# Tayama Katai and His Novel Entitled Futon/Chapter 6

Chapter VI
Conclusion
From the foregoing examination several observations might be made by way of conclusion. Let us first observe what Katai could have learned from Einsame Menschen and to what extent he applied this new knowledge when writing Futon. By and large our observations lead us to believe that Katai successfully adopted in Futon a type of theme very similar to that of Einsame Menschen, namely, the eternal human problem of the conflict between human nature and man-made traditions. At the same time, we also noted that Katai did not employ this theme of Hauptmann's exactly in the same sense as that used in Einsame Menschen. Katai's characters, who are to be the vehicles of his theme, are Japanese whose problems would be naturally different from those of Hauptmann's characters in Germany; therefore, it became clear when we had completed our analysis that the final theme for Futon led to the following: "How can love discriminate between a mentor and his pupil?"
The comparative character analysis between Einsame Menschen and Futon establishes that Katai did not, in all respects, model his main character, Tokio, after Johannes, nor did he patternhis heroine, Yoshiko, after Anna, as Dr. Nakamura mentions. Our examination further shows that Tokio and Yoshiko were partially patterned after Johannes and Anna respectively, and surprisingly enough it would appear that it is rather Johannes' wife Käthe with whom Tokio's personality is in accord and not Johannes. This analysis has been carried out in Chapter IV, under section 2 and there is, I believe, no need for further examination.
​Our findings of the comparisons of these authors' techniques show that Katai, like Hauptmann, successfully utilizes the techniques of writing modern fiction which bring to his reader a convincing rendering of life. We concede that Katai employs in Futon techniques similar to those used in Einsame Menschen, and that the driving force of Katai's theme is implanted within his characters. As a result, his story progresses naturally, without any conspicuous plot devices and as his characters act in a manner appropriate to their own time and space. Our analyses show that Katai applied this technique exclusively when he wrote Futon. This technique, which Katai seemed to have learned from Hauptmann, is one reason why the themes of Einsame Menschen and Futon differ at their completions, regardless of the fact that Katai got his original idea for his story from Einsame Menschen. Another major technique that Katai appears to have adopted from Einsame Menschen is the minute observation used by Hauptmann. Let us look at an example of this aspect of Katai's technique cited on pages 49 and 50. In this passage Katai describes the inner and the outer life of Tokio in minute detail, which in turn allows his readers to experience Tokio's reactions by keeping the readers in step with Tokio. Because Katai utilizes this technique of the minute observation of his characters, his readers are able to share the experiences of these characters in Futon. Also, by using this technique, Katai aptly illustrates in Futon how to write a novel which is, in reality, a work of fiction.
On the basis of the above findings--treatment of his theme, development of his characters, and techniques used in Futon--can we infer ​that Futon is not an imitation of Einsame Menschen, despite the fact that Katai stated that he was initially inspired by this play? The reason for this conclusion is that Futon, on close examination, proves to be a work of literary art by using "realistic" artistic devices for creating the impression of stark reality--something that has no counterpart in Einsame Menschen. For this reason, I am of the opinion that Futon is fiction that was concocted by Katai, in spite of our findings that Katai actually had similar experiences to those of his hero, Tokio.
I am aware that my view differs somewhat from those of many of the leading critics of the Meiji era. Shimamura Hōgetsu praised Katai's Futon, saying: "This piece is the bold confession of a flesh-and-blood man, a stark-naked human being," and Oguri Fūyō, one of Kōyō's disciples, also concurred with his evaluation of Futon: "I regard the attitude of the author [Katai] who was able to confess and publish without misrepresentation or embellishment his psychological and emotional life as sincere." The novelist Masamune Hakuchō likewise expressed a kindred view to that of Hōgetsu in saying: "[Katai] is without affectation opening his heart," and Chikamatsu Shūkō, another novelist, also approved: "[Katai] depicted natural emotion."
Before hastening to procede to our next observation, let us stop and contemplate what Katai really wanted to set forth in Futon, as such a review might shed some light on evaluating Hōgetsu and the other critics' points of view in variance with our finding on this matter. ​First of all, we can bring to mind that Katai wrote in his essay "My Anna Mahr" that "I determined to put into writing my own 'Anna Mahr' who had been causing me anguish since two or three years earlier--the spring before the Russo–Japanese War began." If we were to read the above motive of Katai for writing Futon without considering the rest of the context, we might be tempted to assume that Katai was going to write a confessional story in Futon. But on close examination of Katai's statement in the proper context, it becomes clear that what Katai intended to write in Futon is mentioned in the following lines of his same essay "My Anna Mahr," as he reminisces about his feelings when he was asked to write a novel for Shin Shōsetsu, a literary magazine: "It was about that time I was deeply stirred by Gerhart Hauptmann's Einsame Menschen. The loneliness of Vockerat seemed to resemble my own state of mind."
Judging from the context of his essay "My Anna Mahr," Katai's intentions in writing Futon were to present the theme originally inspired by Hauptmann's Einsame Menschen: the contrast and tension between the natural and the unnatural, with a strong implication that nature is best, or at least that is preferable to follow nature. After re-examining Katai's motive for writing Futon for the evaluation of the nature of this work, I am still of the opinion that Futon is not a confessional story as Hōgetsu and other critics evaluated it.
