Kawabata Yasunari (1899-1972), as a forerunner of Japanese avant-garde literature and art, began his literary creations in the magazine Bungei Jidai (The Artistic Age). The 'Shinkankaku-ha' (New Sensualism) theory published in this magazine is one of the products of Kawabata's pursuit of avant-garde expression in language. Written during the period of transition from the 'Shinkankaku- ha' movement to 'Shinkōgeijutsu-ha' (New Avant-Garde Art), Scarlet Gang of Asakusa(1929) is known for its unique depiction of urban customs. Particularly after the publication of Maeda Ai's "Gekijō toshite no Asakusa" (Asakusa as theatre), there have been many attempts to interpret this text from the perspective of modernism and urbanism.

　While paying close attention to the changes that the modernist culture has brought to society, Kawabata also shows a keen interest in the innovation that modernism brings to the expression of language. Kawabata quotes Hori Tatsuo's words to indicate that he is a 'literary left-winger'. This literary stance can also be found in the depiction of the novelist 'I' in the Scarlet Gang of Asakusa, especially in the opera scripts that 'I'- who acts as a buffoon in story -created.

　This paper begins with a discusssion on the literary exchange between Kawabata Yasunari and Hori Tatsuo. Kawabata uses Jean Cocteau’s speech Le Rappel à l'Ordre（1923）, translated by Hori Tatsuo, as a clue, and pays special attention to the opera Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel and its ‘Poésie de théâtre'. It also analyses the method of ‘Poésie de théâtre' in the text of Scarlet Gang of Asakusa.

　This paper discusses "Onna Ryokaku" (A female passenger), a short story translated from English by Morita Shiken in 1888. Though the original work cannot be exactly identified, it has become clear that the story was written by a British-born writer, R. Davey, the title of which was "A Queen's Adventure". Conducting a survey of the circumstances of its publication revealed interesting aspects of how literary works were circulated in the late 19th century British Empire.

　"A Queen's Adventure" was first published in an American magazine in 1874 and was reprinted several times in several American newspapers. A decade later, it was reprinted in a British magazine and then reprinted in newspapers published in different parts of the British Empire reflecting the popularity of the newly emerging genre of the newspaper-novel. It can thus be assumed that Morita Shiken's "Onna Ryokaku" was translated from one of these newspaper versions.

　"A Queen's Adventure" particularly attracted the editors of the time as it dealt with a theme that resonated with the general public's growing interest in the idea of holding passports for traveling. On top of this, in the case of "Onna Ryokaku", the story circulated well in the socio-cultural atmosphere of Japan in the period following the end of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, when Yūbin Hōchi Shimbun was promoting the idea of cooperation between the public and private spheres. Yūbin Hōchi Shimbun was actively introducing new trends in the West, and Shiken, a newspaper editor himself, was eager to contribute to nurturing the readers' humanistic intelligence as editor of the new media.

　 Enchi Fumiko is known with a high reputation for her profound scholarship in Japanese classics. For this reason, researchers have assumed her novels have little to do with the social issues of her time. It is noteworthy, however, that Enchi in the 1930s sensitively responded to the proletarian literary movement, demonstrating her keen concern for society.

　This paper analyzes Enchi's I'm Also in the Flame (Watashi mo moeteiru) to illustrate this aspect of Enchi's writing and discusses how Enchi related herself to the social situtation of the time. In 1958 Enchi traveled to Europe and North America. Though she was impressed with what she saw during this trip, she also became apprehensive about the future of the world under the leadership of the United States, which led her to write I'm Also in the Flame. Her sense of anxiety was gradually amplified by her encounter with a physicist, Tomonaga Shin'ichiro, and a book entitled Brighter than a Thousand Suns by Robert Jungk. Enchi realized that the peaceful use of nuclear energy had the potential of easily being shifted to a serious threat to the human society by the will of politics. Enchi wondered how scientists could retain their morality and also what she as a writer should do to confront this crisis. The solution she attained was to find what scientists and writers shared in common and to seek how they can work together to maintain a sense of responsibility.

