更新日：2010年7月5日

Satomi Ton

Novelist Satomi Ton was born in Yokohama in 1888. His real name is Yamanouchi Hideo. Shortly after his birth, he was adopted by his mother’s family, Yamanouchi, but was brought up by his own parents. His older brothers are the writers Arishima Takeo and Arishima Ikuma. While at the Gakushuin High School, he and other literary-minded students circulated their pieces in a coterie magazine. He left Tokyo University before graduation and in 1910 became one of the founding members of the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary group with his brothers and other writers including Mushanokoji Saneatsu and Shiga Naoya, and this became a forum for their literary creations. Satomi became a pupil of Izumi Kyoka after coming to the attention of the older novelist.

Satomi wrote prolifically throughout his lifetime. Among his best-known works are "Zen Shin Aku Shin" (Good Heart Evil Heart), "Tajo Busshin" (The Compassion of the Buddha), "Anjo Ke no Kyodai" (The Anjo Brothers), and "Gokuraku Tombo" (A Carefree Fellow). His works reveal all the pleasure-loving characteristics of the Shirakaba school with the added touch of sensitive psychological observations and realistic dialogue. He died in 1983 at the age of 94.

Satomi’s connections with Kamakura began in childhood, when he would spend time at his father’s resort home near the beach at Yuigahama. He actually chose to live in Kamakura from 1924 in various locations, and finally settling down in Ogigayatsu in 1953. A stone tablet in his memory stands by the gate of the place where his house previously stood.