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Osamu Dazai and the beauty of his literature

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Osamu Dazai and the beauty of his literature

Yoshinori Watabe
Professor of Modern Literature, Faculty of Letters, Chuo University

Yoshinori Watabe
[Profile]

The basic stance of Dazai the writer

The basic stance of Dazai the writer was to be a writer like a "street musician" (Kamome (The Seagull)
and Zenzo wo Omou (Think about Zenzo)) who gets passers-by, readers, to enjoy the happiness of a
modest heart like "the gift of a single dandelion" (Hazakura to Mateki (Young Cherry Leafs and Magic

Flute)).

<The King of Hearts>

Dazai was born into the fourth wealthiest family in Aomori,
Dazai, who never felt true happiness while being raised on
material wealth, gradually began to think that true happiness lies
in the heart rather than in material happiness, and sought that
pleasure in literature.
In Kokoro no Oja (The King of Hearts), which was published in
Keio University's Mita Newspaper, he calls on students to be
Dazai Museum, house of his birth: Shayokan (Photos

"kings of hearts" in a parody of the phrase "king of the land,

by Yoshinori Watabe)

Keio" from Keio's cheerleading song. Rather than being "king of

the land" who reaches the summit of prosperity and power, be
"king of hearts" who gives first place to inner happiness.
Potential of Restorative Justice for Workplace
Bullying and Harassment (Hiromitsu Takihara)

It was with that basic posture that he created jewels of works overflowing with touches of human
kindness such as Ougon no Fukei (Golden Landscape), I Can Speak, Shinju no Kotoba (Words of Newly

Bridge over the sea: A modern Japanese

Green Trees), and Aruto Haideruberuhi (Heideruberuhi Old).

envoy to China (Nobuyuki Tsuji)

Achievements and Problems of Abenomics
(Toichiro Asada)

Kindness in Dazai's literature

Can Makura-no-Soshi be Literature?

(Dazai says in his novel Tsugaru that his "major subjects" are "subjects" called "love", which is the
(Hirofumi Fujiwara)

research into "human heart and contact with the human heart". Where does the kindness in Dazai
literature come from? That comes from the "realization of sin" in the roots of Dazai literature.

Do educators have pre-established

knowledge? (Junichi Nakamoto)

Nonaka, a character in his postwar work Haru no Kareha (Dried Leaves of Spring), says the following.
Roundtable with Joban Kosan Chairman and

The Bible says, "he who is forgiven little, loves little." Do you know what this means? Only those
who are confident that they have made no mistakes in life are heartless. Those who are sinful have
deep affection.

Executive Director Kazuhiko Saito and Class

of 2014 Graduates :Reflecting the path to
recovery and post-quake Tohoku

This doesn't mean that anyone who has many crimes will become a person with deep affection. Those
who sin and have a deep realization of their sinfulness become modest, kind, and deeply affectionate
people.
Dazai felt ashamed of being a member of a bourgeois household. Despite being engaged to one woman,
he was involved in the suicide of another woman he had feelings for (November 1930), and on entering
university, he was briefly involved in a leftist movement, but left after betraying some friends (Summer
1932). In these ways Dazai had betrayed and hurt people and piled up his sins. But inside, Dazai had a
deep realization that he was bad and was a man of extreme crime. That is the foundation of the
kindness of Dazai and Dazai literature.
Newest Edition
2015 winter Issue

Many works of literature full of "love" and "kindness" were created in his middle
period, from 1939 to 1945.

Student journalists report on

the students take of Chuo
University

In this period Dazai repeated in his works, the words "plain" and
Global PeopleFaculty of Law Hirooka

"simple"(Ai to Bi ni Tsuite (For Love and Beauty), Kashoku

(Marriage)),"honest"(Tousen no Hi (Day of Election), Shoujiki

No-to (Honest Note)), "I want to become natural. I want to

become sincere."(Joseito (Schoolgirl)), and "simple, natural
things are accordingly concise and clear."(Fugaku Hyakkei(One
Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji)). These are the things Dazai longed

Seminar visits China: Exchange with Huaqiao

University students
Global PeopleJourney of a U.K. Returnee
Representing CHESS
News & Chuo University NewsWar & Chuo
University Symposium: 70th Anniversary

for at the time.

of the End of the War

Mt. Fuji as seen from the Misaka Pass, the setting of

Fugaku Hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji)

(Photos by Yoshinori Watabe)

Student Soldiers to the Frontline Harrowing

These intentions of Dazai is summarized in the following

Experiences Reflection on Peace

message, which is said to be the words that Dazai told his

[Index]

apprentice, Hidezumi Katsura, in 1942.

