Tōson Shimazaki (島崎 藤村, Shimazaki Tōson, 25 March 1872 – 22 August 1943) is the pen-name of a Japanese author, active in the Meiji, Taishō and early Showa period Japan. He began his career as a poet, but went on to establish himself as the major proponent of naturalism in Japanese literature. His real name was Shimazaki Haruki.
Tōson was born in what is now part of the city of Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture and spent his childhood in the old post t...
more
Tōson Shimazaki (島崎 藤村, Shimazaki Tōson, 25 March 1872 – 22 August 1943) is the pen-name of a Japanese author, active in the Meiji, Taishō and early Showa period Japan. He began his career as a poet, but went on to establish himself as the major proponent of naturalism in Japanese literature. His real name was Shimazaki Haruki.
Tōson was born in what is now part of the city of Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture and spent his childhood in the old post town of Magome-juku in the countryside of the Kiso District, which he left in 1881. He wrote about many aspects of life in this area, including in his most famous novel Before the Dawn, which was modeled on the life of his father, Shimazaki Masaki, who went insane and died by the time Tōson was fourteen, leading to Tōson being raised by friends of his family. Later, his oldest sister would also die from mental disorders. Tōson later described his nature as "melancholy inherited from my parents."
Tōson graduated from Meiji Gakuin University in...
less
