Tetsuo Miura

Tetsuo Miura ( Japanese 三浦 哲 郎 , Miura Tetsuo ; born March 16, 1931 in Hachinohe , Aomori Prefecture , Japan , † August 29, 2010 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese writer .

Life

Miura was the youngest of six children. His family ran a kimono shop in downtown Hachinohe under the name Marusan ( 丸 三 ) . On Miura's sixth birthday, his second oldest sister committed suicide by jumping off a ferry into the Tsugaru Strait after failing a high school entrance exam. The following year, his eldest brother killed himself with sleeping pills. For the literary processing of these events in Travelers through the White Nights , Miura received the 1984 Osaragi Jirō Prize . After attending school in Hachinohe, he began studying economics at Waseda University in 1949 . In the following year, his second oldest brother, who had financed his studies, also disappeared without a trace. Miura then had to give up studying. He worked as a physical education and English teacher at the local middle school . Miura began with his first attempts at writing.

In 1953 the family moved to the neighboring town of Ichinohe and Miura began studying again at Waseda University, this time in Romance studies. He founded the literary magazine "Das Seelenlose " ( 非 情 , Hijō ) with fellow students . His work and his publications in this magazine brought him the first literary prize , the Shinchō Dōjinzasshi Shō ( 新潮 同人 雑 誌 賞 ) of the Shinchōsha publishing house, for his story Jugosai no Shui while still a student . The novelist and essayist Ibuse Masuji recognized his talent and encouraged him. In 1956, a year before graduation, he married Tokuko Ebisawa, who gave birth to three daughters.

Years of bitter poverty followed until he found a job in a PR agency in 1960 and in the same year published the novel "The Secret River" (Shinobugawa) in the literary magazine Shinchō . A year later, his novel was awarded the prestigious Akutagawa Prize . In 1972 his award-winning novel Shinobugawa was made into a film by director Kei Kumai with Komaki Kurihara and Gō Katō in the leading roles. After this breakthrough, Miura published relentlessly for the years to come. For his 1971 children's book Yuta to Fushigina Nakamatachi , he was also recognized by literary critics. For his work Kenjū to jūgo no tampen ( 拳 銃 と 十五 の 短篇 ) he received the 1976 Noma Literature Prize . In 1977, "Yuta and His Wondrous Companions" ( Yuta to Fushigi na Nakamatachi ) was premiered as a musical by the Shiki Theater Company ( 劇 団 四季 ) . In 1982 his unusual historical novel “Hymne to those youngsters” was published. In it he describes a historical event that took place in the 16th century. At the instigation of Alessandro Valignano ( Societas Jesu ) a Christian delegation of four young men was sent to Rome. They traveled for two years from 1582 to 1584 via Macau , Málaga , the island of St. Helena , Lisbon to Rome, where they were met by Pope Gregory XIII. were received. The delegation returned to Japan in 1590 with a Gutenberg printing press .

In addition to his writing activities, he was himself a member of the selection committee for the Akutagawa Prize between 1984 and 2003 and, since 1988, a member of the Japanese Academy of the Arts . In 2001, Miura suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right hand. Nevertheless, he resolutely continued to publish his works and published a collection of his essays under the title Ofukuro no Yomawari in June 2010 . In addition to his longer stories, he also wrote numerous short stories such as Jinenjo and Minomushi , both of which were awarded the Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize in 1990 and 1995 . Miura is an honorary citizen of his hometown Hachinohe, which has erected a memorial stone at the town hall.

In August 2011, Miura died of heart failure at 4:33 a.m. in Tokyo .

Works (selection)

The red costume

The short novel ( Tampen Shōsetsu ), translated by Hanae Komachi in 2011 and provided with a cover picture by the artist Kumi Machida , tells an unpretentious episode from the lives of the siblings Ryosaku and Hide Ichinomori. Ryosaku, three years his senior, left his home village in the mountains to work as a ship carpenter in the city of Nahori. His 18-year-old sister Hide stays behind with her mother in the mountain village and takes care of her mother in the meantime. The story begins with Hide's visit to her brother, who has invited her to the city so that she can escape the narrow mountain village for once. It turns out that Hide, who appears shy but appears self-confident, regards it as a duty to look after the mother's care - a duty that she has not imposed on herself, but to which she feels bound. While the young people, like their brother Ryosaku, move from the village to the surrounding cities, find work and build their own lives, she is the one “who, in her prettiest time in a village, is chained as if in shackles Mother has to look after and degenerate in this village. ”Ryosaku, who tries to make his sister a pleasant visit, redeems his promise to give her something by buying her a red dress. Their visit is the same and they both spend a few days together. Ten days after their departure, Yogo surprisingly comes to Ryosaku from his sister's neighboring village and tells him that Hide hanged himself in her red dress the day before. He brings the letter Ryosaku wrote her with his sister's last words:

