Abstract
From the standpoint of Eriksonian theory, this study examined the growth of a virtue called competence, and the effects of competence on the development of industry based on identity, by analyzing two cases which were extreme opposites. The Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki and Ryunosuke Akutagawa were both born in the Meiji Era in Tokyo, achieved good records at school, and became popular novelists while still young, yet their competence virtues were opposites. Why was their virtue of competence opposite despite their very similar careers? The results of a comparative analysis of their biographies showed that Tanizaki was unconditionally loved, disciplined with tolerance, and that he developed firm competence based on his previous virtues. On the other hand, the early growth of Akutagawa's virtues was impeded by an environment with strict discipline but without mutual regulation, and he developed a precocious conscience. Therefore, Akutagawa could not show initiative, his virtue of "purpose" was limited, and ultimately he could not develop a sense of competence. Tanizaki continued to display industry based on the identity of a novelist, while Akutagawa could not choose a novelist's identity and continued to display compulsive output based on his precocious conscience.
