From the Viewpoint of "Women and Children" : A Study of Takekurabe("The Antagonist" Found in Japanese Literature-The Issues on the "Tenno System"-,The Part of Literature,<Feature Articles>The Reports From the Forty-third Conference of Japanese Literature Association)

Abstract

In Takekurabe, children, reflecting the period when they began to be enclosed in Tenno system at the beginning years of the Imperial Rescript of Education structure, function as "antagonists." At the same time the author takes pains-taking efforts in constructing narration by giving uncertainty to the narrator's absolutely superior viewpoint, though the narrator shows inward understanding of the children, especially of Midori. The author makes these efforts so that Midori may be presented as an objective existence. The possibility of literary expressions confronted with the Tenno system that forces out the imagination for the antagonists is discussed. Higuchi Ichiyo, who insisted so hard upon "being woman", and her themes and technique during the last stage of her "miracle period", are illustrated as well.