Tanidzaki Junichiro (1886–1965) was a writer and playwright. Throughout his career, he repeatedly changed his literary orientation. Having become a student of the faculty of Japanese literature at Tokyo Imperial University, Tanizaki drops classes and strives to break into literature as soon as possible, so he adjoins the literary magazine Shinshito. This time was characterized by the flourishing of naturalism, most of whose adherents graduated from Waseda University. Tanizaki from the very beginning becomes an ardent opponent of this trend in literature.
The fascination with modernism manifested itself in the early stories Tattoo and Jilin, which were immediately noticed by readers. In this period of life (early 10s of XX century) Tanizaki often traveled throughout Japan, as such wanderings were a creative inspiration for the literary youth of the time.
The early stage of Tanizaki Junichiro’s work was characterized by the influence of Poe, Baudelaire, Wilde, which led to the formation of the original aesthetic principles of the writer. At that time Tanizaki was fond of Western art, especially avant-garde and romanticism, and for some time joined the neo-romantic Pan Society. Tanizaki made an attempt to combine in his work literary tastes of the Edo era with the principles of aesthetics of Western European decadent literature. Tanizaki wrote extremely boldly, disregarding conventional views. His early works are saturated with demonic energy of spirit and flesh, the mysterious power of fatal love and emphasized eroticism. He created unique in Japanese literature female characters with diabolical power. This is most clearly manifested in the novel “The Love of a Fool” (1925), considered the best work of the first period of creativity. The work expresses the ideas of Tanizaki’s demonism, his attitude to the role of women in society, namely: praising the liberated and emancipated woman.
Tanizaki’s fascination with Europe was not limited to literature and philosophy.
From 1920 to 1923, Tanizaki Junichiro lived almost all the time in Yokohama, where there was the largest European settlement in Japan. He rented a European house, was fond of European ballroom dancing, and also acquired many acquaintances among foreigners. The writer was interested in cinema, which was just beginning to take its first steps in Japan. In 1920, the writer was offered to become a literary consultant of the film company Taisho Katsuei, to which he gladly responded, since he himself had long dreamed of writing scripts for the fashionable cinema. For the next three years, Tanizaki gave most of the time to films; as for literary creativity, at this time he wrote mainly only plays.
A new stage of creativity (after 1923) - a departure from Western influence and immersion in the world of Japanese antiquity and aesthetics. It was 1923 that became the frontier for Tanizaki, which marked the transition from worship of the West to immersion in the traditional culture of the East, from demonism to the style of classical antiquity, which entailed important changes in the literary work of the writer.
Tanizaki’s aesthetic credo and his view of Japanese culture are outlined in his remarkable essay Praise for the Shadow (1934). In the novellas “Liana Yoshino” (1931), “The Tale of the Blind” (1931), “Ashikari” (1932), “The Story of Shunkin” (1933), etc., built on the plots of ancient years, the writer’s passion for Japanese classics is manifested. In the 30s. Tanizaki translated into modern Japanese the famous novel “The Tale of Genji”.
For five years (1943-1948), the work “Small Snow” was written. It is a novel in which a leisurely and lyrical narrative of the lives of the four sisters depicts Japan with traditions and customs that go back in time.