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39-506: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was born in Irifune , Kyōbashi , Tokyo City (present-day Akashi, Chūō , Tokyo ), the eldest son of businessman Toshizō Niihara and his wife Fuku. His family owned a milk production business. His mother experienced mental illness shortly after his birth , so he was adopted and raised by his maternal uncle, Michiaki Akutagawa, from whom he received the Akutagawa family name. He

78-495: A "police commissioner" or "magistrate" (orig. "kebiishi"), as written in the sections' titles. The functions of the persons addressed in the last three sections are not mentioned. In a Grove first appeared in the January 1922 edition of the monthly Japanese literature magazine Shinchō . Yabu no naka was translated by Takashi Kojima as In a Grove for the 1952 English language edition published by C.E. Tuttle Company. In 1988,

117-457: A Stupid Man"), and Bungeiteki na, amari ni bungeiteki na ("Literary, All Too Literary", 1927). Towards the end of his life, Akutagawa suffered from visual hallucinations and anxiety over the fear that he had inherited his mother's mental disorder. In 1927, he survived a suicide attempt, together with a friend of his wife. He later died of suicide after taking an overdose of Veronal , which had been given to him by Mokichi Saitō on 24 July of

156-506: A Withered Field", 1918), Jigoku hen ("Hell Screen", 1918); Hōkyōnin no shi ("The Death of a Christian", 1918), and Butōkai ("The Ball", 1920). Akutagawa was a strong opponent of naturalism . He published Mikan ("Mandarin Oranges", 1919) and Aki ("Autumn", 1920) which have more modern settings. In 1921, Akutagawa interrupted his writing career to spend four months in China , as a reporter for

195-432: A dagger from her bosom and tried to stab Tajōmaru, but he managed to disarm and then violate her. Claiming that he initially had no intention of killing the man, Tajōmaru reports that after the rape, the woman clung to him, insisting that one of the two men who knew of her shame had to die, and that she would leave with the survivor. Suddenly determining that he wanted her for himself, Tajōmaru untied Takehiro and killed him in

234-434: A gust, he decided that he was going to rape her. He awakened the man's interest by pretending to have found a deserted grave filled with swords and mirrors, which he was willing to sell for a modest price. He first lured the man away, subdued him and tied him to a tree, stuffing his mouth with leaves. He then went back to the woman, making up a story that her husband had fallen ill. When Masago saw her tied-up husband, she pulled

273-417: A police commissioner. The first account is by a woodcutter who has found a man's body in the bamboo groves near the road to Yamashina . The man's chest had been pierced by a sword, and the blood from the wound and on the ground had already dried up. Asked by the commissioner, the woodcutter denies having seen any weapons or a horse. The only objects which caught his attention were a comb and a piece of rope near

312-515: A translation by James O'Brien, titled Within a Grove , was released as part a collection of translated works by Akutagawa and Dazai Osamu , published by Arizona State University's Center for Asian Studies. For the 2007 Penguin Books edition, Jay Rubin translated the story as In a Bamboo Grove . Akutagawa's influences for this story may have come from several different sources: In a Grove has been repeatedly adapted into films, including: The story

351-430: Is attributed to Tajōmaru, and speculates what he might have done to the dead man's wife. The fourth testimony given to the police commissioner is from an old woman. She is the mother of the missing veiled woman, who is named Masago. She identifies the dead man as her daughter's husband, samurai Kanazawa no Takehiro, who was on his way to Wakasa , describing him as a benign person who couldn't have been hated by anyone. She

390-416: Is convinced that her daughter didn't know any other man than Takehiro, and describes her character as strong-willed. Desperate about her daughter's unknown fate, she begs the police to find her. Next, the caught Tajōmaru confesses. He states that he killed the man, but not the still missing woman, not knowing of her whereabouts. Upon first seeing Masago with her husband on the road, her veiled face revealed by

429-487: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles In a Grove In a Grove ( 藪の中 , Yabu no naka ) , also translated as In a Bamboo Grove , is a Japanese short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa first published in 1922. It was ranked as one of the "10 best Asian novels of all time" by The Telegraph in 2014. In a Grove has been adapted several times, most notably by Akira Kurosawa for his award-winning 1950 film Rashōmon . The story centers on

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468-430: Is set in the early missionary period. The portrayal of women in Akutagawa's stories was mainly shaped by the influence of three women who acted as his mother figures. Most significant was his biological mother Fuku, from whom he worried about inheriting her madness. Although Akutagawa was removed from Fuku eight months after his birth, he identified strongly with her and believed that, if at any moment he might go mad, life

507-512: The Osaka Mainichi Shinbun . The trip was stressful and he suffered from various illnesses, from which his health would never recover. Shortly after his return he published Yabu no naka (" In a Grove ", 1922). During the trip, Akutagawa visited numerous cities of southeastern China including Nanjing , Shanghai , Hangzhou and Suzhou . Before his travel, he wrote a short story " The Christ of Nanjing  [ ja ] "; concerning

