Shinkankakuha

Shinkankakuha (新感覚派) is a prewar Japanese literary group led by Riichi Yokomitsu and Yasunari Kawabata which focused on exploring "new impressions" or "new perceptions" in the writing of Japanese literature. Riichi Yokomitsu wrote "The phenomenon of perception for the Shinkankakuha is, to put it briefly, the direct, intuitive sensation of a subjectivity that peels away the naturalized exterior aspects and leaps into the thing itself."[1]

History

After the Great Kantō earthquake and the deadly fire caused by the earthquake in 1923, the transforming of new technologies such as subway, airplane, and radio, were taking place in Japan. Meanwhile, a new conception of modern life also appeared in Japan due to the developments of technology. Shinkankakuha developed during this period. In 19th century, modernism began in Western countries, and later came to Japan. Shinkankakuha is known as the start of Japanese modernist movement. In order to oppose the literal mainstream, Kawabata and Yokomitsu as well as other young writers started a new literacy journal called "Bungei Jidai" ("The Artistic Age") in 1924, which was a medium of new movement in modern Japanese literature.[2] Articles in this journal were mainly a reaction of old school of Japanese literature, these articles also supported Proletarian literature of the Socialist/Communist schools. The conceptions the writers had when they wrote articles for "Bungei Jidai" was known as Shinkankakuha. In other words, Shinkankakuha is a writing style. Not only Japanese writers developed their own literacy perspectives, also, European modernism brought great impacts to Shinkankakuha.[3] The Shinkankakuha writers were interested in film as a medium of new impressions and were involved in the production of Teinosuke Kinugasa's A Page of Madness, which was produced by the Shinkankakuha Eiga Dōmei.[4]

In 1924, the Japanese poet and translator Horiguchi Daigaku cited the work of the French novelist Paul Morand as a symbol of a new era. Instead of using rational logic to describe the relationship between things, Morand used the logic of senses. His work inspired many Japanese authors to begin writing in a new style, and prompted Yokomitsu and others to found Bungei Jidai.[5]

Critiques of Shinkankakuha

Kawabata struggled to define what "oldness" and "newness" were. Even though he noted Shinkankakuha was an integral part to create "the new literature", the conception of "newness" was still unclear. Finally, he published his article in the fourth issue of Bungei Jidai to state that Western literature inspired a new writing style in Japanese literature so called "the new literature".[5]

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See also

References
  1. Yokomitsu, Riichi. "Teihon".
  2. Keene, Denis (1999-05-01). Yokomitsu Riichi: Modernist. ISBN 978-1-58348-285-8.
  3. Gardner, William O (2004). "New Perceptions: Kinugasa Teinosuke's Films and Japanese Modernism". Cinema Journal. 43 (3): 59. doi:10.1353/cj.2004.0017.
  4. Gerow, Aaron (2008). A Page of Madness: Cinema and Modernity in 1920s Japan. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. ISBN 978-1-929280-51-3.
  5. Omura, Azusa (2012). "The Birth of Shinkankaku-ha Bungejidai journal and Paul Morand". Electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies. 12 (1).
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