Footprints In The Snow

by Kenjirō Tokutomi, 徳冨蘆花, Kenneth Strong (Translator)

Originally published as Omoide no Ki in 1901, Footprints in the Snow is the story of the struggle of a penniless boy, Shintaro Kikuchi, for education and amancipation. Determined to rebuild the family fortunes after his father's bankruptcy, Shintaro runs away from his home in a remote corner of Kyushu in the hope of making his way in the world. After various trials and tribulations he eventually succeeds in reaching a Christian college in Kyoto where he accepts Christianity ethusiastically, but is so repelled by the arrogance of the Western missionary teachers towards a Japanese colleague, that he later walks out in protest. Four years after leaving home, he finally arrives in Tokyo, the city of his dreams. Yet his life is far from peaceful here and he has to struggle to keep himself at university, to pursue his carreer as a writer and journalist, and to marry the girl he loves.

Genres: Japan, Japanese Literature, Fiction

371 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Kenjirō Tokutomi (徳富 健次郎 Tokuyomi Kenjirō, December 8, 1868 in Minamata, Japan - September 18, 1927 in Ikaho) was a Japanese writer and philosopher. He was the younger brother of historian Tokutomi Sohō. He wrote novels under the pseudonym of Roka Tokutomi (徳冨蘆花), many of which were translated into a number of languages including English, French, and German. He corresponded with Leo Tolstoy. A copy of a letter is on display in the small museum located in the Roka Kōshun-en Park, along with belongings.

Reviews

[S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

very very impressive... I"m sorry this is a "Japan scholars" only book , as it is similar to Somerset Maugham's Of Human bondage-- that is to say, they're written in the 1890s or 1910s or whatever but read as completely modern, readable works. Tokutomi-- I never even heard of him, and I was 1/3rd of the way to a japan studies degree at one point-- is completely, completely unknown to a general audience, but it's the loss of the general audience as this is perfectly readable memoirs.

interesting christian japanese perspective, a small minority in Japan but one which has generated literature far beyond their numbers

[Iain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to track this book down after a reference to it in a Modern History of Japan. It was out of print locally so I found a second hand copy.

It’s strength to me was as a fascinating local contemporary view of a time and place I knew little about. Having read a fair amount of 20th century Japanese fiction in translation, this depicts a nation in transition from traditional ways of life to the modernity attendant with the industrial revolution and global trading and cultural exchange. The author and main character is not, I suspect, that typical insofar as he is a Christian with a relatively Panglossian view of the changes of the Meiji era.

While bemoaning the ‘modern’ obsession with money and consumption (plus ca change), Tokutomi is generally optimistic. There is less of the depiction of the vicious exploitation of workers and awful poverty seen in Dickens, Dostoevsky or Zola, nor the railing against the advances of technology as in EM Forster’s ‘Howard’s End’ published 9 years later.

The plot is a sort of Japanese ‘Great Expectations’ in a way. A family hits hard times and the son goes off to make his fortune, meeting good and bad characters while showing commendable resilience and high values.

The characters were less caricatured than Dickens. Although writing earlier, he covered a a not dissimilar phase of change in his society. For example, there was a very nuanced understanding of the background and redeeming features of a small time money lender. There are ‘salt of the earth’ types whose grounded values handle success well and common meanness found in many others.

I found the depiction of the mix of old and new fascinating. The attitudes to, and portrayal of, women, while not acceptable now, were far more positive than I expected. There are many powerful women. There are repeated arguments in favour of not only the importance of education for women but also of the value of coeducation. Well ahead of the UK for 1901?

From a dramatic narrative perspective, rather than historical document, I enjoyed the first 2/3 more than the latter stages. There was more dramatic tension, while the last section dragged a bit with an extensive account of falling in love and would he/wouldn’t he marry the girl. Then the final tying up of loose ends was a finely wrought exercise in unnecessary splicing rather than leaving anything to the reader’s imagination.

So if you are interested in the culture and history, I’d definitely recommend. If you only want an excellently crafted novel of the time, I’d go with Tolstoy, Turgenev, Zola or even EM Forster in preference.

[Suk Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autobiographical. Interesting insight into coming of age, the aspiring literati and the reception of Christianity and of Western concepts in Meiji Japan.