I went out in a red mini skirt
My dear brother bought it for me.
Nobody is there
Nobody looks at me
I went to the next village
Nobody is there [...]
Nowhere is anyone looking at me.

Formally, the short novel is divided into eight rather low-action sections that are told from a personal perspective . The action proceeds uniformly without development or climax ; up to the last section nothing points to the suicide hides for the reader. It is typical of the Japanese narrative style that the contrast in the way of life of the two siblings is suggested by the circumstances. Although in a conversation between the two siblings about marriage, the difference between the living conditions becomes the topic, the real problem remains unspoken , like a blank space. In addition to the autobiographical motif of suicide, the short novel also offers approaches for a social criticism that can encompass both the relationship between the sexes as well as isolation and its fatality.

Other works

• 1960 The Secret River ( 忍 ぶ 川 , Shinobugawa )
• 1975/76 Kenjū ( 拳 銃 )
  • The gun. Translated by Buki Kim. In: Eiko Saito: Explorations. 12 storytellers from Japan, Berlin 1992 ISBN 3-353-00880-2
• 1978 Seppun ( 接吻 )
  • The kiss. Translated by Peter Ackermann. In: Eduard Klopfenstein: Moonlight drops. Japanese narratives 1940–1990. Zurich 1993 ISBN 3-85936-061-2
• 1982 Hymn to those youths ( 少年 讃 歌 , Shōnen sanka )
• 1984 Travelers through the White Nights ( 白夜 を 旅 す る 人 々 , Hakuya o tabisuru hitobito )
  • Travelers through the white night. Translated by Sabine Mangold and Yukari Hayasaki. In: Jürgen Berndt and Hiroomi Fukuzawa: Snapshots of Modern Japanese Literature, Berlin 1990 ISBN 3-927463-10-8
• Akai ishō ( 赤 い 衣装 )
  • The red costume . Translated by Hanae Komachi, Hanover, Wehrhahn Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-86525-180-0
• 2010 My mother's night watch ( お ふ く ろ の 夜 回 り , Ofukuro no Yomawari )

Web links

• 三浦 哲 郎 (Miura Tetsuo) - memorial stone for Miura at the Hachinohe City Hall

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 三浦 哲 郎 の 生涯 1 (Miura Tetsuo's CV - Part I). (No longer available online.) In: 三浦 哲 郎 の 生涯 ／ 情報 項目 . 青森 県 近代 文学 館 (The Museum of Modern Aomori Literature), formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 16, 2012 (Japanese, 1992-2002).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Hanae Komachi: The Life of Tetsuo Miuras . In: The red costume . 1st edition. Hannover 2011, ISBN 978-3-86525-180-0 , pp. 45-57 .
3. ↑ 三浦 哲 郎 の 生涯 2 (Miura Tetsuo's CV - Part II). (No longer available online.) In: 三浦 哲 郎 の 生涯 ／ 情報 項目 . 青森 県 近代 文学 館 (The Museum of Modern Aomori Literature), formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 16, 2012 (Japanese, 1992-2002).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
4. ↑ 三浦 哲 郎 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Kodansha, 2009, accessed February 15, 2012 (Japanese). 
5. ↑ 三浦 哲 郎 『少年 讃 歌』 . Tkpilgrim's blog, May 5, 2010, accessed February 16, 2012 (Japanese). 
6. ↑ Profile on the Shinchōcha publisher's website (Japanese)
7. ↑ 三浦 哲 郎
8. ↑ 三浦 哲 郎 氏 死去 作家 、 日本 芸 術 院 会員 (Miura Tetsuo, writer and member of the Japanese Academy of Arts, died) - 47 News (Japanese)
9. ↑ The Red Costume, p. 28
10. ↑ The red costume, p. 40
11. ↑ Announcement