Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Prophet of the Inner Life: Kitamura Tōkoku
- 2 Shimazaki Tōson and Christianity: When the Cherries Ripen in the Taishō Period
- 3 Arishima Takeo and Christianity
- 4 Akutagawa Ryūnosuke: A Christian Life
- 5 Incarnation of the Christian Faith in the Poetry of Yagi Jūkichi
- 6 Hori Tatsuo: The Cross Dyed in Bloody Red and the Little Gods of Ancient Times
- 7 Nagai Takashi on Divine Providence and Christian Self-Surrender: Towards a New Understanding of hansai
- 8 Dazai Osamu: His Wrestle with the Bible
- 9 Shiina Rinzō: His Two Visages
- 10 From out of the Depths: Shimao Toshio’s Literary Response to Adversity
- 11 Yasuoka Shōtarō and Christianity: From Postwar “Emptiness” to Religious Longing
- 12 Miura Ayako and the Human Face of Faith
- 13 Endō Shūsaku and the Compassionate Companionship of Christ
- 14 Ogawa Kunio: Renewal of Faith and Identity in His seishomono (Bible Stories)
- 15 Kaga Otohiko: In Search of What Lies Beyond Death
- 16 Sono Ayako: Amor Vincit Omnia
- 17 Takahashi Takako: Drawing Closer to God Through Literature
- Index
- Index of titles
2 - Shimazaki Tōson and Christianity: When the Cherries Ripen in the Taishō Period
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 June 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Prophet of the Inner Life: Kitamura Tōkoku
- 2 Shimazaki Tōson and Christianity: When the Cherries Ripen in the Taishō Period
- 3 Arishima Takeo and Christianity
- 4 Akutagawa Ryūnosuke: A Christian Life
- 5 Incarnation of the Christian Faith in the Poetry of Yagi Jūkichi
- 6 Hori Tatsuo: The Cross Dyed in Bloody Red and the Little Gods of Ancient Times
- 7 Nagai Takashi on Divine Providence and Christian Self-Surrender: Towards a New Understanding of hansai
- 8 Dazai Osamu: His Wrestle with the Bible
- 9 Shiina Rinzō: His Two Visages
- 10 From out of the Depths: Shimao Toshio’s Literary Response to Adversity
- 11 Yasuoka Shōtarō and Christianity: From Postwar “Emptiness” to Religious Longing
- 12 Miura Ayako and the Human Face of Faith
- 13 Endō Shūsaku and the Compassionate Companionship of Christ
- 14 Ogawa Kunio: Renewal of Faith and Identity in His seishomono (Bible Stories)
- 15 Kaga Otohiko: In Search of What Lies Beyond Death
- 16 Sono Ayako: Amor Vincit Omnia
- 17 Takahashi Takako: Drawing Closer to God Through Literature
- Index
- Index of titles
Summary
Shimazaki Tōson's novel When the Cherries Ripen is the story of Kishimoto Sutekichi and his experience of Christianity during the second half of the Meiji period (1890s). The novel was first published in installments between 1912 and 1918 in Bunshō sekai, a popular readercontribution magazine of the Taishō period. Thus, young Sutekichi's struggles to find his own path combining faith and poetry are given as an example of growth, and resonate with the dilemmas of the young audience of the magazine, who were looking for self-cultivation and spiritual enrichment through reading and writing.
Introduction
As many Christians experience it, Christianity is not only a matter of believing in a specific doctrine, but also, and in some cases even more prominently, one of participating in communal ritual practices. Oftentimes, these practices might be only loosely connected to Christian precepts; they can be intertwined with non- or pre-Christian customs, and will vary according to the local material culture, but also according to the changing socio-political climate in which they exist and function. For example, in Romania, my home country, babies are baptized shortly after birth, in line with the superstition that baptism will make them calmer, grounding them firmly in “this world.” Also, in many families, church baptism is followed by “house” baptism, a pre-Christian ritual in which the baby is washed in water with rice, flowers, gold and other ingredients that will ensure health, wealth and good fortune. At any rate, receiving God and being baptized into Romanian Orthodoxy is not a choice for the new Christian, and requires no deep understanding of the precepts of Christianity—not even on the part of the parents. This is perhaps the reason why religious rituals such as baptism were allowed to continue during the communist decades, while regular churchgoing was discouraged and many spiritual leaders (priests, theologians) were persecuted and forbidden from openly discussing Christian doctrines. The negative attitude towards Christianity as anything more than a set of rituals comes from an over-emphasis on the Marxist idea that religion can make people ignorant to the realities around them and, as a result, stand in the way of the socialist revolution.
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- Information
- Handbook of Japanese Christian Writers , pp. 23 - 41Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2022