Taijun Takeda

Novelist. Born on February 12, 1912 in Hongo, Tokyo. Following the will of his father, Buddhist scholar Oshima Yasunobu's monk Takeda Yoshiatsu, he inherited the Takeda surname from birth. His childhood name was Satoru. After graduating from Keihoku Middle School, he entered the former Urawa High School, where he became interested in Chinese literature and joined the anti-imperialist group of a left-wing organization. He enrolled in the Chinese Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University but dropped out. As a student, he joined the left-wing movement and converted after being arrested three times. He qualified as a monk at the training hall of Zojoji Temple in Shiba. In 1934 (Showa 9), he founded the Chinese Literature Study Group with Takeuchi Yoshimi and others, and published papers and translations in the journal, Chinese Literature Monthly. In 1937, he was sent to China as a quartermaster and discharged as a corporal, where he wrote "Sima Qian" (1943), in which he expressed his conversion and the heavy experiences he had on the battlefield, in a bitter and unique view of history. He then found employment at the Sino-Japanese Cultural Association, and returned to China after Japan's defeat in Shanghai. In 1945, he became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law and Letters at Hokkaido University, but resigned the following year. In 1947, he published a series of controversial works, including "Judgment," "Secret," and "The Viper's Feet," centering on the idea of ​​annihilation he had gleaned from his experience of defeat, and thus began his postwar career as a writer. He produced a string of powerful works that indicted human existence with sharp ethical principles, including "The Shape of Love" (1948), "Evil Things" (1949), "The Strange Being" (1950), "Wind-Polled Flower" (1952), and "Luminous Moss" (1954), while also publishing excellent critical essays such as "Man, Literature, History" (1954). After 1955, his activities shifted to full-length novels, leaving behind monumental works of postwar literature such as "Festival of the Forest and Lake" (1955-58), which depicts the human drama centered on the liberation of the Ainu people, "The Noble's Stairs" (1959), which captures the structure of power through the cold-hearted gaze of a woman, the unfinished autobiographical novel "Pleasure" (1960-64), which explores the relationship between religion and politics in modern times, and his masterpiece "Fuji" (1969-71), which explores to the limit the fundamental question of what is normal and what is abnormal. In his later years, while collapsing from a cerebral thrombosis, he also left behind dictated "A Dizzy Walk" (1976). Taijun's literature depicts the chaos of human existence as it is, through a multifaceted perspective that seeks to grasp both holiness and evil as unquestionable realities in the world, and its appeal lies in his great ability as a thinker.

[Tokuyoshi Sukekawa]

"The Complete Works of Takeda Taijun, Vol. 16 and Supplementary Volume 1 (1971-73, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "A Study of Takeda Taijun, by Matsubara Shinichi (1970, Shinbisha)" ▽ "Theme and Structure: Takeda Taijun and Postwar Literature, by Awazu Norio (1977, Shueisha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

小説家。明治45年2月12日、東京・本郷に生まれる。父、仏教学者大島泰信の師僧武田芳淳の遺言により、出生時より武田姓を継ぐ。幼名覚(さとる)。京北中学より旧制浦和高校に入学、中国文学に親しみ、左翼組織の反帝グループに加盟。東京帝国大学支那(しな)文学科に入学するが中退。学生時代、左翼運動に加わり、三度の逮捕ののち転向。芝増上寺の道場で僧侶(そうりょ)の資格をとる。1934年（昭和9）竹内好(よしみ)らと中国文学研究会をつくり、機関誌『中国文学月報』に論文や翻訳を発表。37年輜重(しちょう)兵として中国に派遣され、上等兵で除隊、『司馬遷』（1943）を書き、転向と戦場での重い体験を、苦い独自な歴史観に結実させた。その後、中日文化協会に就職、上海(シャンハイ)で敗戦を迎え帰国、45年（昭和20）北海道大学法文学部助教授になったが翌年辞職。敗戦体験から得た滅亡の観念を軸に、47年『審判』『秘密』『蝮(まむし)のすゑ』と相次いで問題作を発表し、戦後作家として出発した。『「愛」のかたち』（1948）、『悪らしきもの』（1949）、『異形(いぎょう)の者』（1950）、『風媒花(ふうばいか)』（1952）、『ひかりごけ』（1954）と鋭い倫理性をもって、人間存在を告発する力作を積み上げ、一方で『人間・文学・歴史』（1954）のような優れた評論を発表する。55年以降その活動は長編小説中心となり、アイヌ民族解放を中心とする人間模様を描いた『森と湖のまつり』（1955～58）、権力者の構造を冷徹な女の視線でとらえた『貴族の階段』（1959）、現代における宗教と政治の関係を追究した未完の自伝的長編『快楽(けらく)』（1960～64）、何が正常で何が異常かという根源的問題を極限まで追究した代表作『冨士(ふじ)』（1969～71）など、戦後文学の記念碑的な作品を残した。晩年、脳血栓で倒れながら、口述筆記による『目まいのする散歩』（1976）も残された。泰淳の文学は、聖性と悪を、ともに世界における疑いえぬ実在としてとらえようとする多元的な眼(め)によって、人間存在の混沌(こんとん)を混沌のままに描こうとするもので、思想家としての力量の大きなところに、その魅力がある。昭和51年10月5日没。

［助川徳是］

『『武田泰淳全集』16巻・別巻一（1971～73・筑摩書房）』▽『松原新一著『武田泰淳論』（1970・審美社）』▽『粟津則雄著『主題と構造――武田泰淳と戦後文学』（1977・集英社）』

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