Basho stated wabi-sabi (impermanence) and spirit. At the end he mentioned "lightness". The
direction a new art follows lies in this lightness. In Kendo, it is like delivering a clean hit to the
forearm without exerting any strength. It's that feeling, anguish sinks to the bottom and you feel
clear.(omission)In music, it is probably Mozart.(The words of Osamu Dazai, Hidezumi Katsura,
Hakone no Dazai (Dazai at Hakone) )
This ideology of "lightness", which was nurtured from 1939 to 1945, bloomed and came to fruition in the
postwar Pandora no Hako (Gap of Pandora). Youths, the main character facing the new postwar era says
as follows.

A new era has truly come. It is as light as a robe of feathers, and furthermore, as limpid (note:
crystal-clear and cold) as a stream flowing over white sand.
Light and pure poems are, (omission) like Mozart's music for example, a cheerful art with noble
clarity. That is what we desire at the moment.
This "lightness" is different to insincerity. If you don't discard desire and life, you won't understand
the mind. (omission) The peace lying in those who lose everything, who throw away everything, is
that "lightness". (Pandora no Hako (Gap of Pandora))
In Gap of Pandora, Dazai declares "peace in those who lose everything, who throw away everything",
"give up everything and throw it away" and "honesty", "simple", "cold and clear" minds and a "light"
spirit as ideal.
This healthy and bright Dazai and that literature will have many people sense a difference from the
image Osamu Dazai they have embraced. But, in close to three quarters of Osamu Dazai's 16 years as a
writer, he has written many bright and healthy ambitious pieces.

A view of Dazai Literature(What is literature?)

As expressed in the following, to Osamu Dazai,
literature was basically something for readers
to enjoy, a pastime, something pleasing, and
something to bring joy to the heart. "My art is

no different from the beauty possessed by a

toy" (Mono no Omou AshiSono Ichi
(Meditating Reed Grass (Part 1)), "kind, sad,
strange and noble, what more do you need to
be?"(Bannen ni Tsuite (Later Years) ), "What
should one do with this beautiful box decorated
with assorted figured paper? Nothing. Isn't it
beautiful as it is?"(Hashiranu Meiba (A Fine

Horse That Doesn't Run)), "The beauty of art

is, when all said and done, the service of beauty
for the people."(Gyakko (Retrogression)),
"More than anything, he enjoyed making people
Dazai Literature Monument at Kanita: "More than anything, he enjoyed

happy!"(Seigi to Bisyou (Smile and Justice) ),

making people happy!!" (Photos by Yoshinori Watabe)

"Japanese literature (omission) is far from

becoming humoresque. (omission) It doesn't
know how to enjoy idly. It blindly enjoys seriousness. It doesn't know the beauty of nonsense."(Koten

Ryuto-dabi (The Anticlimax of the Classics)), and "The most important thing in literature is
'affection'."(Nyoze Gamon (I Heard it in this Way)).

Unintelligible (dandyism)Decline(decadence)
Despite writing many enjoyable, bright and healthy works, he was unable to shed his unintelligible,
decadent and unhealthy dark image through that literature due to dandyism in his early writing and a
strong image of decadence and unconventionality in his later years.
In Dazai's early years (1933-1937), especially from 1935 to the beginning of 1937, he adopted a method
called dandyism and displayed an extremely difficult to follow literary style. Influenced by Baudelaire
dandyism, he over-decorated his writing and lifestyle as people dress up. He thought that being gaudy
and fashionable was a writer's way of showing "affection" to his readers.
He shows a highly artificial world in saying "If it isn't art which is intellectual and hacked to pieces, it
isn't interesting."(Dasu Gemaine (Das Gemeine)), "manmade beauty"(Mono no Omou AshiSono Ichi
(Meditating Reed Grass (Part 1)), and "manmade zenith"(Fabricated Spring). Through that impression of
a writer's efforts, he tried to display the sincerity of a writer.
Symbolic of this dandyism style are the words "Even if we are
certain to die, use sweet words with feigned sincerity!"(Mono no

Omou AshiSono Ichi (Meditating Reed Grass (Part 1)).

