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{{Short description|Japanese novelist}}
{{Short description|Japanese novelist}}
'''Junpei Gomikawa''' (March 15, 1916 – March 8, 1995 {{Lang-ja|五味川純平}}) was the pen name of Japanese [[novelist]] '''Kurita Shigeru'''. He is best known for his 1958 [[World War II]] novel ''[[The Human Condition (novel)|The Human Condition]]'' (''Ningen no joken''), which became a best seller.<ref name=postwar>{{cite journal|title=Popular Representations of the Past: The Case of Postwar Japan|author=Shimazu, N.|pages=104–105|volume=38|issue=1|year=2003|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|jstor=3180699|doi=10.1177/0022009403038001966}}{{Subscription required |via=[[JSTOR]]}}</ref> Gomikawa's novel became the basis for [[Masaki Kobayashi]]'s film trilogy ''[[The Human Condition (film series)|The Human Condition]]'' as well as a radio drama.<ref name=postwar/><ref>{{cite journal |author=Russell, C. |year=2010 |title=Review: The Human Condition |journal=[[Cineaste (magazine)|Cineaste]] |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=53–55 |jstor=41690921}}{{Subscription required|via=[[JSTOR]]}}</ref> Another novel by Gomikawa, ''Men and War'' (''Senso to ningen''), formed the basis for [[Satsuo Yamamoto]]'s 1970-1973 film trilogy of the same name.<ref name=postwar/>
'''Junpei Gomikawa''' (March 15, 1916 – March 8, 1995 {{Lang-ja|五味川純平}}) was the pen name of Japanese [[novelist]] '''Kurita Shigeru'''. He is best known for his 1958 [[World War II]] novel ''[[The Human Condition (novel)|The Human Condition]]'' (''Ningen no joken''), which became a best seller.<ref name="postwar">{{cite journal|title=Popular Representations of the Past: The Case of Postwar Japan|author=Shimazu, N.|pages=104–105|volume=38|issue=1|year=2003|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|jstor=3180699|doi=10.1177/0022009403038001966}}{{Subscription required |via=[[JSTOR]]}}</ref> Gomikawa's novel became the basis for [[Masaki Kobayashi]]'s film trilogy ''[[The Human Condition (film series)|The Human Condition]]'' as well as a radio drama.<ref name=postwar/><ref>{{cite journal |author=Russell, C. |year=2010 |title=Review: The Human Condition |journal=[[Cineaste (magazine)|Cineaste]] |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=53–55 |jstor=41690921}}{{Subscription required|via=[[JSTOR]]}}</ref> Another novel by Gomikawa, ''Men and War'' (''Senso to ningen''), formed the basis for [[Satsuo Yamamoto]]'s 1970-1973 film trilogy of the same name.<ref name=postwar/>


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Line 6: Line 6:


=== ''The Human Condition'' ===
=== ''The Human Condition'' ===
Prior to the publication of ''The Human Condition'', a semi-autobiographical novel, Gomikawa had only published one short story and staged one play. He began working on ''The Human Condition'' in 1955 with the first volume released in August 1956 and immediately followed by the second. The final volume was published in February 1958, by which point it had sold millions of copies. The volumes were published by [[San’ichi shobō]], where one editor staked his career to the success of the novel.
Prior to the publication of ''The Human Condition'', a semi-autobiographical novel, Gomikawa had only published one short story and staged one play. He began working on ''The Human Condition'' in 1955 with the first volume released in August 1956 and immediately followed by the second. The final volume was published in February 1958, by which point it had sold millions of copies. The volumes were published by {{Nihongo3||三一書房|San’ichi shobō}}, a small publishing company part of the mutual support organization {{Nihongo3|The Thursday Association|木曜会|Mokuyōkai}} that was sympathetic to the [[Japanese Communist Party]] and were on the forefront of moderate left-wing publishing. San’ichi Shobō was the most active member of the Mokuyōkai in the late 1950s but struggled financially until the commercial success of ''The Human Condition''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ward |first=Vanessa B. |date=2006-09-01 |title=The spectre of the left: Iwanami shoten, ideology and publishing in early postwar Japan |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10371390600883578 |journal=Japanese Studies |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=171–184 |doi=10.1080/10371390600883578 |issn=1037-1397}}</ref>


