Daniel del Real
Moderator
Born Kunikida Tetsuo, he was a writer in the late Meiji era, who was tagged as a naturalist writer, a movement that had many detractors including important figures like Mori Ogai, Tanizaki Junichiro, Nagai Kafu, etc. It's true that naturalism in Japan was a trend that didn't fit quite well Japanese literature like it did with Europe, but this doesn't mean all Japanese naturalist writers were bad. In the case of Kunikida, he also had many short stories that can be classified as romantic, but it's also true that, as his literary career advanced, he moved towards naturalism.
Been raised in the rural area of Chōshū, nature plays a very important role in his works, with beautiful descriptions of forests, rivers and mountains, especially in his early writings. He also portrays the other side of nature as a destructive force hostile to human beings. The figure of the old wanderer and children have also a special place in his short stories.
He died of tuberculosis with only 36 years old. It's weird that the three most recent writers I've read, all from the sime time, died at a very early age due to tuberculosis: Masaoka Shiki (1902, 34 years), Ishikawa Takuboku (1912, 26 years) & Kunikida Doppo (1908, 36 years). We don't get how devastating this illness was at the beggining of the XX century.
I read a collection of stories titled River Mist, which is also available in English translation, though it must have a different set of tales.
Been raised in the rural area of Chōshū, nature plays a very important role in his works, with beautiful descriptions of forests, rivers and mountains, especially in his early writings. He also portrays the other side of nature as a destructive force hostile to human beings. The figure of the old wanderer and children have also a special place in his short stories.
He died of tuberculosis with only 36 years old. It's weird that the three most recent writers I've read, all from the sime time, died at a very early age due to tuberculosis: Masaoka Shiki (1902, 34 years), Ishikawa Takuboku (1912, 26 years) & Kunikida Doppo (1908, 36 years). We don't get how devastating this illness was at the beggining of the XX century.
I read a collection of stories titled River Mist, which is also available in English translation, though it must have a different set of tales.
Last edited:
