The Shade of Blossoms (Volume 22)

Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies #22

by Shōhei Ōoka, Dennis C. Washburn

Ōoka Shōhei (1909–88) was a distinguished member of the Japanese literary establishment for more than four decades following the end of the Pacific War. While the war was the defining experience for Ōoka, his work exhibits enormous range and depth. The Shade of Blossoms , for which he was honored in 1961 with both the Mainichi and the Shincho literary prizes, marks an especially important stage in his development as an artist. In his postscript Ōoka describes this story as a novel of manners, and certainly the setting of the novel, the demimonde of the Ginza bar scene in the 1950s, and its subject, the aging bar hostess Yōko, seem far removed from the universe of battle. Nonetheless, The Shade of Blossoms not only shares key elements of style but also extends in important ways the moral concerns of his earlier works.

The Shade of Blossoms provides a disturbing view of lives at the margins of Japanese society. Ōoka’s is a powerfully ethical literature that describes the inner search for meaning and identity in a world where received values have been disrupted by war or by social upheavals. His moral imagination is uncompromising and disturbing, and his emotional intelligence is matched by few postwar writers.

Genres: Japan, Japanese Literature, Fiction

138 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 1997

About the author

Shōhei Ōoka (Ōoka Shōhei / 大岡 昇平) was a Japanese novelist, literary critic, and translator of French literature active in Shōwa period Japan. He graduated from Kyoto University in 1932 and majored in French literature, publishing a series of essays on Stendhal and translating some of the French writer's novels. Called to arms in 1944 he was sent to the Philippines where he was taken prisoner by the Americans. During that time he set out to write a series of fiction and nonfiction works focusing on the condition of captivity. Indeed, Ōoka belongs to the group of postwar writers whose World War II experiences at home and abroad figure prominently in their works. Over his lifetime, he contributed short stories and critical essays to almost every literary magazine in Japan. His most important texts are: Ikite Iru Horyo ("Prisoners Alive"), 1949, Tsuma ("Wife"), 1950, Nobi ("Soldier Tamura's War"), 1950. The latter was awarded the Yokomitsu Prize, Japan's most important literary attestation, and the Yomiuri Prize. He resided extensively in Europe and the United States and taught at Japan's Meiji University.

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un excellent roman qui gagne à être lu. C’était un auteur que je ne connaissais pas, et je suis bien content de l’avoir découvert avec cette histoire qui est racontée avec brio et génialement traduite.
Article : https://comaujapon.wordpress.com/2018...

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The translator of this novel said one of his reasons for choosing to translate it was to show a different side of Ooka, whose preceding English translations were the autobiographical 'Taken Captive' and the harrowing 'Fires On The Plain,' both war novels. And indeed, 'Shade' is different in nearly every aspect. Examining the life of the ageing Yoko, a Ginza bar hostess and mistress, in some ways it can be compared to the Naruse film WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS. But Yoko is more devastating and licentious character than Takamine's Keiko, and Ooka's plot is heavier and much darker, qualities for which Naruse was never known. And compared to the other Ooka novels mentioned above, gone are extensive, photographic observations, as well as his usual, profound eloquence. The prose is much more sparse and laden with dialogue. It's a brief little novel, but still emotionally effective in the end; yet I couldn't help but feel something was missing, which could be the fault of the translator. Nevertheless, I loved it, and Ooka was a tremendous writer who deserves to be translated more (I believe only 4 of his many works are in English).

[モーリー · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there’s something Ooka Shohei does well, it’s depicting what people are doing in a daily life kind of way in their various situations. This novel is no Nobi, but it’s not bad either. I just wasn’t nearly as interested in the particulars of Yōko’s situation, which I found repetitive and boring after a while. Then again, that is probably just what her life would be like.

She drifts among the other players in her life as though they are the main characters, but in the end it’s about her. Maybe it’s that contradiction that made me not as interested in the book. I can’t put my finger on it, but that’s also not so uncommon for early and mid 20th century Japanese novellas that get translated into English: I am left feeling strangely empty and wanting more but not in a good way.

But in the afterward by Ooka, he mentions that it got reviewed as about fūzoku when that’s really the backdrop. I see his point, that others were missing the crux of the story, but I can also see how you’d easily take that to be the whole of it. So, I’m torn between saying it was good and just okay.

[M.R. Dowsing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a one-off novel, so you can ignore the "Volume 22: Michigan Monograph Series" bit. The author is best-known for his shocking WW2 novel Fires on the Plain, which has twice been filmed in Japan, but this is an entirely different kettle of fish, being about an ageing Ginza bar hostess seeing little future for herself. It's based on a real woman with whom Ooka had an eight-year affair, although there's no obvious Ooka alter ego in the story. The book was a prize-winner in Japan and was filmed in 1961 - I read it as an aid to reviewing the film (anyone interested can find my review at https://martindowsing.blogspot.com/20... ). This edition is a decent translation by Dennis Washburn, who also contributes an introduction, and it also includes a 1972 afterword by the author. It's an unsentimental but genuinely moving work championed by Yukio Mishima. It's also actually still in print at the time of writing (I ordered a copy from Blackwell's at a reasonable price and it arrived shrink-wrapped).

[Indrany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always seem to read things that match my mood, and books certainly always influence it. This can be a bad thing, even if the book is quite good. This was slow going at times, but beautiful and tragic nonetheless.