Motojirō Kajii

Motojirō Kajii (梶井 基次郎) was a Japanese author of the Shōwa period. He left masterpieces of poetic short stories such as "The Lemon", "Winter Days", and "Under the Cherry Trees". An obscure writer all his short life, his stories were praised by Kawabata in several articles, and today his works are highly appreciated for his fine feelings.

As short his lifetime and body of work were, Kajii left a modest footprint on Japan's culture. His story "Lemon" being a staple of textbooks, many a high schooler emulated its protagonist's act of leaving a lemon in a department store. And his opening sentence " Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees! " (桜の樹の下には屍体が埋まっている！) is often quoted by Japanese people about the cherry-blossoms-watching custom of hanami.

(1901-1924) Early life and education
Motojirō Kajii was born in Osaka in 1901. He attended grade school in Tokyo from 1909-1911, middle school in Toba from 1911-1914, and high school in Osaka from 1914-1919. In September 1919, Kajii entered Kyoto's famous Third Higher School (Kyoto-Sanko, a junior college); while a student there, he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1920.

(1924-1928) Launching his literary career
In 1924, Kajii entered the Tokyo Imperial University (where he majored in English literature); there, he helped his old high school friends found a literary coterie magazine, Aozora (青空; "Blue Skies").

In 1925, he published the short story "The Lemon" in Aozora.

From 1927 to 1928, Kajii spent several times in Yugashima on the Izu Peninsula for his health. At this time, he visited the famous writer Yasunari Kawabata and they became friends, playing go together several times a week.

After Aozora stopped publishing in 1927, he wrote in Bungei Toshi (文芸都市; "The Literary City"), another literary coterie magazine.

(1928-1932) Late career and death
In September 1928, Kajii returned to Osaka and rested at home.

In 1931, his friends the famous poet Tatsuji Miyoshi and Ryūzō Yodono, sensing his death near, decided to publish his first book Lemon (檸檬), a collection of his short stories.

In 1932, he wrote his first novella "The Carefree Patient" (のんきな患者) for Chūōkōron (中央公論), his first appearance in the commercial magazine, who had commissioned it.

But in March 24 1932, tuberculosis took his life at age 31.

Japanese

 * Stories in magazines


 * 1) "The Lemon" (檸檬) - January 1925
 * 2) "In a Castle Town" (城のある町にて)
 * 3) "Mire" (泥濘) - 1925
 * 4) "On the Road" (路上)
 * 5) "The Past" (過古)
 * 6) "After a Snowfall" (雪後)
 * 7) "An Inner Landscape" (ある心の風景)
 * 8) "The Ascension of K, or K's Drowning" (Kの昇天 - 或はKの溺死) - October 1926
 * 9) "Winter Days" (冬の日) - April 1927
 * 10) "Under the Cherry Trees" (櫻の樹の下には) - December 1927
 * 11) "Instrumental Hallucinations" (器樂的幻覺) - December 1927
 * 12) "Azure" (蒼穹)
 * 13) "Story of the Bamboo Water Pipe" (筧の話) - December 1927
 * 14) "Winter Flies" / "A Fly in Winter" (冬の蠅) - 1928
 * 15) "The Feeling on the Bluff" (ある崖上の感情) - July 1928
 * 16) "Caress" (愛撫) - June 1930
 * 17) "Scroll of Darkness" (闇の繪巻) - 1930
 * 18) "Mating" (交尾) - January 1931
 * 19) "The Carefree Patient" (のんきな患者) - 1932, novella

(Not listed are unpublished or unfinished stories, printed later in Complete Works.)


 * Books


 * Lemon (檸檬) - May 1931, collection (stories #1-18)
 * -- posthumously --
 * Kajii Motojirō Complete Works, Vol. 1 (梶井基次郎全集. 第1卷) - 1947 (ed. Takao Nakatani) Kyoto: Kōtō Shoin
 * Kajii Motojirō Complete Works, Vol. 2 (梶井基次郎全集. 第2卷) - 1948 (ed. Takao Nakatani) Kyoto: Kōtō Shoin
 * "Letters of a Young Poet" (若き詩人の手紙) - 1955, selected correspondence (ed. Takao Nakatani)
 * Kajii Motojirō Complete Works, Vol. 3 (梶井基次郎全集. 第3卷) - 1959 (ed. Takao Nakatani) Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō
 * Kajii Motojirō Complete Works, Vol. 4 (梶井基次郎全集. 第4卷) - 2000 (ed. Sadami Suzuki) Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō

Translations

 * English translations as of 2007

No dedicated book, but some short stories scattered:


 * In scholar papers, such as:
 * Kajii Motojiro: an anthology of short stories translated into English (1977)
 * Three stories of Kajii Motojiro: a study and translation (1978)
 * The Private World of Kajii Motojiro (1982)
 * The Translator as Reader and Writer: English versions of Japanese short fiction by Kajii Motojiro (1982)
 * In magazines, such as:
 * "Translating Kajii Motojiro - includes translation of two stories 'The Ascension/drowning of K' and 'The lemon'" in The Literary Review (1996)
 * In anthologies, such as:
 * "Mating" in The Shōwa Anthology (1984)
 * "Lemon" in The Oxford book of Japanese short stories (1997)
 * "Mire" in Tokyo stories: a literary stroll (2002)
 * "Lemon" in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature, Vol. 1 (2005)
 * In web pages, amateur translations on Internet (see external links below).


 * Foreign translations as of 2007


 * French: Le citron (1987, 1996) - partial translation of Remon (stories #1,8,9,10,11,13,16,18)
 * Russian: Limon (2004) - full translation of Remon (stories #1-18)

Quotes

 * " Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees! You have to believe it. Otherwise, you couldn't possibly explain the beauty of the cherry blossoms. I was restless, lately, because I couldn't believe in this beauty. But I have now finally understood: dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees! You have to believe it. "
 * – Motojirō Kajii, opening of "Under the Cherry Trees" (a popular Japanese quote, especially the first sentence)