CHARACTER STATS (BASIC/MAX)
精神
State of Mind
State of Mind
Stable
攻撃
Attack
Attack
126 / 294
防御
Defense
Defense
126 / 294
回避
Evasion
Evasion
17 / 129
技術
Technique
Technique
45 / 325
天才
Talent
Talent
45 / 325
美
Aesthetics
Aesthetics
42 / 322
主題
Theme
Theme
43 / 323
真実
Realism
Realism
45 / 325
CHARACTER STATS (BASIC/MAX)
| ||||
| 精神 State of Mind Stable |
攻撃 Attack 126 / 294 |
防御 Defense 126 / 294 |
回避 Evasion 17 / 129 | |
| 技術 Technique 45 / 325 |
天才 Talent 45 / 325 |
美 Aesthetics 42 / 322 |
主題 Theme 43 / 323 |
真実 Realism 45 / 325 |
PROFILE
「ちょっ、武郎兄！なにボーっとしてんのさ！」
有島武郎の実弟。兄と共に「白樺」に参加し、卓越した筆致で"小説の小さん"と呼ばれた。人懐っこい性格で、年齢を問わず多くの友人に囲まれる。中でも師匠の泉鏡花と、兄の友人だった志賀直哉に深い敬愛の情を抱いている。年の離れた兄武郎の死に大きな衝撃を受けた為、今生では陰になり日向になり兄を守ろうとしているようだ。
"Wait, Takeo-nii! What are you spacing out for!?"
Arishima Takeo's biological younger brother. Together with his older brother he took part in the "White Birch" and was called "Kosan of Novels"*Kosan refers to Yanagiya Kosan III, a popular rakugo story teller of the time whose performances he loved. The name can be also taken as a pun and mean "Child of Novels", but it actually refers to his literature which has comical feeling, focusing on the humane side of people rather than telling stories of some big or important events. because of his superior literary style. A sociable personality surrounded by many friends of all ages. Among them he has deep feelings of respect and affection towards his teacher Izumi Kyouka, and older brother's friend Shiga Naoya. Because he was shocked by the death of his older brother Takeo, in this life he seems to try watch over and help him in all possible ways.
Trivia
This trivia is about the real-life writer the character is based on, written by our wiki's contributors. Please be critical about the following information and do not take everything as truth, especially any unsourced trivia. A good, trustworthy trivia has many accessible sources listed. If you have sources to provide or additions to make, please do it within our wiki's User Conduct.
- His real name was Yamanouchi Hideo, and he was younger brother of Arishima Takeo. He was born to the Arishima family as fourth son out of five (overall sixth of seven siblings), but he got different surname early on. His mother’s side of family, the Yamanouchi family, was in dire need of a new heir due to his mother’s brother’s death a few days before his birth. He was officially registered to the Yamanouchi family on November 1st, 1888.[1] Despite the adoption, he grew up with his siblings as part of the Arishima family.[2][3]
- His pen-name Satomi Ton was randomly picked up from a telephone number directory around the time when the “White Birch” (白樺, Shirakaba) magazine was preparing for its launch.[1]
- He had a nickname “Igo” (伊吾), which was popular among some Shirakaba members, especially Shiga had a tendency to use it. Originally the name was an early pen-name he used when publishing magazine “Wheat” (麦, Mugi) with his classmates, the name originating from the English word “ego” and his favorite kabuki actor's certain role.[4] But upon the launch of Shirakaba, he changed the pen-name to Satomi Ton[3], and Igo remained as a nickname.
