Page:Modern Japanese Stories.pdf/17

models played a capital part in the process of absorbing Western literature. As a modern Japanese critic, Mr Yoshida Kenichi, has pointed out, Tolstoy’s Resurrection when first introduced into Japan was considered merely a romantic tale of unhappy love.

The main effect of the influx from the West was not so much to provide specific literary models as to encourage Japanese to break away from sterile traditions and to describe in a more or less realistic way the brave new world that they saw growing up about them. 1885 is generally regarded as a key date in the development of modern Japanese fiction. That year saw the publication of ‘The Essence of the Novel’ (Shōsetsu Shinzui) by Tsubouchi Shōyō (1859–1935). Not only was this the first important critical work of the new era, but it was the first serious theoretical study of the novel in Japan. During the Tokugawa Period, and indeed ever since the days of The Tale of Genji, scholars had looked down on prose fiction, which was widely regarded as being fit only for women, children and the lesser breeds. Writers like Saikaku were largely ignored and critical attention was concentrated on tanka and other forms of classical poetry and, to a lesser extent, on dramatic works. As a rule, the only novelists who were accorded any respect were didactic writers like Bakin. One result of the introduction of Western literature was to enhance the position of prose fiction in Japan.

Like so many of the important literary figures of the Meiji Period, Tsubouchi Shōyō devoted a considerable part of his time to translation. He was a specialist in English literature and among other things he translated the complete works of Shakespeare into Japanese. His acquaintance with the writing of the West brought home to him the low state of fiction in Japan. A considerable part of The Essence of the Novel is concerned with criticizing the current state of Japanese fiction in the light of literary lessons from Europe. Tsubouchi referred to the recent resurgence of the novel in Japan as a result of new printing methods and of increasing literacy. The standard,