546-696: The literary award for promising new writers, the Akutagawa Prize , in his honor. In 2020 NHK produced and aired the film A Stranger in Shanghai . It depicts Akutagawa's time as a reporter in the city and stars Ryuhei Matsuda . Irifune Irifune (written: 入船) is a Japanese surname . Notable people with the surname include: Kazuma Irifune ( 入船 和真 , born 1986) , Japanese footballer Satoshi Irifune ( 入船 敏 , born 1975) , Japanese long-distance runner [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with

585-493: The surname Irifune . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Irifune&oldid=1030629207 " Categories : Surnames Japanese-language surnames Hidden categories: Articles containing Japanese-language text Articles with short description Short description

624-482: The Chinese Christian community; according to his own imaginative vision of Nanjing, as influenced by classical Chinese literature. Akutagawa's stories were influenced by his belief that the practice of literature should be universal and could bring together Western and Japanese cultures. The idea can be seen in the way that Akutagawa used existing works from a variety of cultures and time periods and either rewrites

663-622: The Rashomon Gate taken from Akutagawa's Rashōmon . Ukrainian composer Victoria Poleva wrote the ballet Gagaku (1994), based on Akutagawa's Hell Screen . Japanese composer Mayako Kubo wrote an opera entitled Rashomon , based on Akutagawa's story. The German version premiered in Graz, Austria in 1996, and the Japanese version in Tokyo in 2002. The central conceit of the story (i.e. conflicting accounts of

702-453: The University of Tokyo) in 1913, where he studied English literature . While still a student, he proposed marriage to a childhood friend, Yayoi Yoshida, but his adoptive family did not approve the union. In 1916 he became engaged to Fumi Tsukamoto  [ ja ] , whom he married in 1918. They had three children: Hiroshi Akutagawa (1920–1981) was an actor, Takashi Akutagawa (1922–1945)

741-578: The aftermath of Kozukenosuke's death at the hands of Asano Naganomi 's forty-seven loyal rōnin . Rashomon: A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case was first published in Spanish in 2012, with the English version published by Dark Horse Comics in 2017. The story's title has become an idiom in Japan, used to signify a situation where due to different views or statements of people involved, the truth remains hidden. In

780-441: The body. He also comments on the trampled leaves at the site, indicating to him that there had been a violent struggle. The second testimony is given by a traveling Buddhist priest. He says that he saw the man, who was accompanied by a woman on horseback with a veiled face, on the road from Sekiyama to Yamashina around noon the previous day. The man was carrying a sword, a bow and a black quiver with arrows. Upon request, he describes

819-404: The end of her confession, she cries. The final account comes from Takehiro's ghost, as delivered through a medium . The ghost says that after the rape, Tajōmaru persuaded Masago to leave her husband and become his own wife, declaring that everything he did was out of love for her. To Takehiro's disdain, she not only agreed to follow him, but also ordered him to kill Takehiro. Tajōmaru, repelled by

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858-425: The film version), the prime suspect Tajōmaru, the victim's widow, and Kanazawa through the medium. The section ends with Kobayashi unable to determine who and what had killed the samurai, whose widow remarries by becoming Kira Kozukenosuke 's second wife, and Tajōmaru being executed soon after the investigation. The second part of the graphic novel, Seppuku, takes place three years later with Kobayashi now investigating

897-454: The following year in the literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku ("Imperial Literature"), while still a student. The story, based on a twelfth-century tale, was not well received by Akutagawa's friends, who greatly criticized it. Nonetheless, Akutagawa gathered up the courage to visit his idol, Natsume Sōseki , in December 1915 for Sōseki's weekly literary circles. In November, he published the work in

936-448: The horse as a tall, short-maned sorrel . The next person to testify is a "hōmen", an acquitted prisoner working under contract for the police. He has captured an infamous criminal named Tajōmaru. Tajōmaru had been thrown from a horse, a short-maned sorrel, which was grazing near-by. He still carried the bow and the black quiver with arrows belonging to the deceased. The hōmen reminds the commissioner of last year's murder of two women which

975-435: The importance of structure versus lyricism in stories. Akutagawa argued that structure (how the story was told) was more important than the content or plot of the story, whereas Tanizaki argued the opposite. Akutagawa's final works include Kappa (1927), a satire based on the eponymous creature from Japanese folklore , Haguruma ("Spinning Gears" or "Cogwheels", 1927), Aru ahō no isshō ("A Fool's Life" or "The Life of

1014-407: The legend of the forty-seven rōnin into one graphic novel adaptation titled Rashomon: A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case . The first part of the graphic novel, Rashomon, faithfully retells In a Grove , with protagonist Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi investigating the death of the samurai Takejiro Kanazawa by interrogating the witnesses (including the victim's mother-in-law who had been adapted out of