The following statement by Katai, which was made about twenty years after Futon was written, and which appeared in his discussions on how to write novels, might coincidentally be in accord with our findings:
   [Futon] was not a confession, nor did I deliberately select such ugly facts. . . . I only disclosed certain facts, which I had discovered in life, in view of the reader's eyes. . . . The writer only gave consideration to how well he had described his discovered facts and how near he had approached truth.
Up to now we have observed what Katai might have learned from Einsame Menschen and how he adopted this knowledge in Futon. Let us now turn our attention to what Katai did not use from Einsame Menschen in Futon. In this connection, we have already noted that Hauptmann employed a drama form to bring out his theme of conflict between nature and traditions; on the other hand, Katai used a novel form to express a very similar theme to that of Hauptmann's. Why then did Katai use a novel as a means of expressing his theme, instead of using a drama form? Are we not in order when we assume that the novelist has the advantage of being permitted to speak directly to his readers about what his characters think and do? This requirement can be readily noticed in the case of Tokio whose inward thoughts are different from his outward actions; therefore, in this respect the novel form has a very decided advantage when Katai elucidates the psychological aspects of his characters, particularly with the presentation of the elusive portions of Tokio's thoughts which cannot often be expressed in concrete form in drama. Since the novelist is allowed to portray freely both the outer and the inner life of his characters, was not Katai's selection of the novel as his form justifiable? Actually, apart from the above speculations, what primarily concerns us now is to find an answer to our question--why did Katai select a novel as the form for Futon? According to our findings, it would seem that Katai wanted to ​be a novelist and desired to write a novel that was better than the works of Tōson and Doppo. This, we feel, is the basic reason why Katai did not employ the drama form of Einsame Menschen.
Another reason why Katai selected a novel form could be that he wanted to renovate the prevailing literary technique in the novel form of the Kenyūsha writers. This aspiration of Katai is also manifested in the lines from his essay "My Anna Mahr" quoted earlier: "Besides,. . . with regard to my work, I had to break the existing patterns and open up new roads." This attitude of Katai towards the Kenyūsha could be comprehensible from our observation of Katai's literary background before he wrote Futon. Katai was right from the very start a "nature" poet who expressed his emotions freely. This attitude of a poet was favorably advanced by learning the composition of waka as a pupil under Matsuura Tatsuo of the Keien school. The name of this school brings to mind that its precept was: "Be true to your emotions." We also recall that Katai was inspired by the works of several European naturalists, particularly the works of Maupassant, and their influence determined him to write a "realistic" novel expressing "freely even of the secrets of human life and even of the whisperings of the devil." Katai's travelling sketches, in which he wrote stories about what he had seen and heard on his nationwide travels, served to put his aspirations into practice. In addition, his participation in the Russo–Japanese War gave him profitable experience by enabling him to write about actual incidents that had taken place on the battlefield. When we trace through the literary background of Katai we can readily see that Katai's sole aspiration was to write a novel, not a drama, which would in effect "break the existing patterns and open up new roads."
​As to observations on the significance of Futon, we shall conclude with answers from these outstanding characteristics of Futon which we have just observed in this chapter. The most significant aspect of Futon lies, I believe, in Katai's discovering in Futon how to write a "realistic" novel. Our reason being that these techniques of Katai--treatment of the theme, development of the characters, and straightforward description--gave a tangible format to his fellow writers who had been seeking new forms and who had been moving away from the old abstract literary theories of Shōyō. We all know that it is the talent of a writer to be able to find the best way to express what he wants to say, and that in order to do so he must be able to select the most effective method from available sources. It should also be borne in mind that the selection of suitable methods is just a preliminary task for a writer. In addition he must know how to utilize to his best advantage these available techniques. Needless to say techniques are only tools and they themselves do not have any literary value unless they are used in the right place and in the right context of any piece of work by a writer who knows how to avail himself of their best use. In Futon Katai demonstrates his ability to use all available techniques of both the Orient and the West to draw his readers into his story, where, as the story unfolds, his readers are able to sense the experiences of Katai's characters. These characters, in turn, reflect the society of the early twentieth century in Japan, which professed one set of traditional values from which his characters suffered.
​These writing techniques of the novel which Katai employed in Futon were immediately adopted by many contemporary writers and contributed to the later development of new genres, shinkyō shōsetsu, or mental life novels, and shishōsetsu, or I-novels, which analyse a novelist's own self-consciousness.
* ↑ See p. 9.
* ↑ See pp. 38–39.
* ↑ See p. 48.
* ↑ All the above comments on Futon are compiled in "Futon Gappyō," or "A Joint Review of Futon," in Waseda Bungaku, Oct. 1907, appeared in Tōson. Katai, Vol. XIII of Kokugo Kokubungaku Kenkyushi Taisei, ed. by Yoshida Seiichi and others (15 vols.; Tokyo: Sanseidō, 1965), p.204.
* ↑ See p. 24.
* ↑ Tayama Katai, Shōsetsu Sakuhō ("How to Write Novels"), cited in. Wada, op. cit., p. 160.