Tokutomi Roka

Tokutomi Roka

 

(pen name of Tokutomi Kenjiro). Born Oct. 25, 1868, in Kumamoto Prefecture; died Sept. 18, 1927, near Tokyo. Japanese writer.

Tokutomi’s first prominent work, the novel Namiko (1899; Russian translation, 1905), deals with the fate of a woman from an aristocratic family who perishes as a result of the burdens of feudalism. The novel Kuroshio (1902; Russian translation, 1957) denounced the bureaucratic ruling class of capitalist Japan. Tokutomi was very interested in the philosophy of L. N. Tolstoy and visited Iasnaia Poliana in 1906. In the essay collections Nature and Man (1900) and Gibberish of an Earthworm (1913), he contrasted the city with the idealized country. In the novel Black Eyes and Brown Eyes (1914), he portrayed pure youthful love. Tokutomi also wrote the novels New Spring (1918) and Fuji (1925–28).

WORKS

In Russian translation:
“Priroda i chelovek.” In the collection Vostochnyial’manakh, fase. 1. Moscow, 1958.
“Iaponskii palomnik: Vospominaniia Tokutomi Roka.” In Literaturnoe nasledstvo, vol. 75, book 2. Moscow, 1965.

REFERENCES

Istoriia sovremennoi iaponskoi literatury. Moscow, 1961. (Translated from Japanese.)
Grigor’eva, T., and V. Logunova. Iaponskaia literatura. Moscow, 1964.
Konrad, N. I. Iaponskaia literatura. Moscow, 1974.

N. G. IVANENKO