- During his childhood he contracted pneumonia, which was usually fatal at the time. To everyone's surprise, he recovered from his illness and around these times he also met Shiga Naoya for the first time. Satomi was 6 or 7 years old at the time.[5] It has been said that because of the pneumonia, his growth was interrupted and upon reaching adulthood, he was only around 153cm (while his older brother Arishima Takeo was around 165cm for example, and Shiga was roughly 170cm).[6]
- Satomi's friendship with Shiga Naoya started through his older brother Arishima Ikuma, who was friends and classmates with Shiga.[3] At first, Shiga and Satomi were simply acquaintances who would meet whenever Shiga came over to visit Ikuma. Throughout years they developed a friendship, especially after 1905 when Ikuma had left to study abroad and entrusted his brother in Shiga's care like told in Satomi's autobiographical work “You and Me” (君と私, Kimi to Watashi). By the time when Shirakaba launched in 1910, the two's friendship had reached levels where they were inseparable and too close to the point that they started to have fights over trivial issues. Around the same time, a term “friend indulgence” was coined among the Shirakaba writers to describe the friendships of the guys among the group who were like glued to each other.[1] From 1913 onwards, their friendship reached new levels of continous discord, and in the summer of 1916, they officially cut ties. After that they avoided each other, and the other one would leave ahead if they ended up meeting somewhere by accident. They reconciled in late 1923, around half a year after Takeo's suicide. Despite many hardships before and even after the almost 8 years long break, according to Shiga's last disciple Agawa Hiroyuki, they remained close until Shiga's death in 1971.[7]
- In “You and Me”, Satomi delves deep into his friendship with Shiga and how it both helped him through hard times he had at home (because his parents were against his wishes to become an author, which is the reason why he wrote in secret by using a pen-name, and he also had an undesired relationship with the family's maid), but also pained him how Shiga's almost possessive and selfish attitude was trying to control him and lead him astray from the path he was trying to follow. Shiga would forcibly drag him to his house, or make plans of trips without consulting Satomi beforehand. According to Mushanokouji Saneatsu, Shiga was selfish only with Satomi.[8] He also confirms Shiga's behavior of having planned things many times without asking Satomi's opinions, but Satomi would often yield and accompany him either way.
- Satomi also confesses in “You and Me” for having had a crush on Shiga when he was 13 or 14 years old. He further elaborates that his diary written around those days was full of love confessions towards guys he liked, which was common among school boys during Meiji and Taishou era to form relationships with fellow students and abandon them upon graduation (Shiga also had had relationships with younger guys according to this “trend”).[9] But surprisingly, he couldn't find Shiga's name among all the ones when he was reading said diaries again when writing “You and Me”, but recalls that he certainly might have been in love with him for a brief amount of time and felt glad that his feelings were never answered, as he feared he wouldn't have been able to become an author if he would have ended up into actual relationship with Shiga.[4] In his late years, Satomi talked in an interview with Setouchi Jakuchou about his younger days and confirms having had feelings for Shiga back in the day.[10]They further talked about the phenomenon how Satomi had been chased by guys in the school, which he didn't like due to not being particularly interested about guys. Also things like grooming (if done by students who were notably older) or even rape were reportedly involved in many of these relationships, which made these kind of relationships very undesirable among younger or more petite guys (which matched Satomi's situation). Mori Ougai's semi-autobiographical work “Vita Sexualis” (ヰタ・セクスアリス) is a famous example of a work where these kind of relationships are depicted.
- Oogata Wakarou confirms that in the literary circles at the time, Shiga and Satomi's friendship was very known and they were known to be close and often seen together that some people thought they were in a homosexual relationship.[11]
- In summer 1914, Satomi and Shiga moved to Matsue together to find motivation to write. Shiga had got a request from Natsume Souseki to take his publication slot in the magazine Asahi Shinbun, but he never managed to fulfill the request and he fell into writing slump for several years. Satomi also had a writing job from Natsume, which he managed to carry out despite a lot of playing around and enjoying various summer activitis with Shiga on almost daily basis. After this summer, the two started walking more their own paths, Shiga getting married with Mushanokouji's cousin and Satomi focusing on writing, later finding his own wife too. Events of this summer are focus of Satomi's work “In the Early Summer of Certain Year” (或る年の初夏に, Aru Toshi no Shoka ni).
