Profile of Ryunosuke Akutagawa on Famous Like Me

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (芥川 龍之介, March 1, 1892 - July 24, 1927) was a Japanese poet and writer. He is also regarded as the Father of Japanese Short Stories.

Akutagawa wrote no full-length novels, focusing instead on the short story as his main medium of expression. During his short life, he wrote over 150 short stories, including The Nose, The Spider's Thread, The Hell Screen, Autumn, The Ball, In a Grove, and Kappa. Akira Kurosawa directed the film Rashōmon (1950) based on Akutagawa's stories; the majority of the action in the film was actually an adaptation of In a Grove.

Akutagawa was born in Tokyo, the son of a milkman (Toshizoo Makino). His mother (Fuku Niihara) went insane shortly after his birth, so he was adopted and raised by his maternal uncle, from whom he got the family name. He began writing after entering Tokyo Imperial University in 1913, where he studied English Literature. He supported himself by teaching English and editing a newspaper. At that time he published his short story Rashōmon (1914), which earned him the praise and encouragement by Natsume Soseki, and started The Nose, which would be finished only a couple of years later. It was also at this time that he started writing haiku under the haigo (or pen-name) Gaki.

While still a student he proposed marriage to a childhood friend, Yayoi Yoshida, but his adoptive family did not approve the union. In 1916 he became engaged to Fumi Tsukamoto, whom he married in 1918. They had three children, Hiroshi (1920), Takashi (1922) and Yasushi (1925).

In 1921, at the crest of his popularity, Akutagawa interrupted his writing career to spend four months in China, as a reporter for the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun. The trip was stressful and he suffered from various ills, from which his health would never recover. Shortly after his return he published his most famous tale, In a Grove (1922).

Towards the end of his life, he began suffering from visual hallucinations and nervousness. In 1927 he tried to take his own life, together with a friend of his wife Fumi, but the attempt failed. He finally committed suicide (by taking an overdose of Veronal) on July 24, 1927, saying 　ぼんやりとした不安 (Bon'yaritoshita fuan, meaning "dim uneasiness"). In 1935, his lifelong friend Kikuchi Kan established Japan's most prestigious literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, in his honor.

Works

• 老年 (Rōnen) 1914
• 羅生門 (Rashōmon) - Rashōmon 1915
• é¼» (Hana) - The Nose 1916
• 芋粥 (Imogayu) - Yam Gruel 1916
• 煙草と悪魔 (Tabako to Akuma) 1916
• 戯作三昧 (Gesakuzanmai) 1917
• 蜘蛛の糸 (Kumo no Ito) - The Spider’s Thread 1918
• 地獄変 (Jigokuhen) - Hell Screen 1918
• 邪宗門 (JashÅ«mon) 1918
• 魔術 (Majutsu) 1919
• 南京の基督 (Nankin no Kirisuto) - Christ in Nanking 1920
• 杜子春 (Toshishun) - Tu Tze-chun 1920
• アグニの神 (Aguni no Kami) 1920
• 藪の中 (Yabu no Naka) - In a Grove 1921
• トロッコ (Torokko) 1922
• 玄鶴山房 (Genkakusanbō) 1927
• 侏儒の言葉 (Shuju no Kotoba) 1927
• 文芸的な、あまりに文芸的な (Bungeiteki na, amarini Bungeiteki na) 1927
• 河童 (Kappa) - Kappa 1927
• 歯車 (Haguruma) - Cogwheel 1927
• 或る阿呆の一生 (Aru Ahō no Isshō) - A Fool's Life 1927
• 西方の人 (Seihō no Hito) - The Man of the West 1927

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