Spring harp quartet

A novella by Tanizaki Junichiro. First published in Chuokoron in June 1933 (Showa 8), it was published by Sogensha in the same year. Koto, the daughter of Mozuya, a drug dealer in Doshomachi, Osaka, became blind at a young age and has since dedicated herself to the koto and shamisen. Accompanied by her servant Sasuke, four years older than her, she visits her master and eventually becomes his leading disciple, taking the name Shunkin. Shunkin is a beautiful, blind woman with an arrogant personality, but Sasuke admires her so much that he becomes her student in music and serves her devotedly, leading to the birth of a child. However, even after they become husband and wife, Koto remains a servant and disciple to the end. The highlight of the story is when one night, someone pours boiling water over Harukoto's face, and Sasuke, not wanting to see it, pierces both his eyes with a needle, blinding himself, and the master and disciple embrace each other and cry, and from then on Harukoto lives on in Sasuke's mind as an eternal beauty. This is the culmination of the masochistic female groveling that has been a part of Tanizaki's literature since "Shisei." Since "Okoto and Sasuke" (1935) directed by Shimazu Yasujiro, there have been many film adaptations of this work.

[Norio Okubo]

"Shunkincho" (Kadokawa Bunko/Shincho Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

谷崎潤一郎(じゅんいちろう)の中編小説。1933年（昭和8）6月『中央公論』に発表。同年、創元社刊。大阪道修町(どしょうまち)の薬種商鵙(もず)屋の娘琴(こと)は、幼時に失明し、以後琴三絃(さんげん)に生きる。四つ年上の奉公人の佐助に付き添われて師匠のもとに通い、やがて門下随一となり、春琴と名のる。春琴は驕慢(きょうまん)な盲目の美女だが、彼女を敬慕し音曲の弟子にもなって献身的に仕える佐助の子を生む。しかし、夫婦の関係になっても、あくまで奉公人で門弟の位置を崩さない。圧巻は、ある夜何者かのために、春琴がその顔面に熱湯を浴びせられるや、それを見まいとして、佐助が両眼を針で突いて自ら盲目となり、師弟相擁(あいよう)して泣く場面で、以後、春琴は佐助のうちに永遠の美女として生きることになる。ここに『刺青(しせい)』以来の谷崎文学の、マゾヒズムによる女性拝跪(はいき)の極致がみられよう。島津保次郎(やすじろう)監督の『お琴と佐助』（1935）以降、映画化も多い。

［大久保典夫］

『『春琴抄』（角川文庫・新潮文庫）』

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