The six-part novel was adapted into film by Masaki Kobayashi, with whom Gomikawa shared political and life experiences. Both had been stationed in Manchukuo, served in the Kwantung Army, and both were taken prisoner at the end of the war (Gomikawa by the Soviets, whereas Kobayashi was held in an American [[POW]] camp in Okinawa).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loska |first=Krzysztof |date=2015 |title=Kobayhashi Masaki and the Legacy of the World War II |url=http://www.silvajp.amu.edu.pl/Silva%2043444546.pdf#page=68 |journal=Silva Iaponicarum |issn=1734-4328}}</ref> Kobayashi, part of the ''Ninjin Kurabu'' (Carrot Club) production company, first heard of the novel from actress and club member [[Ineko Arima]]. Arima was the first one in the group to have read the novel before it became widely popular and soon convinced other members to read it. The company acted swiftly to buy the rights for a film adaptation, a week before the [[Shukan Asahi|''Shukan Asahi'']], a weekly publication, released a special issue on "hidden bestsellers" that paid special attention to Gomikawa's novel.<ref name=":0" /> The weekly noted that although Gomikawa was an unknown author and the novel was unserialized, unadvertised, and not broadcast on radio or television, it was avidly read across Japan in both rural and urban areas and was frequently passed around in reading groups.
The six-part novel was adapted into film by Masaki Kobayashi, with whom Gomikawa shared political and life experiences. Both had been stationed in Manchukuo, served in the Kwantung Army, and both were taken prisoner at the end of the war (Gomikawa by the Soviets, whereas Kobayashi was held in an American [[POW]] camp in Okinawa).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loska |first=Krzysztof |date=2015 |title=Kobayhashi Masaki and the Legacy of the World War II |url=http://www.silvajp.amu.edu.pl/Silva%2043444546.pdf#page=68 |journal=Silva Iaponicarum |issn=1734-4328}}</ref> Kobayashi, part of the ''Ninjin Kurabu'' (Carrot Club) production company, first heard of the novel from actress and club member [[Ineko Arima]]. Arima was the first one in the group to have read the novel before it became widely popular and soon convinced other members to read it. The company acted swiftly to buy the rights for a film adaptation, a week before the [[Shukan Asahi|''Shukan Asahi'']], a weekly publication, released a special issue on "hidden bestsellers" that paid special attention to Gomikawa's novel.<ref name=":0" /> The weekly noted that although Gomikawa was an unknown author and the novel was unserialized, unadvertised, and not broadcast on radio or television, it was avidly read across Japan in both rural and urban areas and was frequently passed around in labor union reading groups.


In an interview, Gomikawa commented that the principal character of the novel, Kaji, had many characteristics that were absent in the real members of the Japanese [[Left-wing politics|left]], such as decisiveness, strength, and bravery; he also noted that real intellectuals are not as weak as people think.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Sandra |date=July 2008 |title=WAR, SOLDIER AND NATION IN 1950s JAPAN |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1479591408000016/type/journal_article |journal=International Journal of Asian Studies |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=187–218 |doi=10.1017/S1479591408000016 |issn=1479-5914}}</ref> Kaji, who was not repatriated, resonated strongly with tens of thousands of families who were waiting for the return of their loved ones into the late 1950s. In James Orr's book on postwar Japan, Gomikawa received hundreds of letters from women asking if his writings reflected experiences their husbands and sons had lived through.<ref name=":1" />
In an interview, Gomikawa commented that the principal character of the novel, Kaji, had many characteristics that were absent in the real members of the Japanese [[Left-wing politics|left]], such as decisiveness, strength, and bravery; he also noted that real intellectuals are not as weak as people think.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Sandra |date=July 2008 |title=WAR, SOLDIER AND NATION IN 1950s JAPAN |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1479591408000016/type/journal_article |journal=International Journal of Asian Studies |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=187–218 |doi=10.1017/S1479591408000016 |issn=1479-5914}}</ref> Kaji, who was not repatriated, resonated strongly with tens of thousands of families who were waiting for the return of their loved ones into the late 1950s. In James Orr's book on postwar Japan, Gomikawa received hundreds of letters from women asking if his writings reflected experiences their husbands and sons had lived through.<ref name=":1" />


=== Later works ===
=== Later works ===
In June 1963 Gomikawa visited East Africa with the writer [[Noma Kanjirō]], a key figure in the early anti-apartheid movement in Japan where they attended a south Africa Freedom Day in [[Dar es Salaam]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Makino |first=Kumiko |title=Travelling for Solidarity: Japanese Activists in the Transnational Anti-apartheid Movement |date=2018 |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60205-3_12 |work=Migration and Agency in a Globalizing World: Afro-Asian Encounters |pages=247–270 |editor-last=Cornelissen |editor-first=Scarlett |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-60205-3_12 |isbn=978-1-137-60205-3 |access-date=2022-10-12 |editor2-last=Mine |editor2-first=Yoichi}}</ref>
Following the publication of ''The Human Condition'', Gomikawa continued writing about the events of the war, including an attempt at writing the history of the [[Nomonhan Incident]] following the lifting of the ban on its reportage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Dwyer |first=Emer |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203097816/manga-representation-japanese-history-roman-rosenbaum |title=Manga and the Representation of Japanese History |editor-last=Rosenbaum |editor-first=Roman |chapter=Heroes and villains: Manchukuo in Yasuhiko Yoshikazu’s Rainbow Trotsky |doi=10.4324/9780203097816}}</ref> He abandoned the project in disgust, but continued other works on the Kwantung Army's actions.

