Cross-border Unbounded Imagination And Writing

Western literature had a great effect on Japanese literature during the Meiji period and made Japanese literature modernized earlier than Chinese literature. Western literature had been used as a model for Japanese literature and Japanese writers were sill learning from it, even though Japanese writers did not have the same experiences as Westerners had. Almost everyone who was related to art and literature seemed to be following the trend for learning from the West. Meanwhile there were some writers, such as Natsume Sōseki, Mori Ogai, Jun'ichirōTanizaki and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa had an eye on China. Many of authors came to China for one reason or another and left lots of works, whhich are either settings on China or describing China. Jun'ichirōTanizaki and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa could be the major example of them. This thesis will see about the outlook on China of Jun'ichirōTanizaki and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa gotten through their trip to China and what they've written about China.When it comes to Jun'ichirōTanizaki, we all know that he is a master of aesthetics in Japan, and is referred to as'Tanizaki the Great'. The history of his writings is divided into two periods. One, the early period, in which his works present a rather shocking world of sexuality and destructively erotic obsessions is'the West'time ; the other, late period, whose works have less sensational, subtly portray the dynamics of family life in the context of the traditional Japanese society, is'the Japanese'time after settling down in Kansai area. But I found that there's another short time between the two periods, which is referred to as'his taste for China', when I finished reading all his works. It's short but important, and can not be neglected, I think. He came to China twice in 1918 and 1926. And just in the two times he wrote tens of travelogues, prose and novels. His'taste for China'had become popular and had a great effect on contemporaries, like Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Satou Haruo and so on. The more deeply I thought about his works, the more I found that for Tanizaki, his'Taste for China'works are special and go with him for all his lifetime. In another words,'Taste for China'is his land of his heart. Japanese literature has been influenced by Western literature since Meiji period. However, the fact is that the Ancient Chinese Culture is a matrix or a homeland of Japanese Culture. The lifetime creation of Tanizaki is divided into following four periods:1. The formative period of the land of his heart in his boyhood2. The period when his long-term desire of making a trip to China was realized3. The period when his heart was lost during his second trip to China4. The period when the reconstruction of the land of his heart after moving to Kansai areaTanizaki's land of his heart was built up in his childhood. At that time he always went to the only Chinese restaurant in Tokyo, Kairaku-en. There he felt Chinese Culture in his five senses. The smell and taste experience became the very beginning of'Taste for China'. The other touch of China was Chinese poem and Chinese scriptures. He tried to write Chinese poem once and put it out on the journal of the alumnae association when he was learning at Tyokyo No. 1 Middle School. Besides Chinese poem, Tanizaki was also interested in ancient Chinese books and records. When he was learning at Sakamoto primary school, he was influenced by his teacher whose name was Seikichi Inaba and began to read those books that no one could understand at the early age of his. Tanizaki has learnt Chinese classics since the age of around thirteen at the Shukoujuku at Kameshima town. China was a special existence for Tanizaki. Chinese culture had taken root in his heart deeply. As China culture is not only the matrix of Japanese, but it is a land of his heart for Tanizaki as well. His soul was belonging to there. He had started to write some articles about China before he came to China. At the same time, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa also did the same things. Though he did not have the same experience as Tanizaki, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was familiar with ancient Chinese books and records in his childhood and was devoting himself to them. Like Tanizaki, he started writing articles about China before he came to China, and regarded China as his land of his heart. These articles partly drew from its materials from ancient Chinese books and records or what had happened at the time of his stay in China. The former one got set high record on, too.October, 1918 witnessed that Tanizaki finally set his foot on the land of his heart, China, where he was dying for coming to. He had been there for two months during his stay. He saw Chinese Food, which he had been familiar with when he was young, Chinese architecture, Chinese poem and ancient Chinese books and records with his own eyes. China, the country, is the matrix of Japanese culture.But what impression did the country make on him? In his article we can find that it is a place with delicious foods, a drama theater, poetic country with picturesque scenery. After ending this trip, Tanizaki returned to his hometown and wrote numerous articles about this trip. Then he published them. