Motojiro Kajii

Novelist. Born in Osaka City on February 17, 1901. After graduating from the Department of Science at the Third Senior High School, he entered the Department of English Literature at Tokyo Imperial University in 1924 (Taisho 13). He had already contracted pulmonary tuberculosis while attending the Third Senior High School. In 1925, he founded the coterie magazine "Aozora" with Nakatani Takao and Tonomura Shigeru, and published works such as "Lemon" and "In a Town with a Castle," in which he expressed his awareness of his sick mind and body and his desire to recover through keen, sensory expression. From the end of 1926, he moved to Yugashima in Izu for recuperation. He published works such as "Sokyu" and "Fuyu no hae" (both 1928), and used a method he himself called "Realistic Symbolism" to calmly stare at his own premonition of death. During this time, his condition worsened, and in the autumn of 1928 (Showa 3), he returned to his parents in Osaka. He was expelled from the university in March of the same year. After returning to Osaka, he worked hard to recuperate, and published poetic prose such as "Under the Cherry Tree" (1928), "Caress" (1930), and "Mating" (1931). In 1931, he published a collection of his works, "Lemon," through Musashino Shoin, and in January of the following year, 1932, he wrote "The Carefree Patient" in Chuokoron, a magazine known as the gateway to success in the literary world, demonstrating a new style of writing that focused on the relationship between the sick self and others, but he passed away on March 24th. Today, he is highly regarded as a traditional artistic writer of the late 1920s.

[Yoshida Yoshio]

"The Complete Works of Kajii Motojiro, 3 volumes (1959, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "The Displaced Soul of Kajii Motojiro, by Suzuki Sanami (Shakai Shisosha, Gendai Kyoyo Bunko)" ▽ "Biography of Kajii Motojiro, by Otani Koichi (1978, Kawade Shobo Shinsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

小説家。明治34年2月17日、大阪市に生まれる。第三高等学校理科を経て1924年（大正13）東京帝国大学英文学科に入学。三高時代すでに肺結核にかかっていた。25年、中谷孝雄(なかたにたかお)、外村繁(とのむらしげる)らと同人雑誌『青空』を創刊、『檸檬(れもん)』『城のある町にて』などを発表し、病んだ心身についての自覚と健康回復への願いとを、鋭敏な感覚的表現に託した。26年末から伊豆の湯ヶ島に転地療養。『蒼穹(そうきゅう)』『冬の蠅(はえ)』（ともに1928）などを発表、自ら「リヤリスチック・シンボリズム」とよぶ手法によって、死を予感する自己を冷静に凝視した。この間、病状が進み、28年（昭和3）秋、大阪の両親のもとに帰る。大学のほうは同年3月に除籍された。帰阪後は療養に努めながら、『桜の樹(き)の下には』（1928）、『愛撫(あいぶ)』（1930）、『交尾』（1931）などの詩的散文を発表した。31年、創作集『檸檬』を武蔵野(むさしの)書院より刊行、翌32年1月、文壇の登竜門といわれた『中央公論』に『のんきな患者』を書き、病者である自己と他者との関係を主題とした新しい作風を示したが、3月24日永眠した。今日では20年代後半の正統的芸術派の作家として高く評価されている。

［吉田凞生］

『『梶井基次郎全集』全3巻（1959・筑摩書房）』▽『鈴木沙那美著『転位する魂　梶井基次郎』（社会思想社・現代教養文庫）』▽『大谷晃一著『評伝梶井基次郎』（1978・河出書房新社）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例