1053-691: The literary magazine Teikoku Mongaku . In early 1916 he published "Hana" ("The Nose", 1916), which received a letter of praise from Sōseki and secured Akutagawa his first taste of fame. It was also at this time that Akutagawa started writing haiku under the haigo ( pen name ) Gaki . Akutagawa followed with a series of short stories set in Heian period , Edo period or early Meiji period Japan. These stories reinterpreted classical works and historical incidents. Examples of these stories include: Gesaku zanmai ("Absorbed in Letters", 1917) and Kareno-shō ("Gleanings from

1092-425: The rape, and her husband, still tied to the tree, looked at her with hate and contempt. Ashamed that she had been raped, she no longer wished to live, but wanted him to die with her. Believing that he agreed on her plan, she plunged her dagger into his chest. She then cut the rope that bound Takehiro and fled from the site. Despite repeated attempts, she found herself lacking the strength to commit suicide as planned. At

1131-485: The same events from different points of view, with none "definitive") has entered into storytelling as an accepted trope. In 1930, Tatsuo Hori , a writer, who saw himself as a disciple of Akutagawa, published his short story " Sei kazoku " (literally "The Holy Family"), which was written under the impression of Akutagawa's death and even paid reference to the dead mentor in the shape of the deceased character Kuki. In 1935, Akutagawa's lifelong friend Kan Kikuchi established

1170-410: The same year. In his will he wrote that he felt a "vague insecurity" ( ぼんやりした不安 , bon'yari shita fuan ) about the future. He was 35 years old. During the course of his short life, Akutagawa wrote 150 short stories. A number of these have been adapted into other media. Akira Kurosawa 's famous 1950 film Rashōmon retells Akutagawa's In a Bamboo Grove , with the title and the frame scenes set in

1209-406: The story with modern sensibilities or creates new stories using ideas from multiple sources. Culture and the formation of a cultural identity is also a major theme in several of his works. In these stories, he explores the formation of cultural identity during periods in history where Japan was most open to outside influences. An example of this is his story "Hōkyōnin no Shi" ("The Martyr", 1918) which

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-401: The subsequent duel. When he turned to Masago, he found that she had fled in the meantime. Tajōmaru took the man's weapons as well as the horse, later getting rid of the sword. He closes his recount with the statement that he is accepting the most severe punishment. The second-to-last account is by a woman at Kiyomizu-dera temple who turns out to be Masago. According to her, Tajōmaru fled after

1287-493: The suggestion, kicked her to the ground and asked Takehiro if he should kill her. While Takehiro still hesitated, Masago fled into the forest. Tajōmaru then freed him and ran away. Takehiro grabbed Masago's fallen dagger and plunged it into his chest. Shortly before he died, he sensed someone creep up to him and pull the dagger from his chest. The story is divided into seven sections, one for each testimony, which are all given in direct speech. The first four are explicitly addressing

1326-435: The violent death of young samurai Kanazawa no Takehiro, whose body has been found in a bamboo forest near Kyoto . The preceding events unfurl in a series of testimonies, first by passers-by, an auxiliary policeman and a relative, then by the three main protagonists – the samurai, his wife Masago, and bandit Tajōmaru – but the truth remains hidden due to the contradictory recounts given. The story opens with testimonies given to

1365-403: Was adapted into an opera titled Rashomon: The Opera (1995–99) by Alejandro Viñao . It also served, together with two other stories by Akutagawa, as the basis for Michael John LaChiusa 's musical See What I Wanna See . In 2012, Spanish author and illustrator Víctor Santos combined In a Grove , Rashomon (the other Ryūnosuke Akutagawa short story which the 1950 film was named after), and

1404-479: Was interested in classical Chinese literature from an early age, as well as in the works of Mori Ōgai and Natsume Sōseki . He entered the First High School in 1910 and developed relationships with classmates such as Kan Kikuchi , Kume Masao , Yūzō Yamamoto , and Tsuchiya Bunmei  [ ja ] , all of whom would later become authors. He began writing after entering Tokyo Imperial University (now

1443-773: Was killed as a student draftee in Burma, and Yasushi Akutagawa (1925–1989) was a composer. Following graduation, Akutagawa taught briefly at the Naval Engineering School in Yokosuka, Kanagawa as an English language instructor, before deciding to devote his efforts to writing fulltime. In 1914, Akutagawa and his former high school friends revived the literary journal Shinshichō ("New Currents of Thought"), where they published translations of William Butler Yeats and Anatole France along with works they had written themselves. Akutagawa published his second short story " Rashōmon "

1482-416: Was marked by deteriorating physical and mental health . Much of his work during this period is distinctly autobiographical , some with text taken directly from his diaries. His works during this period include Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei ("The Early Life of Daidōji Shinsuke", 1925) and Tenkibo ("Death Register", 1926). At this time, Akutagawa had a highly publicized dispute with Jun'ichirō Tanizaki over

1521-466: Was meaningless. His aunt Fuki played the most prominent role in his upbringing, controlling much of Akutagawa's life as well as demanding much of his attention, especially as she grew older. The women who appear in Akutagawa's stories, much like his mother figures, were for the most part written as dominating, aggressive, deceitful, and selfish. Conversely, men were often represented as the victims of such women. The final phase of Akutagawa's literary career

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