- According to his own perception of Shiga's relationships, Agawa titled Mushanokouji as Shiga's “most precious friend”, while Satomi was Shiga's “most closest friend”.[7]
- In “You and Me”, Satomi delves deep into his friendship with Shiga and how it both helped him through hard times he had at home (because his parents were against his wishes to become an author, which is the reason why he wrote in secret by using a pen-name, and he also had an undesired relationship with the family's maid), but also pained him how Shiga's almost possessive and selfish attitude was trying to control him and lead him astray from the path he was trying to follow. Shiga would forcibly drag him to his house, or make plans of trips without consulting Satomi beforehand. According to Mushanokouji Saneatsu, Shiga was selfish only with Satomi.[8] He also confirms Shiga's behavior of having planned things many times without asking Satomi's opinions, but Satomi would often yield and accompany him either way.
- In late 1906, the Arishima family's maid sexually assaulted him (at the time he was barely 18 and she was around 40 years old). Ashamed of the experience and unable to run away from her, he would often cry and even contemplated suicide in certain summer.[4] Their undesired relationship continued until 1910 when she had become pregnant, leaving Satomi in a tough situation as he hadn't desired such outcome and he had been unable to tell anyone what was going on in his private life. For years he had wanted to tell Shiga, but only had managed to eventually say he's seeing some girl, which Shiga accepted. Even when he had to report to Shiga that an accident had happened, he lied about his partner's identity.[1] It was only through Satomi's autobiographical work “You and Me” in 1913 that Shiga learned it was actually the family's maid, and not some random girl who his friend had been in relationship with. The maid reportedly had abort and left the family after the incident.
- In “You and Me” and some other works Satomi emphasizes how the experience changed his perception of women and made him “warped” as a man, however he never resented women and he was liked by all the ladies he met during his lifetime. In his late years, he had joked how he had “never been rained on or rejected by women”.[12]
- While he portrayed in several works his own experiences and even in his fiction there are cases of men being taken advantage of or dominated by women, he never had talked in public about his innocence having been taken by the family's maid before his interview with Setouchi Jakuchou. In the interview, it was apparent that the topic was still painful to him even at the age of 93.[10]
- Together with Shiga, they were frequent brothel visitors and in general would often play with geisha. Even when Satomi got married in late 1915, he had hard times to get rid of this old habit that Shiga had got him into in early 1910 (later same year both contracted STDs, that bothered them for years).[1] Just like Shiga, both seemed to need “a thrill” to keep them motivated to write. Especially in Satomi's literature, adventures at Yoshiwara and other red-light districts are common.
- At the age of 12, he was recommended Izumi Kyouka’s works by Shiga and was right away taken by his literature.[3] In 1910, Izumi moved to the Arishima family's neighborhood and the following year his works gained the older author’s attention and praise. In 1912 the two met finally, leading Satomi to become Izumi's unofficial disciple later time.[1] Izumi was the only one of his all so-called mentor figures who he ever accepted as his “Sensei”, even though he had refused to call Izumi by such title, hesitating even after when Suzuki Miekichi had pointed out how his habit of using “-san” when talking about old and famous author like Izumi was “rude”.[13] In his defense, Satomi had stated many times through his life that he didn't want to take advantage of the older author's reputation and the favors he had been blessed with by being a close friend with Izumi. He also didn't like it when younger people talked about veterans as “Sensei”, especially if they weren't officially students of them or didn't have the older person's consent to call them by such a respectable title.[14]
- His literary style has hints of Izumi Kyouka’s influence with some “ghostly” elements[15], and traditional Japanese themes. Mostly he’s known for his advocation of まごころ哲学 (magokoro tetsugaku, “philosophy of sincerity”), which revolved around the ideology of not lying to one's heart and doing things with a sincere mind that “this is right”.[3] This philoshophy is visible in his works how he's telling how things were like, and many works portray men not ashamed of their lifestyle (which some of them were autobiographical works or their characters were based on him).
