27.docx

Osamu Dazai

By
Nannapat Raksuwan



Content

Introduction
Biography
Spiritual belief
References

Osamu Dazai

Osamu Dazai (太宰 治, Dazai Osamu, June 19,
1909 – June 13, 1948) was a Japanese author. A
number of his most popular works, such as The
Setting Sun (Shayō) and No Longer Human
(Ningen Shikkaku), are considered modern-day
classics.[2] With a semi-autobiographical style and
transparency into his personal life, Dazai's stories
have intrigued the minds of many readers.

His influences include Ryūnosuke Akutagawa,
Murasaki Shikibu and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. While
Dazai continues to be widely celebrated in Japan,
he remains relatively unknown elsewhere, with
only a handful of his works available in English.
His last book, No Longer Human, is his most
popular work outside of Japan.

Biography

Dazai hails from an aristocratic family in the Kanagi
region of Japan, the Tsushima clan. His birth name
was Shuji Tsushima before he took on Osamu Dazai as
his pen name. He was born on the 19th of June 1909
to a life of privilege, in a big mansion filled with
servants. Their luxuries can be attributed to the great
political influence that was received by his father,
Tushima Gen’emon.
The Tsushima family was rather big, with eleven
children born under Gen’emon and Tane Tsushima.
However, after the birth of the eleventh child, Tane’s
health deteriorated rapidly. With his father busy, and
his mother sick most of the time, Shuji was always in
the company of their family’s maids and workers who
were responsible for bringing him up.

At his pre-adolescent years, Shuji already showed a
lot of potential with his writing. He participated in
literary magazines, wrote self-published poems, and
even wrote on the newspaper at Hirosaki University.
Interesting enough, Shuji was not majoring on
anything related to literary, instead, he was majoring in
theatre - gidayu in particular. Gidayu is a form of
puppet theatre which stems from the Edo period. This
unconventional choice for a college degree comes
from his fascination with Edo culture, and anything
related to ancient Japan.
In 1929, while still studying at the University, Shuji
attempted to commit suicide for the very first time. He
was unsuccessful during this time, but it would only
lead to a series of more suicide attempts. Luckily, he
was able to finally graduate from the University in
1930, and he immediately pursued further studies at
the Tokyo Imperial University during the same year.

At the Tokyo Imperial University, Shuji decided to
pursue a degree in French Literature which was
aligned with his literary interests. However, he was
then again plagued with serious mental health
problems which caused him to make terrible
decisions at the time, eventually causing him to stop
studying.

One of the bad decisions he made during his time in
Tokyo Imperial University is to run off with a geisha

whom he has developed a relationship with - Hatsuyo
Oyama. Coming from an aristocratic family, they did
not approve of Shuji and the geisha’s relationship, to a
point where they collectively decided to disown him
from the family. Unfortunately, Shuji eventually moved
past his relationship with Hatsuyo.

Around two weeks after his family decided to expel
him, Shuji attempted to commit suicide for the second
time. This time, he was accompanied by another girl,
who was not Hatsuyo. Instead, it was Shimeko Tanabe
- a hostess whom he met in a bar. Together, the pair
attempted to drown off a beach. Shuji ended up
surviving yet again another attempt through the
assistance of a nearby fishing boat, but Shimeko was
not as fortunate.

After having a daughter out of wedlock, Osamu’s life
began spiraling into turmoil once again. His mental
health declined, causing him to become an alcoholic.
Having been diagnosed with tuberculosis before the
war, his health was not improving either. In the end, he
ended up abandoning his second wife as well as his
mistress. His next relationship would end up to be his
last.

The last lady in Osamu Dazai’s life is Tome Yamazaki,
who worked as a beautician in a salon. The two
developed a relationship and started living together.
During their time together, Osamu wrote his most
popular novel of all-time - Ningen Shikkaku or No
Longer Human. He was able to successfully finish the
novel before successfully committing suicide one last
time with Tomie. The two drowned themselves in a
nearby river from their home.

Christianity in View of Osamu Dazai’s
The Setting Sun

The overarching theme of the book is this: when life
circumstances become terrible, destruction—of
traditions, others, or one’s self—is a natural reaction.
When things get bad enough, when simply living
day-to-day is a struggle, leading a good and noble life
is not only difficult—it’s unreasonable. Pursuing a
hedonistic life, putting one’s self first when it comes
down to the wire, may be the only way for us to
survive.

Dazai takes a critical approach to Christianity in The
Setting Sun by using Catholic imagery and inverting it
with Kazuko’s misplaced Scriptural references. Our
narrator, aching in her desire for emotional and
physical intimacy, fastens on to the phrase “wise as
serpents and harmless as a doves” (Matthew 10:16)
but applies it in her pursuit of a lover (ch. 4). She
compares herself to the Virgin Mary (ch. 8),
substituting personal pride and happiness for
righteousness, in an effort at self-validation regardless

of the cost or consequences. The author seems to
suggest that biblical morality is outdated, stifling to
the human soul, and is only practical when life is
going well.Dazai is accurate in his assessment that it is
not natural—perhaps not even, on the surface,
rational—to stay true to principles when your world is
falling to pieces. After all, if you’re being torn apart,
externally or internally, your natural inclination is to
withdraw, or to fight back. Hurt, or be hurt. As this
novel illustrates, the World Wars proved, very awfully,
that tradition alone doesn’t save us from hell. Those of
us living in the West may view the Allies’ victory
through rose-colored glasses sometimes, but the
truth is, the wars were a tragedy no matter who won.
Between 100,000 and 200,000 people died in the
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki alone–some
instantly, some in slow and terrible deaths. Most of
them were civilians.

I’m reminded that even if we lived in “perfectly”
organized societies with common traditions, we’d still
be a mess, just like the nations who slaughtered each
other en masse for over three decades. Conflict and
greed are parts of the human condition.

Christianity as a “rule book” could be viewed in the
same cynical light, as it seems Dazai did. It’s
inarguable there are many unkind, immoral, or
outright cruel people who call themselves Christians,
and this has been the case all throughout history.
These people didn’t even live by the principles they
espoused. God will judge them just as He will judge
us all.

There are also many different world philosophies. You
could just as soon choose another. Though the
narrator Kazuko appears to practice Christianity, it is in
reality a different philosophy that she follows, and to a
certain extent, it works for her. She still demonstrates
selfless love for her mother. Let down, however, by the
rest of the world, Kazuko turns upon others (such as
her lover’s wife) by putting her own desires first and
acting against her altruistic better half.

It was Kazuko’s character arc which led me to reaffirm
that Christianity, which claims to be something
special, isn’t and cannot be just a philosophy or
lifestyle.

References

https://classicsconsidered.com/2020/11/
07/when-principles-arent-enough-christia
nity-in-view-of-osamu-dazais-the-setting-
sun/

http://yabai.com/p/3137

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Daz
ai