Kaizan Nakazato

Novelist. Born on April 4, 1885 in Hamura, Nishitama District, Kanagawa Prefecture (now Hamura City, Tokyo). His real name was Yanosuke. After graduating from the upper elementary school, he became a telephone operator and an elementary school teacher. He was initially influenced by Christianity, but eventually resonated with the socialism of the Heiminsha Publishing Company, and his poem Rancho Gekiin, written during the Russo-Japanese War, is noted as one of the few anti-war poems. He became acquainted with Kinoshita Naoe, and founded the magazine Kaben with Yamaguchi Koken and Shirayanagi Shuko. His ideological inclinations gradually leaned more toward Buddhism, and it can be seen that he was moving away from socialist tendencies. He was familiar with and influenced by the literature of Hugo and Tolstoy. In 1909 (Meiji 42), he joined the Miyako Newspaper Company and wrote his debut novel, "Koori no Hana" (Flowers of Ice), as a newspaper novel. Since then, he published a series of historical novels, such as "Kouya no Gijin" (The Righteous Man of Koya), in the same paper. As a result of these works, his masterpiece "Daibosatsu Toge" appeared in the same paper in 1913 (Taisho 2). It is nothing but the pursuit of a completely different literary world from the mainstream of modern Japanese literature. Kaizan's life can be said to be one of literary dedication aimed at completing this work, but he also wrote other works such as "Kurotani Yawa" (Night Stories in Kurotani), which depicts Honen, and "Yumedono" (unfinished), which deals with Prince Shotoku. One unusual work from his later years that has attracted attention is the autobiographical literary record of impressions, "Hyakusho Yanosuke no Hanashi" (The Story of the Farmer Yanosuke). He never married, was quarrelsome, did not easily compromise with others, and lived true to his own beliefs. During World War II, he refused an invitation to join the Japanese Literature Patriotic Association. He tried to continue writing the next installment of "Daibosatsu Toge," but died of typhoid fever on April 28, 1944, at the end of the Pacific War, at the age of 60.

[Takemori Tenyu]

"The Complete Works of Kaizan Nakazato, 20 volumes (1970-72, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "Hideki Ozaki's Shura: Meiji no Aki (1973, Shinchosha)" ▽ "Kenichi Matsumoto's Kaizan Nakazato (1978, Asahi Shimbun)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

小説家。明治18年4月4日神奈川県西多摩郡羽村(はむら)（現東京都羽村市）に生まれる。本名弥之助(やのすけ)。小学校高等科卒業後、電話交換手や小学校教員となる。初めキリスト教の感化を受けるが、やがて平民社の社会主義に共鳴、日露戦争下の『乱調激韵(らんちょうげきいん)』は数少ない反戦詩の一つとして注目される。木下尚江(なおえ)と知り合い、また山口孤剣(こけん)、白柳秀湖(しらやなぎしゅうこ)らと雑誌『火鞭(かべん)』を創刊した。彼の思想傾向は漸次仏教への傾斜を深め、社会主義的傾向からの離脱が認められる。ユゴーやトルストイの文学に親しみ影響を受けた。1909年（明治42）、都(みやこ)新聞社に入り、処女作『氷の花』を新聞小説として書き、以来、同紙に『高野(こうや)の義人』などの時代小説を次々に発表。それらの積み重ねのうえで、13年（大正2）大作『大菩薩峠(だいぼさつとうげ)』が同紙上に現れる。日本の近代文学の主流をなす文壇文学とはまったく別種の文学世界の追究にほかならない。介山の生涯は、以後この作品の完成を目ざした文学精進のそれといってよいが、ほかに法然(ほうねん)を描いた『黒谷(くろたに)夜話』、聖徳太子を扱う『夢殿』（未完）などがある。晩年の異色作として、自伝的な感想記録文学『百姓弥之助の話』が注目される。生涯妻帯せず、性狷介(けんかい)にして容易に他人と妥協することなく、自己の信念に忠実に生き、第二次世界大戦中は日本文学報国会への入会勧誘も拒絶した。ひたすら『大菩薩峠』の続稿を続けようとしたが、太平洋戦争末期の昭和19年4月28日腸チフスのため60歳で永眠した。

［竹盛天雄］

『『中里介山全集』全20巻（1970～72・筑摩書房）』▽『尾崎秀樹著『修羅　明治の秋』（1973・新潮社）』▽『松本健一著『中里介山』（1978・朝日新聞社）』

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