Tsutomu Minakami’s Local World

Tsutomu Minakami’s local novels, which are set in his hometown and full of strong local flavor and local color, finally established him as an important figure in the Japanese literary world. This paper attempts to reflect on the war which took place in the local world in Tsutomu Minakami’s literature and show people’s living conditions of Japanese local world in War era. In this paper, Tsutomu Minakami is compared with other writers and the writing features in his war theme novels are analyzed. Through portraying the female in the local world, in showing the status and the fate of the women, the paper demonstrates the social change. Through describing the folk landscape of the local world, this paper also elaborates on Tsutomu Minakami’s strong attachment and anxiety about the passing away of traditional cultures. From the above three aspects, this paper tries to show Tsutomu Minakami’s writing conception---for the people and for the life---and his rational thinking to the era and to the life. Tsutomu Minakami’s writing features and shortcomings are also analyzed in this paper.