Confucius took sweet words with feigned sincerity as a lack of
virtue, but Dazai took it as "affection". He displayed a writer's
love to his readers with ingenious works and language while living
a garish life. He intentionally wrote in a difficult to understand
style, staging confusion and playing the villain.
Mt. Iwaki from Dazai's hometown of Kanagi (Photos
by Yoshinori Watabe)

Through that difficult style, his innovative language invited

misinterpretation and he missed out on the first Akutagawa
Prize. He then became addicted to Pavinal, and after being taken in by seniors and friend's family
members, he was admitted to hospital.
Even with such works where unintelligible dandyism was freely used, the writer would intentionally write
in a difficult style using unique expressions. It was there that I thought Dazai tried showing individuality,
novelty and sincerity, and it proved to be surprisingly interesting reading. You can enjoy the magical
world of sparkling language.

Strong anticonventional spirit after the war (from 1946 to June 1948)
When Dazai returned to Tokyo after evacuation, he was unable
to hold himself back when he saw intellectuals depart the same
leftist movement and cooperate with policies differing from their
wartime policies, jumping on the wave of postwar democracy

without hesitation. They had showed no remorse or sense of sin

in committing the shameful act of converting and conforming to
national policy. By realizing his own wrong-doings, surely he was
a better person than that crowd. The strong anticonventional
spirit he held for one and a half years of his latter years was
created from that kind of self confidence. He strongly criticized
culture snobs of the world. But, paradoxically, he took up a form
of decadence for criticizing them and condemned. That figure
left an extremely deep impression on his readers, leading to the
image of Dazai seen by the general public.
I want you to know not just a part of Dazai, but Dazai in general.
In his younger years, he adopted dandyism and was difficult to
follow, but he painted an individual and peculiar world of
manmade beauty. In midlife, by realizing his sins, he was modest
and kind, writing about a world of human love in a bright and
healthy style full of humor. I would like you to pick up one of
Dazai's works with that bright flavor.
Dazai Literature Monument (Photos by Yoshinori
Watabe)

Conclusion
The 20th century was a century devoted to craftsmanship. The 21st century will be a century aiming to
recapture happiness in the heart which was forgotten through that craftsmanship. Dazai, who gave his
readers small comforts like "a single dandelion", who wished to be an artist like a "street musician", who
treasured happiness of the heart over material happiness, who was the "King of hearts", preempted the
21st century's age of the happy heart.

Yoshinori Watabe Research Profile(PDF File)

Click here to see Chi no Kairo (The Corridor of Wisdom), the educational program supervised by the
author (Visiting the Hometown of Kenji Miyazawa, Program 11)
Click here to see Chi no Kairo (The Corridor of Wisdom), the educational program supervised by the
author (The King of Hearts: Taking a Walk through Osamu Dazai's "Tsugaru," Part 1, Program 18)
Click here to see Chi no Kairo (The Corridor of Wisdom), the educational program supervised by the
author (The King of Hearts: Taking a Walk through Osamu Dazai's "Tsugaru," Part 2, Program 19)
Click here to see Chi no Kairo (The Corridor of Wisdom), the educational program supervised by the
author (Literary Walk in Matsuyama, Part1: Soseki Natsume, Program 35)
Click here to see Chi no Kairo (The Corridor of Wisdom), the educational program supervised by the
author (Literary Walk in Matsuyama, Part2: Shiki Masaoka, Program 36)
Click here to see Chi no Kairo (The Corridor of Wisdom), the educational program supervised by the
author (Passion for the Darkness: The World of Motojiro Kajii, Program 44)
Click here to see Chi no Kairo (The Corridor of Wisdom), the educational program supervised by the
author (Taking a Walk through Onomichi: The Roots of Fumiko Hayashi's Love Story, Program 59)
Click here to see Chi no Kairo (The Corridor of Wisdom), the educational program supervised by the
author (Naoya Shiga: The Way from Conflict to Harmony, Program 60)

Yoshinori Watabe
Professor of Modern Literature, Faculty of Letters, Chuo University
Born in Yotsuya in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 1940. Raised in Machida. Attended Machida Elementary School and Nerima Kaishin
First Primary School before entering the Japanese Literature Department at the Faculty of Letters, Tokyo University
from the University of Education Junior and Senior High Schools. After leaving graduate school, he worked at Musashi
Junior and Senior High Schools and Rissho University before taking up his current post in the Faculty of Letters, Chuo
University in 1976. During this time he has also worked as a lecturer at Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College,
Gakushuin Women's Junior College, and University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo. He has an interest and is conducting
research in modern literature and modern poets such as Motojiro Kajii, Kojiro Serizawa, Sakutaro Hagiwara, and especially

Osamu Dazai and Kenji Miyazawa. Watabe likes photography and cars, and travels around Japan searching for natural
features related to modern writers.

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