1868 Two and a half centuries of “centralized feudal” rule under the Tokugawa government of warrior-bureaucrats comes to an end with the “restoration” of the emperor to a position of theoretical sovereignty; the country is opened to the West; and the modernizing Meiji Period1 (1868–1912) begins. Born in the 25th year of Meiji, Akutagawa will become the quintessential writer of the liberal Taishō Period (1912–26), and his suicide in the 2nd year of the Shōwa Period (1926–89) will be widely seen as marking the defeat of “Taishō Democracy,” as the forces of repression and imperialism move toward the Second World War.
1892 I March: Akutagawa Ryūnosuke born in Tokyo, the third child and only son of father Niihara Toshizō (1850–1919), dairy owner, and mother Niihara (née Akutagawa) Fuku (1860–1902). According to East Asian astrology, born in the hour of the dragon (7–9 a.m.) of the day of the dragon of the month of the dragon of the year of the dragon, he is named Ryūnosuke (“dragon-son”). His sisters are Hatsu (1885–91) and Hisa (1888–1956).
Mother goes insane in October, and will be kept hidden upstairs in the Niihara house until her death. Ryūnosuke taken into the childless household of Fuku’s brother, Akutagawa Dōshō (1849–1928), a minor official in the Tokyo government’s internal affairs division, his wife Tomo (1857– 1937), and Fuku’s sister Akutagawa Fuki (1856–1938), in Tokyo’s drab industrial Honjo ward, east of the Sumida River. Aunt Fuki is primary caregiver. Family uses Akutagawa surname for the boy, though legally he is Niihara. Of minor samurai origins, the family is not wealthy but surrounds him with books and traditional arts.
1894 Family begins regularly taking him to Kabuki and other theatrical performances.
1894–5 Sino-Japanese War.
1898 Enters elementary school. Outstanding student, but frail, and frequently bullied. Mother’s sister Fuyu (1862–1920) bears half-brother Tokuji (d. 1930) to his father. Over the years much close contact between the Niihara and Akutagawa families. Adoptive father retires, and enjoys traditional Itchūbushi singing, go, bonsai cultivation, and haiku.
1899 Begins receiving private tutoring in English, Chinese, and calligraphy.
1901 Writes first haiku, and begins reading contemporary Japanese literature.
1902 With school friends, begins circulating literary magazine, contributing both text and art. Similar activity continues into university. Mother dies.
1904 Formal adoption into Akutagawa family becomes final. Father and aunt Fuyu legalize their relationship.
1904–5 Russo-Japanese War.
1905 Enters middle school at usual age, although qualified a year earlier, but delayed by health problems and adoption difficulties. Outstanding in all subjects, especially Chinese. Active in jūdō and other physical training, unlike future fictional alter ego Daidōji Shinsuke. Japan wins Russo-Japanese War (1904–5): first victory over Caucasian nation raises widespread interest in translation of recent and contemporary Western literature.
1907 Begins reading English books beyond class requirements, and English becomes his primary portal for world literature.
1910 Enters elite First Higher School without examination, owing to superior record. Right-wing government crushes leftist political and literary activity. “Winter years” of socialism continue for a decade.
1912 Meiji emperor dies; Taishō Period begins.
1913 Enters Tokyo Imperial University, the pinnacle of the educational system; majors in English literature.
1914 With classmates, founds student literary magazine, publishes his first story in May, “Rōnen” (“Old Age”; no English translation). Akutagawa family moves to newly constructed house in north suburban Tabata, where he will spend most of his life. Neighborhood doctor, Shimojima Isaoshi (1870–1947), becomes his physician and friend.
1915 Fifth story, “Rashōmon,” published in university faculty’s intellectual journal, but is generally ignored. Pays first visit to the novelist Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916) at home, and becomes one of Sōseki’s2 “disciples.”
1916 “The Nose” published in student magazine; lavishly praised by Sōseki and receives other attention. Graduates from Tokyo Imperial University with a thesis on William Morris. “Yam Gruel” is his first story in a commercial magazine; more invitations follow. Begins teaching at Naval Engineering School (see “The Writer’s Craft”), living in Kamakura, a seaside town south of Tokyo. Sōseki dies.
1917 “Dr. Ogata Ryōsai: Memorandum” and “Loyalty” published. First anthology, Rashōmon, appears from small publisher. Commercial literary magazines eager to print his stories. Second anthology, Tobacco and the Devil, published by major company.
1918 Marries Tsukamoto Fumi (1900–1968), and they move to new lodgings in Kamakura with aunt Fuki; tranquil time after Fuki returns to Tokyo. “The Story of a Head That Fell Off” and “The Spider Thread” published. “Hell Screen” serialized in two newspapers simultaneously. Severely stricken in Spanish flu epidemic.
1919 Experiences second attack of Spanish flu, and father dies from it. Resigns teaching post and signs exclusive agreement with Osaka Mainichi Shinbun newspaper. Moves back with Fumi to live with adoptive parents and aunt Fuki, and never again establishes separate household. Extended family increasingly rely on his income. “Dragon: The Old Potter’s Tale” published. Travels to Nagasaki, and steeps himself in exotic culture of seventeenth-century Japanese Christian martyrdom; meets chief psychiatrist of Nagasaki Prefectural Hospital, poet Saitō Mokichi (1882–1953), who will later supply him with barbiturates for insomnia. Meets popular poet Hide Shigeko (1890–1973), who is married with one son, and begins painful affair with this “crazy girl” (“The Life of a Stupid Man,” Section 21).
