Kensaku Shimaki

Novelist. Born in Sapporo on September 7, 1903. His real name was Kikuo Asakura. He lost his father when he was two years old and his family was torn apart. He graduated from Hokkai Middle School at the age of 20 despite the difficulties of studying, and entered the elective course of the Faculty of Law and Letters at Tohoku Imperial University. However, he joined the Tohoku Student Union and abandoned his studies. In 1926 (Taisho 15), he became secretary of the Kida County branch of the Kagawa Prefecture Federation of the Japanese Farmers Union and threw himself into the farmers' movement. He was arrested and indicted in the March 15 Incident in 1928 (Showa 3), and declared his change of heart in court during the appeal trial the following year, but was found guilty and imprisoned in 1930. After being released on parole in 1932, he attracted attention when he published "Leprosy" in "Bungaku Hyoron" in April 1934. His work Blindness, published in the July issue of Chuokoron's Special Edition for Newcomers, also garnered critical acclaim, and he published his first collection of fiction, Prison, that same year, solidifying his position as a budding writer. In June 1937, he published Reconstruction, but it was banned. The following month, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, and in October he published The Search for Life, which focused on returning to farming. This work, along with a sequel published in June 1938, was widely welcomed by young people and intellectuals during the war. At the end of the same year, he participated in the founding of the Farmers Literature Forum. He also wrote travelogues such as Manchuria Travelogue (1940). In his later years, after a lull from his chronic lung disease, he wrote his last full-length novel, Foundation (1944), and wrote short stories such as Black Cat and Red Frog. He died in Kamakura on August 17, 1945, two days after Japan's defeat in the war. These short stories were collected in "Until the Departure" (1946), published posthumously by Shinchosha.

[Haruo Takahashi]

"The Complete Works of Kensaku Shimaki, 15 volumes (1976-81, Kokusho Kankokai)" ▽ "Kensaku Shimaki by Masaru Ogasawara (1965, Meiji Shoin)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

小説家。明治36年9月7日、札幌生まれ。本名朝倉菊雄。2歳のとき父を失って一家は離散し、苦学しながら20歳で北海中学を卒業、東北帝国大学法文学部の選科に入ったが、東北学連に加わって学業を棄(す)て、1926年（大正15）日本農民組合香川県連合会木田郡支部の書記となり、農民運動に投じた。1928年（昭和3）三・一五事件で検挙、起訴され、翌年控訴審の公判廷で転向を声明したが、1930年有罪が確定して下獄した。1932年仮釈放ののち、1934年4月『文学評論』に『癩(らい)』を発表して注目された。7月に『中央公論臨時増刊新人号』に載せた『盲目』も世評をよび、その年のうちに第一創作集『獄』を出版して新進作家としての地歩を固めた。1937年6月『再建』を刊行したが発禁となる。翌月の日中開戦を挟んで、10月には帰農を主題にした『生活の探求』を発表、1938年6月刊の続編とともに、戦争下の青年、知識層に広く迎えられる。この年末、農民文学懇話会設立に参画。『満洲紀行(まんしゅうきこう)』（1940）などの旅行記もある。晩年、宿痾(しゅくあ)の肺患の床に小康を得て最後の長編『礎(いしずえ)』（1944）を書き上げたのち、『黒猫』『赤蛙(あかがえる)』などの短編を残したが、昭和20年8月17日、敗戦の翌々日、鎌倉にて没した。それらの短編は、没後、新潮社から刊行された『出発まで』（1946）に収められている。

［高橋春雄］

『『島木健作全集』全15巻（1976～81・国書刊行会）』▽『小笠原克著『島木健作』（1965・明治書院）』

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