更新日：2010年7月5日

Takayama Chogyu

The critic and novelist Takayama Chogyu was born in 1871 in Yamagata Prefecture. His real name was Takayama Rinjiro.

While he was studying philosophy at the Tokyo Imperial University, he won a fiction contest sponsored by the Yomiuri Shimbun (newspaper) for a historical romance, "Takiguchi Nyudo," which marked his entry into the literary world. Still a student, he quickly revealed his talent, founding the journal Teikoku Bungaku (Imperial Literature) and becoming the literary correspondent for the general interest magazine, Taiyo (The Sun). On graduation from university, he took up a teaching post at his alma mater, the Second Higher School, but in less than a year he returned to Tokyo and the Taiyo magazine, where he became senior editor.

In 1900, he was chosen by the Education Ministry to study the arts in Europe but before he could set off, he coughed up blood and had to rest. During this time, he wrote articles such as "Bunmei Hihyoka to shite no Bungakusha" (A Literary Scholar as A Critic of Civilization) in praise of the German philosopher, Nietzsche, and "Biteki Seikatsu o Ronzu" (On An Aesthetic Lifestyle). With the likelihood of making a complete recovery now slight, he decided to give up the idea of studying abroad.

In his last years, Chogyu underwent a dramatic change and turned to the teachings of the 13th century Buddhist leader, Nichiren, and published such critiques as "Nichiren Shonin to wa Ikanaru Hito zo" (What Kind of Person was Nichiren?) and "Nichiren Shonin to Nihonkoku" (Nichiren and Japan). Unfortunately, his chest ailment worsened and he died in 1902 at the age of 31.

Chogyu chose Oiso and Kamakura in the Shonan region to convalesce. He lived in a house in the precincts of Hasedera Temple for the last year of his life. His funeral rites took place at the temple.