shimazaki tŌson when the cherries ripen , its readers
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SHIMAZAKI TŌSON’S WHEN THE CHERRIES RIPEN, ITS READERS,
AND THE CONTRIBUTION MAGAZINES OF THE TAISHŌ ERA
Irina Holca1
Senior Lecturer, Kyoto University
Abstract: This paper analyzes Shimazaki Tōson’s autobiographical novel When the Cherries
Ripen in connection with its publication medium, ‘Bunshō Kurabu’, one of the most widely read
contribution magazines of the Taishō period. Such magazines had become popular around the
turn of the century; by encouraging readers to send in their contributions to be judged by
famous writers (and published as a prize, if they were deemed worthy), they were, on the
surface, signaling towards the possibility of any reader to become a writer, while in reality
shaping a new type of readership, ready to identify the modern writer with a role-model, idol-
like existence. Thus, the elevated status of the Taishō writer often turned him into a “man of
character” and moralist, who used the space provided by magazines to educate his future
readers, and shape their perceptions about his own works/ public persona. My paper discusses
Tōson’s novel as a representative of this tendency, interpreting it not only as a mere reflection
of the author’s life, but also as part of the broader historical and cultural context, which had
made autobiographical novels and the surrounding media discourse an important locus for the
virtual encounter of writers and readers.
Keywords: readership, media, Shimazaki Tōson, contribution magazines, When the Cherries Ripen
1 Irina Holca graduated from the Oriental Studies Department of the University of Bucharest, and went on to study modern Japanese literature and education for her master’s degree at Nara University of Education. After obtaining her PhD in modern Japanese literature from Osaka University’s Graduate School of Letters, she taught English, comparative culture, world literature and Japanese literature and history at the same university. She is now a senior lecturer at Kyoto University’s Institute for Research in Humanities, where she focuses on Japanese autobiographical writing and its critical reception in Japan and the West, as well as issues related to kokugo (national language) education, and translation, media and postcolonial studies.
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