　This aspect of Enchi's activity as a literary figure has not received much attention to date. This paper is an attempt to re-evaluate her works by shedding light on her contribution as a socially concerned writer.

　Confessions of a Mask (1949) and Forbidden Colors (1951-53) are important works for understanding the reception and development of Western sexology in Mishima Yukio. From the end of the Meiji period and into the Taisho period, a number of monographs on sexology were translated into Japanese. Japanese scholars and writers actively responded to this and published their own research. Mishima showed a great interest in such books and explored them with enthusiasm. He then wrote Confessions of a Mask and Forbidden Colors, which are both concerned with male homosexuality. It is noteworthy that Magnus Hirschfeld is quoted in Confessions of a Mask and Havelock Ellis's theory is mentioned in Forbidden Colors, though little discussion on this has been done in previous studies.

　This paper will complement previous research by empirically comparing Mishima's text with the books on sexology he used when he was writing Confessions of a Mask and Forbidden Colors. In order to do this, Mishima's collection catalogue and materials Mishima actually read are analyzed, and the difference between the original books and quotes are identified. In addition, by clarifying what knowledge of sexology is included in Confessions of a Mask and Forbidden Colors, on homosexuality in particular, and by examining the two works comprehensively, this paper presents the development and change in Mishima's homosexual discourse.

　In 1916, Kósçak Yamada created and performed a new genre of dance called buyōshi (choreographic poem). This was an epoch-making event because it was the first time modern dance was performed in Japan. Unfortunately, it was considered unsuccessful. Although it has been highlighted that Yamada was inspired by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Berlin, no studies to date have focused on its influence on Yamada's works. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate Kósçak Yamada's dance performances from the perspective of the Ballets Russes's “Total Work of Art". It will also discuss Yamada's dance theory and how he created his dance works, buyōshi, being influenced by the Ballets Russes. It will specifically consider the libretti, the music manuscripts and costume designs in his works.

　“Total Work of Art" (Gesamtkunstwerk) was originally envisioned by Richard Wagner, but it was the Ballets Russes that achieved a perfect balance between dance, music and stage design in the field of ballet. Yamada, however, regarded its “Total Work of Art" as insufficient, since the three elements were produced individually. As a result, Yamada attempted to surpass the Ballets Russes's concept by proposing yūgō geijutsu (fusion art), in which dance, music and stage design were completely unified, and he did so by devising these elements on his own. At that time, his dance performances were only the beginning of his ideal art form, since he also produced it in other genres such as lied, opera and film.

　Jiko-hon'i (self-centeredness) is a term in “My Individualism" (Watakushi no Kojinshugi) that Natsume Sōseki adopted to clarify his fundamental stance toward literature. A plethora of previous studies have, in fact, demonstrated the importance of this attitude, mainly focusing on Sōseki's personal narratives. There is, however, one aspect of this concept that has yet to be clarified. Sōseki repeatedly implied that jiko-hon'i is an attitude that is supported, or even proven, by a certain theory, but he never specified or gave an account of such a theory.

　This paper contends that William James's theory of psychology in his famous work, The Principles of Psychology, inspired Sōseki's concept of jikohon'i. Since Sōseki meticulously discussed James's psychology in his essay, “The Attitude of a Creative Artist" (Sōsakuka no Taido), examining its content in detail gives us a perspective on how James's theory can be said to support Sōseki's underlying attitude. James maintains that our mind, because of our habits of attention, always either chooses or rejects, and that not only our experience but also the world itself is what we agree to attend to. This point of view is pivotal for Sōseki. Once it is clear that Sōseki's jiko-hon'i is based on James's rather radical idea, jiko-hon'i itself should also be viewed as a far more drastic philosophy than has been previously considered. Furthermore, this insight can elucidate why his later novels persistently tackle the problem of human relationships.