更新日：2010年7月5日

Mushanokoji Saneatsu

Mushanokoji Saneatsu, novelist, dramatist, poet, and painter, was born in Tokyo in 1885. His pen names included Musha and Futo-o.

He was brought up by his mother, his father having died when he was only two years old. While attending the higher level of Gakushuin (The Peers' School), he came under the influence of his uncle, Kadenokoji Sukekoto, who introduced him to the works of Tolstoy, it separates soon.

In 1905, Mushanokoji founded the coterie magazine, Shirakaba, with Arishima Takeo, Shiga Naoya and Kinoshita Rigen and became known as an aggressive theorist. His work during this period included the novels, Omedetaki hito (Good-natured Person) and Seken shirazu (Naive), and a critique, Seicho (Growth).

He moved to Kyushu in 1918 and founded a farming community called Atarashiki Mura (New Village), deep in the mountains of Miyazaki Prefecture. During his time in the utopian commune, he wrote prolifically and produced some of his most famous works: the novels Yujo (Friendship) and Kofuku mono (Happy person), and the autobiographical Aru otoko (A Certain Man). He left the community after eight years, although he remained a supporter of its ideals.

Publication of Shirakaba was suspended in 1923 after the Kanto Earthquake, but Mushanokoji went on to bring out the magazine, Fuji, with the novelist and playwright, Nagayo Yoshiro, as well as a number of other journals, such as Dai Chowa, Dokuritsujin and Juko.

With the arrival of the Showa period (from 1925), he turned his attention to writing novels about historical figures, such as Ninomiya Sontoku, the 19th century farm technologist and agricultural philosopher, and Inoue Saikaku, the 17th century poet and writer of popular fiction. He was also active as a painter and art gallery owner.

Influenced by his older brother, who was the Japanese Ambassador to Germany, he travelled throughout Europe in 1936. This lead to the publication of critical works, such as Kohan no gasho (Lakeside Gallery Owner) and Bijutsuronshu (Anthology of Art Theory). After World War II, he brought out Shinri sensei (Teacher of Truth), Watakushi no kaigara (My Seashell) and Hitori no otoko (A Man), and remained active as a writer, painter and gallery owner well into his old age. He died in 1976 at the age of 90.

Between 1888 and 1894, Mushanokoji Saneatsu spent the summers at Myokoji Temple in Zaimokuza.