Following the publication of ''The Human Condition'', Gomikawa continued writing about the events of the war, including a widely read book on the history of the [[Nomonhan Incident]] following the lifting of the ban on its reportage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tsuyoshi |first=Hasegawa |date=1987 |title=Review of Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/132482 |journal=Journal of Japanese Studies |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=481–488 |doi=10.2307/132482 |issn=0095-6848}}</ref>


== Works ==
== Works ==


=== Novels ===
=== Novels ===
* {{Citation |last=Gomikawa |first=Junpei |title={{Nihongo3|人間の條件|Ningen no joken}} |year=1956-1958 |publisher=三一書房 |language=ja}}

* {{Citation |last=Gomikawa |first=Junpei |title={{Nihongo3|人間の朝; 東アフリカ記行|Morning of Human Beings: On Travels in East Africa}} |year=1964 |publisher=河出書房新社 |oclc=22445834}}
* ''The Human Condition'', 1956
* {{Citation |last=Gomikawa |first=Junpei |title={{Nihongo3|ノモンハン|Nomonhan}} |year=1978 |publisher=文芸春秋 |language=ja |oclc=10753683}}
* {{Citation |last=Gomikawa |first=Junpei |title={{Nihongo3|戦争と人間|Senso to ningen}} |year=1983-1984 |oclc=10753683|language=ja}}


=== Essays ===
=== Essays ===

Revision as of 22:11, 12 October 2022

Junpei Gomikawa (March 15, 1916 – March 8, 1995 Japanese: 五味川純平) was the pen name of Japanese novelist Kurita Shigeru. He is best known for his 1958 World War II novel The Human Condition (Ningen no joken), which became a best seller.[1] Gomikawa's novel became the basis for Masaki Kobayashi's film trilogy The Human Condition as well as a radio drama.[1][2] Another novel by Gomikawa, Men and War (Senso to ningen), formed the basis for Satsuo Yamamoto's 1970-1973 film trilogy of the same name.[1]

Biography

Gomikawa was born and raised in colonial Manchuria, referring to himself as a "second generation Manchurian-Japanese".[3][4] He went to university in Tokyo and returned to Manchuria to take a job at the Anshan Ironworks Company, where he noted that the economic conditions were attractive for Japanese living in Manchuria, compared to Koreans, Chinese, and recent graduates living in Japan. He was eventually drafted in 1942. Gomikawa was a soldier in the Kwantung Army, a unit of the Imperial Japanese Army, stationed on the border of the Soviet Union and Manchukuo.[5] Holding a below-officer rank, he survived a Soviet tank attack in which 154 men of his 158 units died.[6] According to Kobayashi, Gomihawa had worked as a labor supervisor in a mine where he witnessed executions.[7] After surviving the Soviet offensive in August 1945, he returned to Japan in October 1947.

The Human Condition

Prior to the publication of The Human Condition, a semi-autobiographical novel, Gomikawa had only published one short story and staged one play. He began working on The Human Condition in 1955 with the first volume released in August 1956 and immediately followed by the second. The final volume was published in February 1958, by which point it had sold millions of copies. The volumes were published by San’ichi shobō (三一書房), a small publishing company part of the mutual support organization Mokuyōkai (木曜会, The Thursday Association) that was sympathetic to the Japanese Communist Party and were on the forefront of moderate left-wing publishing. San’ichi Shobō was the most active member of the Mokuyōkai in the late 1950s but struggled financially until the commercial success of The Human Condition.[8]

The six-part novel was adapted into film by Masaki Kobayashi, with whom Gomikawa shared political and life experiences. Both had been stationed in Manchukuo, served in the Kwantung Army, and both were taken prisoner at the end of the war (Gomikawa by the Soviets, whereas Kobayashi was held in an American POW camp in Okinawa).[9] Kobayashi, part of the Ninjin Kurabu (Carrot Club) production company, first heard of the novel from actress and club member Ineko Arima. Arima was the first one in the group to have read the novel before it became widely popular and soon convinced other members to read it. The company acted swiftly to buy the rights for a film adaptation, a week before the Shukan Asahi, a weekly publication, released a special issue on "hidden bestsellers" that paid special attention to Gomikawa's novel.[7] The weekly noted that although Gomikawa was an unknown author and the novel was unserialized, unadvertised, and not broadcast on radio or television, it was avidly read across Japan in both rural and urban areas and was frequently passed around in labor union reading groups.