- He used complex and outdated words, which made his works hard to read even by his contemporaries like Uno Kouji.[16] There is time required to digest and learn to read them, but upon figuring out his style and getting past the obstacles, his stories are an experience of emotions, excellent rhythm and skillful wording. Especially the way he wrote dialogue is the most praised part of his literature.[3]
- The vast amount of autobiographical works also caused him problems, most of the clashing happening with Shiga, who he wrote a lot about in his works. One notable case took place in 1913 when Satomi started serializing his autobiographical work “You and Me”; an account of his and Shiga's friendship up until the early days of Shirakaba. Shiga wasn’t too happy how in the work there was a character based on him, and he admitted that meanwhile he had done and said the things Satomi mentioned in the work, he didn’t find them appropriate for the public.[17] Satomi however persisently continued writing the work to vent and bring into light certain things about his private life and what was going on betweem him and Shiga. This eventually led their friendship to become strained, and Shiga’s near-death train accident in August the same year made things worse when Shiga left to recuperate at Kinosaki, and Satomi’s manuscript for the said work's new chapter went missing coincidentally.
- Satomi has written about this train accident in his autobiographical work “Good Heart, Evil Heart” (善心悪心, Zenshin Akushin) how he had been there when the accident took place. According to him, he had been holding bloody Shiga in his arms after the train had hit Shiga from behind, screaming for help the small amount of people who were around at such late hour. When the situation calmed down and Satomi had got Shiga to hospital, he wished the older man was dead and freed him from their “toxic friendship” that he felt it was like at the time.
- “Good Heart, Evil Heart” is also the same work that made Shiga throw out of train's window the magazine issue where it was published in 1916. After that, Shiga promptly went to the nearest post office to send Satomi a postcard with words “You dirty bastard”, nothing else.[1] Satomi could figure out the card's sender from the handwriting, but also from the fact how he or Shiga didn't want to see each other, which started their almost 8 years long break.
- As Satomi or Shiga never made it too apparent to the public what caused the two to cut ties in 1916, many people believed that Shiga had read Satomi's “Flash Storm” (俄あれ, Niwaka Are), where the main character assumedly to be Satomi himself visits a friend's (Shiga's) house and has rather intense moments with the friend's wife while they are waiting for the man to come back home.[11] The work was coincidentally published around these same times, which further made it seem like as if Shiga had got mad at Satomi for trying to make advances on his wife, when that wasn't the case. After they had reconciled in 1923, Shiga published a statement “Correction” (正誤, Seigo) where he corrected these rumors and wrote that the work which had infuriated him back then was actually “Good Heart, Evil Heart”. He couldn't remember for sure what in the work made him feel like that, but scholars have been able to point out parts like Satomi wishing Shiga's death, or talk about how Shiga was bad influence to him, which could have been a trigger to Shiga. Furthermore, Shiga also confirms that he actually liked “Flash Storm”, describing it was so good he would have bought and displayed it in his house if it was an oil painting.[18]
- Despite all the discord and Shiga's displeasure towards some autobiographical works depicting him, Satomi kept writing about his friend until his own death. Even in 1974 when he suffered of cerebral thrombosis that paralyzed the left side of his body, he felt like he hadn't talked enough about Shiga, who had passed away in 1971 and whose funeral he had been in charge of. He dedicated “My Relationship with Shiga-kun” (志賀君との間柄, Shiga-kun to no Aidakara) as his supposedly last account of his friend, as he was unsure how much time he would have left.[5] Surprisingly, he lived 9 years more and had many more chances to talk and write about Shiga.
- Satomi has written about this train accident in his autobiographical work “Good Heart, Evil Heart” (善心悪心, Zenshin Akushin) how he had been there when the accident took place. According to him, he had been holding bloody Shiga in his arms after the train had hit Shiga from behind, screaming for help the small amount of people who were around at such late hour. When the situation calmed down and Satomi had got Shiga to hospital, he wished the older man was dead and freed him from their “toxic friendship” that he felt it was like at the time.
