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Oda Sakunosuke (織田
作之助)
October 26,
1913 -
January 10,
1947, was a
Japanese author. He is often grouped together with
Dazai Osamu and
Sakaguchi Ango as the
Buraiha, "the school of
irresponsibility and decadence." Literally meaning ruffian or hooligan
school this was not a matter of a true stylistic school but a label bestowed
upon them by conservative critics disparagingly critical of the authors
shared attitudes and the subject matter they wrote about. Their writing
stands in contrast to the tradition and morals of the ultra-nationalistic
literature that was critically and state condoned at the time.
Oda�s writing career spans both pre and postwar
Japan. An
Osaka native, he wrote mostly of life in
Osaka and the customs and manners of the common people. In
1939 his story Zokushu was a candidate for the
Akutagawa Prize. The following year
he published Meoto Zenzai. Named after an Osakan sweet shop, it
follows the life of a married couple whose marriage survives despite the
persistent wastefulness, debauchery, and unkept promises of an erring
husband.
Oda�s characters usually did not fit into what were
traditionally considered appropriate either in their humanness, or their
stubborn individuality as in Roppakukinsei, or out of the cruel
necessity of survival. In the story Sesou, Oda described the first
months of the occupation period following Japan's surrender to end
World War II which were marked by food shortages so severe that
government rations were not enough even to sustain life. People were forced
to turn to the
black market just to procure the food they needed for their own
survival.
During his lifetime, several of his works were banned,
but he was also championed by others for his ability to write candidly about
the human condition with the sympathy and wit for which his native
Osaka is famous. As well as being a fiction writer, he wrote radio drama
scenarios and submitted a script to a magazine that was later made into the
film Kaette Kita Otoko.
In
1947, suffering from a lung hemorrhage, Oda died in
Tokyo Hospital. After the funeral,
Dazai Osamu, his friend and fellow writer, published an emotional eulogy
blaming the critics for Oda�s sudden death. More than likely it was from a
recurrent bout of
tuberculosis.
He is buried in
Osaka.
In
1963, a monument was erected by his friends and colleagues near Hozenji
Temple in
Osaka. Hozenji Yokocho and its surrounding alleys were the setting for
Meoto Zenzai.
In
1983, under the sponsorship of the Osaka Bungaku Shinkoukai, a literary
prize was established in Oda�s name to commemorate the 70th anniversary of
his birth with the aim of carrying on the long tradition of
Kansai Literature. It is awarded annually to an outstanding work of
fiction by a new author.
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