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa also set his foot on China in 1921. He paid a visit to the almost same places where Tanizaki had been, however, he not only got the good impression, but the bad side as well. When he went back to Japan, he wrote a book named Journey To China which was based on what he saw and heard in China, and then wrote another novel called Konan no ougi was far different from what he had written before. The journey to China made Tanizaki's dream come true. However, it smashed Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's dream into pieces.Tanizaki lost his land of his heart at the very second time to China in January 1926. He stayed at Shanghai all long and picked up with Guo Moruo, Xie Liuyi, Ouyang Yuqian and Tian Han, etc, who were activating in art and literature field. This time he did not intend to go sightseeing but communicate with Chinese. The second coming to China was a turning point of Tanizaki's writing. According to Guo Moruo and Tian Han's talking, Tanizaki learned the current situation in which the country was involved in global imperialism war and lost the economic authority. Up till then, the image of China as a picturesque, wonderful world had gone away from Tanizaki's mind. He recognized that China was not a kingdom in a fairy tale with antiquity any more. She existed in reality, being full of insults made by big powers, social unrest. Her innocent people were suffering from the war. From then on he reviewed and understood real China again. After going back to Japan, Tanizaki wrote two articles The record of my experiences in Shanghai, The record of my association with peoples in Shanghai which was based on what he had experienced in China. The same year, he published them. After that, he lost the'Taste for China', in the meantime he lost all interest in writing about China. As he found out that current China was not the one she used to be. In short he lost his land of his heart he loved. However, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa had only one visit to China. Those days he paid visits to some young and old intellectuals and talked over some political issues he'd never like to. So he deepened his understanding China. Facing with the same country at the same time, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa didn't think he lost his stage to create continuously. On the contrary he rethought and criticized the Japanese invasion into China mainland, finally wrote down the articles The General and Momotaro.The time when Tanizaki was reconstructing his land of his heart was called'the Japanese'time. Tanizaki was born in Nihonbashi, Tokyo in 1886. He moved to Kansai after the Great Kanto earthquake. Most of Japanese scholars believed that the moving to Kansai area for Tanizaki was a turning point so that he could rediscover what the traditional culture was in Japan. We can call it'classical returning'or'returning to Japan'. During he stayed at Kansai area, he wrote a great many of articles. It's obvious that Tanizaki literature returned to Japan. However, I couldn't agree that his'Taste for China'had gone to an end. In my opinion, I'd rather say that he had reconstructed the land of his heart, than say that he had returned from his'Taste for China'. That is to say,'returning to Japan'helped him to reconstruct his land of his heart in essence. Let's look over the substance of his land of his heart, we could find that his land of his heart is not modern China but ancient China where she had a wonderful ancient culture. He devoted himself to ancient Chinese poems and loved them so much. When his land of his heart in which he could find Chinese food and Chinese poem was destroyed by the reality in modern China, he tried to base his hope on traditional Japanese culture. He thought that Chinese art had disappeared today in China, but it still exists in Japan. That's why he returned to Japan or rather he went back to Japan in order to reconstruct his land of his heart through the scenery which looks like the ancient China. To be more exact, he went back to Han culture circle. What's more, the emotion of'Taste for China'in his life refers to'the sense of life-is-a-journey'in Japanese literature. Actually Japanese author, Jun'ichirou Tanizaki started taking his trip in mind to China when he was young. Tasting Chinese food and reading Chinese poems and books was the first step. He came to China by himself in 1918 and in 1926. The trips had him got the experience he never had. Even he came back to Japan, his'trip to China'did not come to an end. In Kansai area, he was seeking history, tradition and the traces of land of his heart, then reconstructed it. He did not write about China any more, but he still kept in touch with some Chinese authors and kept an eye on modern Chinese literature until they passed away. But Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was quite different from Tanizaki. He ended up his life with some sleeping pills by himself in 1927. That year he was 35 years old. Even though he passed away, he left numerous works behind. Most of his works were translated into Chinese. Among them, one article named Journey to China made some very disputable claims. However Lu Xun could understand it and supported him.The works of Tanizaki's as well as Akutagawa's which were written after they got materials from China or as the result of their trip to China were affected by the times of confusion. But those works include the truth of China at that time to some extent and reflect Japanese views of China. They are on the brilliant page of the literary relationship between China and Japan with the important values as documents and literature. I picked up two good examples of Japanese writers from those who took a trip to China. The present writer has an intention of choosing other writers as the subjects of her study and introducing some authors who traveled through China, their works and their whole views of China in the future...