- According to his own words, he was a troublemaker to his family when he announced wanting to marry a geisha named Masa in 1915. His family wasn’t too happy about the news and the fact how Masa was so close to giving birth to their first child when the family was informed of their relationship and plans. They rejected the idea of marriage, but Takeo tried to help out his brother and talk sense to them. Eventually the brothers' father slightly warmed up for the idea after the fresh parents had lost their first daughter a month after her birth. However, the mother of the brothers never acknowledged their marriage.[1]
- He wasn’t particularly close with his older brother Takeo due to their age difference and the fact how differently they were raised.[19] Their personalities also were so different that in his notable work “The Anjou Brothers” (安城家の兄弟, Anjou-ke no Kyoudai), which revolves around Takeo’s suicide and his own women troubles at the time, Satomi bashed the older man for being “too dramatic”[15] and claimed he didn’t know anything about women. Even Shiga had commented that he was too harsh about his own brother. However, Satomi had always looked up to his brother and for granted was shocked about the news of the suicide, being unable to talk about it for several years without crying. Later in his life, Satomi would talk about Takeo in many interviews with a respectful and warm tone, saying he didn't hate his brother at any point, but admitted being shocked at the time.
- In 1922 he met a young prostitute called O-ryou, who ended up as his mistress. This story is told about in “The Anjou Brothers” and few other works how it affected his married life with his wife Masa, who was also later found out for cheating on him. Eventually he got a house for O-ryou in Tokyo, and started living there with her more than with his actual wife and children who lived in Kamakura, which both parties were fine with after initial resistance from Masa's side. His relationship with O-ryou lasted until 1952 when she died of uterine cancer, however Satomi never moved back together with Masa who he was still married with, instead living under the care of a young woman who O-ryou had entrusted him to before her death.[1]
- Through Izumi Kyouka, he met Akutagawa Ryuunosuke and Kume Masao, and later time became good friends with them. According to an interview where he had been asked who he was the most close with beside Shirakaba members, he named the by then late Akutagawa.[20] Together they travelled to Hokkaido in 1927 spring to lecture in various schools.[21] During this trip they became notably closer, but in July the same year, Akutagawa committed suicide which left Satomi and other fellow authors devastated.
- As Satomi was very social among the literary circles of his time and known for being a patron of many geisha and hostesses, there were circulating around rumors that he was one of the people who helped to establish the famous literary Bar Lupin in Ginza.[1] However, while he indeed was one of the bar's early customers[22] and had been acquaintanced with its owner Takasaki Yukiko (who he had known since her times in Cafe Tiger, where she worked previously and was known as "O-natsu"), Satomi didn't answer positively or negatively whenever someone asked whether the rumors were true or not; he simply just laughed.[23]
- Satomi, Kume and Yoshii Isamu had a questionable reputation and they were known as “bad boys” or "bad influence friends”.[1] Their friendship deepened especially in early 1919 when Kume felt like that Akutagawa and others were condemning him for his lifestyle of being out late drinking and not getting work done.[24] Kume had also been heartbroken since previous year after Matsuoka Yuzuru married Natsume Souseki's oldest daughter, who he had been in love with. This all led Satomi and Yoshii to gather together to drink and have fun, and later same year they started magazine “Human” (人間, Ningen).
- In 1933, Satomi got arrested with Kume for gambling with hanafuda cards after being involved in the “immoral aristocrats incident”.[25] The incident revolved around Yoshii Isamu's wife Yanagiwara Tokuko, who was a count (her grandfather was older brother of Yanagiwara Naruko, the mother of Emperor Taishou). She gave out Satomi's name to the police when she herself was caught for introducing women of good background and wealth to a certain famous dancehall's owner, who the man had illict relationships with. The reason why she dragged Satomi and others into the incident was to have a revenge against all involved, as at times she used to play cards with Satomi and others who were friends with her husband, and they had also played even during the night prior the arrest. There were cards lying around at Satomi's place when the police came to arrest him. With Kikuchi Kan's help, he and others were released the next day.[1]
- He passed away on January 21st, 1983, after long time suffering with heart troubles. He was 94 years old.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 里見弴伝 「馬鹿正直」の人生 (Satomi Ton Den “Bakashoujiki” no Jinsei), Koyano Ton / Koyano Atsushi. Chuuou Kouron Shinsha, 2008.
- ↑ 西御門サローネ 里見弴について ("Nishimikado Salone - About Satomi Ton").
