Kuriyagawa Hakuson

Infobox Writer
name = Kuriyagawa Hakuson


caption = Kuriyagawa Hakuson
birthdate = birth date|1880|11|19|df=y
birthplace = Kyoto Japan
deathdate = death date and age|1923|9|2|1880|11|19|df=y
deathplace = Kamakura, Kanagawa Japan
occupation = Writer
genre = literary criticism
movement =
notableworks =
influences =
influenced =

nihongo|Kuriyagawa Hakuson|廚川 白村 (19 November 1880 - 2 September 1923) was the pen-name of a Japanese literary critic, active in Taishō period Japan. His real name was Kuriyagawa Tatsuo.

Early life

Kuriyagawa Hakuson was born in Kyoto. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University, where he had studied under Koizumi Yakumo and Natsume Sōseki, and later became a professor at Kumamoto University and Kyoto Imperial University. He lectured on 19th century Western literature, and criticized traditional Japanese writing on naturalism and romanticism. His writings include: "Kindai bungaku jukko" ("Ten Aspects of Modern Literature", 1912), "Zoge no to o dete" ("Leave the Ivory Tower!", 1920) and "Kindai no ren-aikan" ("Modern Views on Love", 1922).

In "Kindai no ren-aikan" Hakuson regarded "love marriage" ("renai kekkon") to be a practice indicating an advanced nation and society, as opposed to the practice of arranged marriage, which was more commonly practiced in Japan at the time.

He was killed by a tsunami, which swept away his cottage near the beach in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.

ee also

* Japanese literature
* List of Japanese authors

References

* McDougall, Bonnie S. "The Introduction of Western Literary Theories into Modern China, 1919-1925" Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1972), pp. 656-657

External links

* [http://www.su-ki-da.com/aozora/search?query=cache%3Awww.aozora.gr.jp%2Findex_pages%2Fperson540.html ex-texts of works] at Aozora Bunko