Kintai Shinyaka

**Kintai Shinyaka** [行莎・きんたい, July 7 1909 - September 13 1948] was a renowned author of early 20th-century Kanton. A number of his most popular works, such as *Sunset Water* [*Suretsu no Mizu*] and *Farewell Skylark* [*Yūgai Aratori*], are considered modern-day classics. With a semi-autobiographical style and a unique transparency, Shinyaka's stories have intrigued millions of readers over the decades. While he continues to be celebrated widely in Kanton, Shinyaka remains relatively unknown elsewhere, with only a handful of his works available in English. His last book, *Farewell Skylark*, is his most popular both domestically and internationally.

## Early life

Kintai Shinyaka was the fourth surviving child of a wealthy landowner in Ido, a remote yet fairly prosperous town located on the upper west coast of Aoma Prefecture. At the time of his birth, the huge Shinyaka mansion where he would spend his early years was home to around thirty people, not including various staff and servants. Shinyaka's mother was of merchant class, but his father was descended from a line of successful and shrewd moneylenders, who had built up a remarkable level of wealth over the decades. Throughout the late 1800s, the Shinyakas had risen in power and became respected across the prefecture.

Shinyaka's father, Daizo, had married his mother Abishi Koyami; the Koyami family were exceedingly traditional and wanted nothing less than a successful arranged marriage for their daughter. Their union was poor; Daizo would often take long 'business trips' out of town, and was absent for much of Shinyaka's early childhood, and Abishi would often take ill and become bedridden for days or weeks on end. Due to this, Shinyaka was brought up mostly by the family's servants and his grandmother, Tamiko.

## Education and literary beginnings

In 1923, Shinyaka began his higher education at Aoma High School, followed by entering the rather prestigious Shiema University's literature department in 1927. He developed an interest in the Kijō period and began studying jūkyū, a classic form of dance-drama. Around 1928, Shinyaka edited a series of student publications and contributed some of his own works. He even published his own magazine called Kake yo Kagi (Lock and Key) with some friends, and subsequently became a staff member of the college's newspaper publishing team.

Shinyaka's success in writing was brought to a halt when his older sister Risa, with whom he had been very close, committed suicide in December 1927. Shinyaka started to neglect his work and studies, spending the majority of his allowance on alcohol, imported snuff, and prostitutes. On the night of March 17 1928, Shinyaka committed his first suicide attempt, but survived and was able to graduate the following year. In 1930, he enrolled in the American Literature Department of Kaimon Imperial University and promptly stopped studying again. In October of that year, he ran away with a *senkō* named Kanji Ōyama and was formally disowned by his family.

Two weeks after being expelled from Kaimon Imperial, Shinyaka once again attempted suicide by drowning off a beach in northern Yasu Prefecture with a woman, 20-year-old bar hostess Chiya Ashima. Chiya died, but Shinyaka survived after being rescued by a fishing boat. He was charged as an accomplice in her death. Shocked by the events, his family intervened to drop the police investigation. His allowance was reinstated and he was released of any charges. In August 1930, Shinyaka reunited with his first love Kanji Ōyama and married her in Kaimon.

## Literary career

By 1931, Shinyaka had decided to settle down a little and focus more closely on his writing passion. He managed to obtain the assistance of established writer Haruka Gannō, whose connections helped him to get his works published and establish his reputation. The next few years proved to be productive for Shinyaka. He wrote at a feverish pace and began to use a pen name, Ukari Udoku, under which he published a notably successful short story called *Mugeshi* (*Worm*) in 1934; it was his first experiment with the first-person autobiographical style that later became his trademark. The pen name, however, was dropped after only two more publications.

In 1935 it became clear that Shinyaka would not graduate. He was unemployed and wavering from his studies, this time distracted by his own writing. He finished a book of poems, titled *Satasaku* (*Sudden Departure*), which was intended to be his farewell to the world, before trying to hang himself - this too failed. From September until November 1935 his wife Kanji committed adultery with his best friend Nobari Zenyama; this came to light in early 1936, and upon learning of it, Shinyaka quickly roped Kanji into performing a double suicide. They both took sleeping pills, but neither died, so he divorced her. Shinyaka quickly remarried in June, this time to a middle school teacher named Sakako Dohara. Their first child, a daughter also named Sakako, was born in 1940.

During the 1930s and '40s, Shinyaka wrote a number of subtly autobiographical novels and short stories. His first-ever published story, *Kuzu Nozoki* (*Dark Desires*, 1933), is a grim fantasy involving suicide. Other works written during this period include *Mugeshi* (*Worm*, 1934), *Shigan* (*Dead End*, 1935), *Senkaze* (*Puff of Smoke*, 1935), *Jidamage no Sae* (*Saccharine Spring*, 1936) and poems published in his 1936 collection *Satasaku* (*Sudden Departure*), which describes a general sense of not belonging in the world, along with the desire to leave a legacy for oneself.

In June 1947, Shinyaka's best-known work, *Suretsu no Mizu* (*Sunset Water*), which depicted the decline of the power of the Kantonese nobility throughout the early 20th century, was published, propelling the already popular writer into celebrity. The work was based lightly on the diary of Takehana Taima, an admirer of Shinyaka's works who first met him in 1940. She had borne him a daughter, Shiyaka, in 1945. Always a heavy drinker, Shinyaka became an alcoholic; he had already fathered a child out of wedlock with a fan, and his health was rapidly deteriorating. At this time Shinyaka met Kishiko Daiyū, a hairdresser and widow who had lost her husband after just ten months of marriage. Seemingly immediately enraptured by her, Shinyaka effectively abandoned his wife and children and moved in with Kishiko and her grandmother.

Shinyaka began writing his novel *Farewell Skylark* (*Yūgai Aratori*, 1948) at the hot-spring resort Atsumizu Palace in northern Kaimon. He moved to the city's eastern ward with Kishiko after the death of her grandmother and stayed there until mid-May, finishing his novel. The work is a semi-autobiography, depicting a young, self-destructive man who both recognises the acute beauty of the world (in particular, nature) and simultaneously feels compelled to shun it as a result of his bitterness and resentment towards Fate itself. *Farewell Skylark* is considered one of the modern classics of Kantonese literature and has been translated into several languages, including English.

In the spring of 1949, Shinyaka worked on a novelette scheduled to be serialized in a local newspaper, titled *Wild Roses* (*Yabara*). It was never finished.

## Death

On September 13, 1948, Shinyaka and Kishiko drowned themselves in the rain-swollen Sōwari Canal, near his house. Their bodies were not discovered until six days later, on September 19, which would have been Kishiko's 26th birthday.

At the time, there was a lot of speculation about the incident, with theories of forced suicide by Kishiko. Itashi Shōwa, a cloth merchant who was frequently patronised by the Shinyaka family, also speculates that Shinyaka regretted the attempt soon before death and attempted to swim back to shore, but was stopped by Kishiko. Generally, it is believed that they both died willingly.

## Major works

* *Kuzu Nozoki* (*Dark Desires*, 1933)
* *Mugeshi* (*Worm*, 1934)
* *Shigan* (*Dead End*, 1935)
* *Senkaze* (*Puff of Smoke*, 1935)
* *Jidamage no Sae* (*Saccharine Spring*, 1936)
* *Satasaku* (*Sudden Departure,* 1936)
* *Suretsu no Mizu* (*Sunset Water*, 1947)
* *Farewell Skylark* (*Yūgai Aratori*, 1948)