In an interview, Gomikawa commented that the principal character of the novel, Kaji, had many characteristics that were absent in the real members of the Japanese left, such as decisiveness, strength, and bravery; he also noted that real intellectuals are not as weak as people think.[10] Kaji, who was not repatriated, resonated strongly with tens of thousands of families who were waiting for the return of their loved ones into the late 1950s. In James Orr's book on postwar Japan, Gomikawa received hundreds of letters from women asking if his writings reflected experiences their husbands and sons had lived through.[4]

Later works

In June 1963 Gomikawa visited East Africa with the writer Noma Kanjirō, a key figure in the early anti-apartheid movement in Japan where they attended a south Africa Freedom Day in Dar es Salaam.[11]

Following the publication of The Human Condition, Gomikawa continued writing about the events of the war, including a widely read book on the history of the Nomonhan Incident following the lifting of the ban on its reportage.[12]

Works

Novels

  • Gomikawa, Junpei (1956–1958), 人間の條件 (Ningen no joken) (in Japanese), 三一書房{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  • Gomikawa, Junpei (1964), 人間の朝; 東アフリカ記行 (Morning of Human Beings: On Travels in East Africa), 河出書房新社, OCLC 22445834
  • Gomikawa, Junpei (1978), ノモンハン (Nomonhan) (in Japanese), 文芸春秋, OCLC 10753683
  • Gomikawa, Junpei (1983–1984), 戦争と人間 (Senso to ningen) (in Japanese), OCLC 10753683{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)

Essays

  • The collapse of the 'myth': the ambitions and dissolution of the Kwantung Army (Shinwa’ no hōkai: Kantōgun no yabō to hatan), 1988

References

  1. ^ a b c Shimazu, N. (2003). "Popular Representations of the Past: The Case of Postwar Japan". Journal of Contemporary History. 38 (1): 104–105. doi:10.1177/0022009403038001966. JSTOR 3180699. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
  2. ^ Russell, C. (2010). "Review: The Human Condition". Cineaste. 35 (3): 53–55. JSTOR 41690921. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
  3. ^ Hashimoto, Akiko (2020), Eyerman, Ron; Sciortino, Giuseppe (eds.), "Japanese Narratives of Decolonization and Repatriation from Manchuria", The Cultural Trauma of Decolonization: Colonial Returnees in the National Imagination, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 57–83, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-27025-4_3, ISBN 978-3-030-27025-4, retrieved 2022-10-12
  4. ^ a b Watt, Lori (2002). When empire comes home : repatriation in postwar Japan, 1945-1958. ISBN 978-0-493-85401-4. OCLC 71201757.
  5. ^ Igarashi, Yoshikuni (2016-09-06). Chapter Two. The Story of a Man Who Was Not Allowed to Come Home: Gomikawa Junpei and The Human Condition (Ningen no jōken). Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/igar17770-005. ISBN 978-0-231-54135-0.
  6. ^ Hicks, George L. (2019). Japan's war memories : amnesia or concealment?. London. ISBN 0-429-44409-5. OCLC 1102469283.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ a b Prince, Stephen (2017-11-16). A Dream of Resistance: The Cinema of Kobayashi Masaki. Rutgers University Press. pp. 123–127. ISBN 978-0-8135-9239-8.
  8. ^ Ward, Vanessa B. (2006-09-01). "The spectre of the left: Iwanami shoten, ideology and publishing in early postwar Japan". Japanese Studies. 26 (2): 171–184. doi:10.1080/10371390600883578. ISSN 1037-1397.
  9. ^ Loska, Krzysztof (2015). "Kobayhashi Masaki and the Legacy of the World War II" (PDF). Silva Iaponicarum. ISSN 1734-4328.
  10. ^ Wilson, Sandra (July 2008). "WAR, SOLDIER AND NATION IN 1950s JAPAN". International Journal of Asian Studies. 5 (2): 187–218. doi:10.1017/S1479591408000016. ISSN 1479-5914.
  11. ^ Makino, Kumiko (2018), Cornelissen, Scarlett; Mine, Yoichi (eds.), "Travelling for Solidarity: Japanese Activists in the Transnational Anti-apartheid Movement", Migration and Agency in a Globalizing World: Afro-Asian Encounters, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 247–270, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-60205-3_12, ISBN 978-1-137-60205-3, retrieved 2022-10-12
  12. ^ Tsuyoshi, Hasegawa (1987). "Review of Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939". Journal of Japanese Studies. 13 (2): 481–488. doi:10.2307/132482. ISSN 0095-6848.


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