1920 Five stories (including “Green Onions”) and seven nonfiction pieces published simultaneously in various major New Year publications as editors clamor for his work. Birth of first son, Hiroshi.
1921 January: Hide Shigeko gives birth to son, and tells Akutagawa the child is his. March: Partly to escape her, he leaves for China for nearly four months as special correspondent for Osaka Mainichi Shinbun. Dry pleurisy and other ills leave him weakened thereafter.
1922 “In a Bamboo Grove” and three other stories appear in New Year issues of major magazines, but autobiographical writing increases as historical fiction is less well received. Second trip to Nagasaki; buys Edo Period “secret Christian” image of Maria-Kannon. First of the fictional alter ego Yasukichi stories and “O-Gin” published. Birth of second son, Takashi. Health dramatically worse; with desire to write fading, declines all invitations for New Year issue stories.
1923 June: Infant Takashi hospitalized for more than ten days. “The Baby’s Sickness” published in August. 1 September: Great Kantō Earthquake strikes at 11: 58 a.m., followed by fires; over 100, 000 killed. Tabata house loses a few roof tiles and stone lantern, but houses of his half-brother and his sister burn down. No injuries to relatives, but caring for them a great financial burden. Observes death and devastation, writes scathing critiques of “upright citizens” of Tokyo who took the occasion to commit mob violence against local Koreans with Police Bureau encouragement. Much editing of English and contemporary Japanese literary collections.
1924 Few new stories this year; much editing, reading up on socialism, but his name is still big enough for a major publisher to begin a new series of contemporary literature with a volume of his works. Sixth Yasukichi story, “The Writer’s Craft,” published. Near-affair with Katayama Hiroko (“Life,” Section 37).
1925 Physical ills, insomnia. “Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years” and “Horse Legs” published in New Year issues of major magazines. Birth of third son, Yasushi. Publication of five-volume collection of contemporary Japanese literature which he has devoted much energy to editing since 1923; sales are poor, he earns little and is widely criticized by other writers for copyright problems. Insomnia, nervous exhaustion, and heavy responsibilities as head of the household.
1926 Close reading of Bible, but unable to believe in divine miracles. To Kugenuma seashore, south of Tokyo, with Fumi and infant Yasushi, leaving older boys with his family. Marriage “renewed,” but physical and mental ills worsen as use of barbiturates increases. October: “Death Register” published, containing his first public revelation of his mother’s insanity; negative review by novelist Tokuda Shūsei (1871–1943) is a shock. Taishō emperor dies; Shōwa Period begins.
1927 4 January: Sister’s house partially burns; two days later, her husband, who is suspected of arson, throws himself under a train. Despite illness, Akutagawa forces himself to deal with the complications.
January–April: Several extended writing sessions in Imperial Hotel; writes “Kappa.”
April–August: Essay series “Literary, All Too Literary” published, containing his side of famous debate with Tanizaki Jun’ichirō (1886–1965) on the importance of plot in fiction, and repudiating the artificiality of own earlier work.
7 April: Proposes “Platonic double suicide” to Hiramatsu Masuko (1898–1953), the unmarried, lifelong friend of wife Fumi (“Life,” Sections 47–8). She informs Fumi and artist friend Oana Ryūichi (1894–1966), who force him to give up the idea.
16 April: Writes first of several “last testaments,” and begins meeting with friends, though only he knows these are final farewells.
June: Worried about mental illness of writer-friend Uno Kōji (1891–1961), arranges for his involuntary hospitalization through Saitō (“Life,” Section 50).
23 July: Cheerful lunch with Fumi and three sons, and socializes with visitors. At night, finishes aphoristic manuscript on Christ as a poet who had profound insight into all human beings but himself.
24 July: At 1:00 a.m. gives aunt Fuki a poem for Dr. Shimojima entitled “Self-Mockery” with reference to “The Nose”: “Oh dripping snot! / The nose-tip all that’s still in view / As darkness falls.”
2:00 a.m. Comes down from study, crawls into futon in room where Fumi and three sons are sleeping; has probably already taken his fatal dose of Veronal. Falls asleep reading the Bible; leaves testaments addressed to wife and old friends by pillow.
6:00 a.m. Fumi realizes something is wrong, and notifies Oana and Dr. Shimojima; Akutagawa is pronounced dead shortly after 7:00 a.m. Poet and old friend Kume Masao (1891–1952) releases Akutagawa’s most famous last testament, “A Note to a Certain Old Friend,” to the press that day. The suicide becomes a sensation in the news, seen as a symbol of the defeat of bourgeois modernism at the hands of both socialism and rising state power.
“Spinning Gears” and “The Life of a Stupid Man” published posthumously.
Akutagawa’s cremated remains are interred at Tokyo’s Jigenji Temple. The plot later receives ashes of adoptive parents, aunt Fuki, son Takashi (d. 1945, student draftee killed in Burma), wife, and actor and director son Hiroshi (d. 1981). Composer son Yasushi (d. 1989) in his own separate family plot in the cemetery.
Literary friend and publisher Kikuchi Kan (1888–1948) establishes biannual Akutagawa Prize in 1935 to memorialize Akutagawa and promote Kikuchi’s magazine Bungei Shunjū. The prize remains the most sought-after seal of approval for upcoming writers in Japan.
1. On Japanese era names, see the article “nengō” in Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 2 vols. (Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd., 1993), 2:1073.
2. Like the haiku poet Bashō, Natsume Sōseki is known by his literary sobriquet “Sōseki,” rather than his family name.