should no more be censured than the men.
♦ “generalties” replaced with “generalities”
Brief reference to what is generally known as “tea-house,” “ryori-ya”
or restaurant, and “geisha house,” will not be out of place here,
though not exactly essential to the intelligent following of events in
the story. The geisha are almost in all cases brought together to live
within some particular parts of town. This is more for the reason of
convenience than from any other consideration. It is necessary for them
to be within a circumscribed area so as to keep themselves within easy
reach of the “kem-ban,” or the call station which receives the calls
for geisha from “tea-houses”, or restaurants, and transfers them to the
geisha houses.
Girls of the profession, as a rule, live or register themselves at
the houses which are officially known and approved of as places for
the conducting of such business. It is often a case that a house of
this description advances money to a girl just entering on her
professional career, an event involving considerable outlay mostly
in lines of dresses and personal ornaments. The house which charges
a certain rate for the girl’s registration, and often for board,
too, takes for itself a certain percentage on her earnings, toward
liquidation of such advanced accounts as there are.
The geisha herself is paid by the hour while she is present at any
social party where her attendance is called, and such gatherings take
place at tea-houses or restaurants. Whatever she may receive from
guests, or her particular patron, as often the case, through her own
charm, is accounted to her house which also shares in the benefit.
When she has paid off her account to her house, she is financially
free either to establish herself in the trade on her own account, or
remain under the same registration to dispense with time and care to
be claimed as mistress of such place, or quit the profession if she be
so disposed. It is no rare occurrence that a geisha, smiled upon by
fortune, ingratiates herself into sufficient capitalistic support to
maintain her own house with several younger ones working under her. It
is this kind of house that _Tsuya_, the heroine of the story, begins to
manage, after she has gone a little way along her career in the geisha
business which she espouses under the sway of her impelling heart as
much as through certain circumstances thrust upon her life.
The party to which a geisha is called in takes place at such a
restaurant, when not at a “tea-house,” as has special working
arrangements with the “kem-ban,” or the call station. A “tea-house”
which in many respects partakes of the character of a restaurant, is
a name as vague as it is misleading; for it is a place for the sole
purpose of holding geisha parties, and what is taken there is of more
vigorous power than the green leaves beverage.
In addition to receiving and dispatching calls for geisha, the duties
of the “kem-ban” include that of keeping track of their movements, from
one place to another, and the work connected with keeping straight all
their accounts receivable from tea-houses and restaurants. It sends
out a man attendant to escort a geisha on her way to and back from
tea-houses and restaurants. It is the character of such a man escort
that ♦_Shinsuké_, the hero of the present story, assumes in going out
to the country villa of the military officer.
♦ “Shinsuke” replaced with “Shinsuké”
The liking that _Tsuya_ seems to display for the geisha profession,
even while living in comfort and apparent happiness under her father’s
roof, is but an instance of the sentiment shared by so many of her
sex. Always originators or forerunners in fashion, freely adored by
men, independent of thought and aloof from cumbersome considerations
of the conventions, it is no marvel that the geisha should appeal to
so many tender hearts of the country. _Tsuya’s_ partiality for the gay
profession is in no wise to be accounted as a weakness arising from
that particular side of her nature which is brought out in such glaring
colours later in her life. Hers was decidedly a romantic temperament.
Once placed in that life, which had ever held out to her alluring
promises, she was drunk with her own brilliant success. In the mad
whirl of joy and happiness, she allowed herself to be carried off until
she lost sight of her own soul at some moments. She was too young and
♦too inexperienced to fight against the temptations besetting her path.
She was even pathetic in her impetuosity to pursue what she fancied to
be the rightful guerdon of beauty and wit.
♦ “two” replaced with “too”
Her cup of joy was poisoned, and she knew it not. Blinded by her
own brilliance, flattered by the homage so willingly offered at the
alter of her beauty, she chose what she took to be a road of spring and
glory, but to be deceived. For the way led not to a queen’s garden, but
strayed off and trailed into a mist, such as oft seen across the face
of the sky at the time of the cherry blossoms. Her own life is a song
of the cherry,—beautiful, but for its beauty doth God grant it a spring
of but a few fleeting days of glory.
THE TRANSLATOR.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE i
AN INTRODUCTION ix
PART I 3