Takeo Arishima (1878-1923)
Takeo Arishima was a renowned novelist, literary critic and essayist during the late Meji and Taishio periods and also a co-founder of Shirakaba magazine, first published in 1911. His notable works The Descendants of Cain (1917) and A Certain Woman (1919) were translated into English. He was born in Tokyo in March 4, 1878 and attended Sapporo Agricultural College. For unknown reasons, while studying in college, he attempted suicide with his lover Kokichi Morimoto, but survived. After graduation, he worked in the US as a foreign correspondent for the Mainichi Shimbun and studied at Harvard University.
Back in Japan, the writer married in 1910, but his wife died of tuberculosis six years later. In 1922, Takeo befriended Akiko Hatano (left pix), a married woman who was editor of Fujin Koron, a prominent women's magazine, which he regularly contributed to. Their relationship escalated into an extramarital affair, which was later discovered by Akiko’s husband. Tormented by emotional despair, Takeo and Akiko committed suicide in the mountain resort of Karuizawa, 100 miles from Tokyo, by hanging themselves. Due to the isolated location of the chalet where the suicide took place, authorities discovered their semi-decomposed bodies only a month later, identified by the suicide note left behind. Takeo and Akiko were buried side by side in the Tama Cemetery in Tokyo.
Osamu Dazai, pseudonym of Shuji Tsushima, began life on June 19, 1909, as the eighth child of a wealthy family in Tsugaru city in Aomori prefecture on the tip of Honshu Island. He was one of Japan’s most celebrated 20th century writers—brilliant, depression-prone, suicide-inclined and an alcoholic. His works numbered more than 30 novels and short-story collections. His last novel No Longer Human is considered a classic in Japanese literature. At the age of 21, he graduated in literature from Hirosaki University and enrolled in Tokyo Imperial University to pursue French literature. During this time, he started to drink and womanize. Partway through his studies, he dropped out to live with a geisha, Hatsuyo Oyama (left pix below).
The lovers tried to drown themselves at sea. A fishing boat rescued Osamu but Shimeko died, and the writer continued his studies after reconciling with his family.
However, intense writing and failure to get his degree snapped out another suicidal claw in 1935, and Osamu tried to hang himself but failed—his third suicide attempt. In 1938, Osamu renewed his relationship with Hatsuyo and married her but emotional stability did not become his ally. He became addicted to a drug and had to be rehabilitated at a hospital. During his stay there, Hatsuyo committed adultery with Osamu’s best friend, Zenshiro Kodate. When the writer found out after his discharge from hospital, the fallout was self-defeating, and husband and wife overdosed on sleeping pills. Again, they survived, and Osamu divorced her. In 1940, Osamu married Michiko Ishihara (pix below), a teacher, and, in 1945—to escape the bombings of Tokyo by enemies—began a new life in Kofu, 113 km west. The couple later had two daughters and a son.
During his marriage to Michiko, another woman cast a hook in Osamu’s heart: Shizuko Ōta (pix below). She was one of his fans and had visited him with two literature-passionate friends in 1941. The first casual meet led to more one-on-one contacts outside Osamu’s home and—as he needed new writing material—he used her diary entries to produce the novel The Setting Sun. Their working
together on the book resulted in an affair between them and, in 1947, Shizuko bore him an illegitimate daughter, Haruko. By now, after having produced numerous works, Osamu was riding the crest of his literary fame but suffering in the trough of alcoholism-related ill health.
Soon after, Osamu met Tomie Yamazaki (pix above), a beautician. She had lost her husband to the war only after 10 days of marriage. The writer abandoned his wife and children and cohabitated with Tomie. He and Tomie committed suicide by plunging into the rain-fed Tamagawa Canal in Tokyo, on June 13, 1948. Their bodies were discovered on June 19, Dazai’s 39th birthday, their waists tied together with a red cord. Alas, Osamu Dazai had succeeded in taking his own life at his fifth attempt, and was buried in the Zenrin-ji temple in suburban Mitaka, Tokyo, with his lover.
Dazai’s legacy is not only his writings but his creativity bestowed on his two daughters—Yuko Tsushima and Ota Haruko—bore by different women. They later became successful writers in Japan.
Writers over-loving a person embrace death over depression when
circumstance wrecks that love.
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