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 The White Birch School (Shirakabaha) of Japanese literature : some sketches and commentary, Stephen W. Kohl, Yoko Matsuoka McClain, Ryoko Toyama McClellan ; with an introduction and the editorial assistance of G. Ralph Falconeri. [Eugene] : Asian Studies Committee, University of Oregon, 1975.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 君と私 (Kimi to Watashi, “You and Me”) in 君と私-志賀直哉をめぐる作品集, Satomi Ton. Chuuou Kouron Shinsha, 2023.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 志賀君との間柄 (Shiga-kun to no Aidakara, “My Relationship with Shiga-kun”), in 君と私-志賀直哉をめぐる作品集, Satomi Ton. Chuuou Kouron Shinsha, 2023.
- ↑ Satomi Ton - Episode 1 on Shirakaba no Komichi.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 志賀直哉交友録 (Shiga Naoya Kouyuuroku, “Records of Shiga Naoya's Friendships”) in 森の宿, Agawa Hiroyuki. Kodansha, 2011.
- ↑ 「白樺」への道 (Shirakaba e no Michi, “The Path to 'White Birch'”) in Mushanokouji Saneatsu Zenshuu Vol. 15, Kodansha, 1990.
- ↑ Refining Nature in Modern Japanese Literature - The Life and Art of Shiga Naoya, Nanyan Guo, 2014.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 生きた書いた愛した 対談・日本文学よもやま話 (Ikita, Kaita, Aishita: Soudan & Nihon Bungaku Yomoyamabanashi), Setouchi Jakuchou. Shinchousha, 1997.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 文壇友情物語 (Bundan Yuujou Monogatari, “Stories of Literary Circles' Friendships”) in 文藝通信3－1 昭和10年新年特集号, Oogata Wakarou. Bungei Shunjuusha, 1935.
- ↑ 里見弴先生追悼 (Satomi Ton-sensei Tsuitou, “Mourning the Late Satomi Ton-sensei”) in 森の宿, Agawa Hiroyuki. Kodansha, 2011.
- ↑ 二人の作家 (Futari no Sakka, “The Two Authors”) by Satomi Ton in 文豪とアルケミスト文学全集 ("Bungou to Alchemist" Literature Collection), Shinchousha, 2017.
- ↑ 怡吾庵酔語 (Igo-an Suigo), Satomi Ton. Chuuou Kouronsha, 1972.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Modern Japanese Novelists - A Biographical Dictionary, John Lewell, 1993.
- ↑ 文章往來 (Bunshou Ourai), Uno Kouji. Chuuou Kouronsha, 1941.
- ↑ The Rhetoric of Confession: Shishosetsu in Early Twentieth-Century Japansese Fiction, Edward Fowler, 1988.
- ↑ 正誤 (Seigo, “Correction”) in Shiga Naoya Zenshuu Vol. 5, Iwanami Shoten, 1999.
- ↑ Divided Self: A Biography of Arishima Takeo, Leith Morton, 1988.
- ↑ 里見弴の語る大正・昭和文壇うらばなし (Satomi Ton no Kataru Taishou, Shouwa Bundan Urabanashi), Ishihara Tooru, 2018.
- ↑ 講演軍記 (Kouen Gunki, “Lecture Chronicles”), Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, 1927. Retrieved from Aozora Bunko.
- ↑ Bar Lupin's Official Site - About Lupin.
- ↑ Bar Lupin's Official Site - Archives.
- ↑ 良友悪友 (Ryouyuu Akuyuu, “Good Friends and Bad Company”), Kume Masao, 1919. Retrieved from Aozora Bunko.
- ↑ 不良華族事件 on Wikipedia.
Works Available in English[]
- 椿 (tsubaki):
- “Camellia”, translated by Edward Seidensticker. Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology, 1962.
- 俄あれ (niwaka are):
- “Flash Storm”, translated by Lane Dunlop. Autumn Wind and Other Stories, 1994.
- “Flash Storm”, translated by Lane Dunlop. The Best Japanese Short Stories: Works by 14 Modern Masters: Kawabata, Akutagawa and More, 2023. Reprint of Autumn Wind and Other Stories with a new publication name.
- 河豚 (fugu):
- “Blowfish”, translated by Ted Goossen. The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories, 1997.