Morita Tama

Morita Tama ( Japanese 森田 た ま ; born December 19, 1894 in Sapporo , Hokkaidō as Muraoka Tama ( 村 岡 た ま ); † October 31, 1970 in Tokyo ) was an essayist whose books were popular in Japan at the time of World War II . From 1962 she was a member of the Sangiin .

Youth and education

Morita Tama was born as the second daughter of Muraoka Jiemon and his wife Yoshino. In 1907 she enrolled at the Sapporo Women's High School, but was forced to leave it again in 1909 due to illness. In 1911 she published a short article in the literary journal Shōjo Sekai ( 少女 世界 ), which was well received. In the same year she married and moved to Tokyo with her husband .

Literary career

In 1913 she became a student of the famous writer Morita Sōhei ( 森田 草 平 ). With his support her article Katase made ( 片 瀬 ま で , "An Katase") appeared in September 1913 in the literary journal Shinseiki ( 新 世紀 ). However, her relationship with Morita Sōhei deteriorated, and her private life was further complicated by the battered relationship with her husband. In 1914, she attempted suicide at the Nanko-in Chigasaki temple .

In 1916 she met the student Morita Shichirō ( 森田 七郎 ) who was enrolled at Keiō University . She divorced her husband, married Morita Shichirō, and decided to give up writing. In 1923, after the Great Kanto earthquake , she moved to Osaka with her husband and daughter . In 1925 they returned to Tokyo for a short time and opened a bookstore, which went bankrupt, after which they went back to Osaka.

In 1932, her former mentor Morita Sōhei visited Osaka, and she wrote Kimono Kōshoku ( 着 物 ・ 好色 ) in one day. The story appeared in Chūō Kōron ( 中央 公論 ) and marked her return to the world of literature.

In 1933 she moved back to Tokyo, where she lived first in Shibuya and then in Ushigome . In 1939 she made a trip financed by Chūō Kōron to Shanghai , Nanjing and Hankou in the Japanese-occupied China to interview troops of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Navy . In 1941 she returned to Hokkaidō and accepted a teaching position at Sapporo University . In March 1943 she was asked by the Imperial Japanese Navy to visit the Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia , but she kept the trip short and returned to Japan in November. She confided in her naval adviser her strong desire for the war to end quickly, as well as concern for her son, who had just received his draft notice.

In 1944 she moved to Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture , where their house burned down in December 1946 in a strong storm. She found another house and continued to live in Kamakura until she moved to Aoyama , Tokyo in 1952 . In 1954 she was selected as the Japanese delegate for the International PEN Meeting in Amsterdam .

After her return, she began to be politically active and joined the Liberal Democratic Party . From 1962 she was a member of the Sangiin of the Japanese Parliament , where she focused on educational issues , particularly the Japanese language . When she retired in 1968, she was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure (3rd grade) and moved to a new house in Meguro in 1969 .

Morita Tama died at the age of 76 in Keio Hospital in Tokyo.

Web links

• Website about Morita Tama in English and Japanese

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Morita is the family name, Tama the first name.