Chapter 254: Traditional Literature

Regarding Japanese traditional literature, modern and ancient are two completely different faces.

In the Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, and other periods, Japanese literature was in the hands of monks and samurai.

In the Edo period, Japanese literature was dominated by Confucianism.

In these periods, Japanese literature could only be second or third-rate, and the works that looked good were *The Tale of Genji* and a few others.

But even these works were largely influenced by Tang Dynasty literature.

The real change that allowed Japanese literature to be reborn had to be counted after the Meiji Restoration.

In this period, Japan started the Meiji Restoration and accepted a large amount of European and American thought and literature. Under the combination of Eastern and Western thoughts, it finally began to walk an independent path.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Japanese literary talents exploded.

Akutagawa, Kawabata, Mishima, Natsume—writers emerged one after another, writing many convincing masterpieces and gaining recognition from the international community.

However, with the passage of time, traditional literary works representing traditional aesthetics finally began to bow to mystery, which can stimulate people's senses more, because of their own limitations.

And with the aging population and the collapse of the publishing industry, the status of mystery will also be increasingly replaced by female-oriented romance and otaku-oriented light novels in the future.

As a graduate of East Asian literature, Akiwara Yuto knew this history very well, so after careful consideration, he temporarily gave up the idea of a vest.

After all, judging from the biographies of some writers in his past life, many people write both mystery and traditional literature, and the gap between the two is not big.

So even if he writes some such works across fields, he will only be called an "alternative in the literary world."

And even if he is suspected of schizophrenia, it's not a big problem.

After all, in the eyes of many Japanese people, there are not many writers in the literary world whose brains are normal, and there is someone who wants to commit suicide every few days.

Akiwara Yuto made a decision, took out paper and pen, and began to ponder what traditional literary work he should rewrite, and then submit it to which journal.

After all, the filming of the movie *Memories of Murder* will take at least half a year at the most conservative estimate.

As a layman, he can't keep an eye on the filming during this time, so he just needs to send a finance person to keep an eye on Neihai Tuoren and the two.

Most of the remaining work will be handled by Asano and Satake.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Akiwara Yuto opened the door and found it was Satake Maki who came to visit. Satake Maki was not wearing professional attire today, but a black and white striped skirt. After seeing Akiwara Yuto, she said: "Akiwara, *Chiji Shimbun* is urging you for the following manuscripts."

Akiwara Yuto heard this urging, opened the drawer, took out a stack of manuscripts, and handed them to her.

Most of the works here are short stories by Edogawa Rampo, including *The Human Chair*, *The Beast in the Shadows*, *The Two-Sen Copper Coin*, and *The Island of the Lonely*.

*The Human Chair* tells the story of a famous female writer who received a heavy envelope and opened it to see a very thick letter.

The content is a confession from a chair craftsman, who once hid in a luxury chair he made himself, was initially sent to a hotel, and observed and contacted all kinds of people.

A few months later, the chair changed hands and became the seat of a wealthy diplomat, and his wife was a famous writer. In this process, the craftsman fell in love with the female writer...

This work is extremely perverted, and even later adapted into an episode of the Junji Ito series, extremely highlighting the perverted behavior of the male protagonist.

However, because of this perversion, many readers were deeply shocked after reading it.

As for *The Beast in the Shadows*, it tells the story of two mystery writers and the beautiful Mrs. Shizuko.

These two writers are named Samukawa and Oe Shun-dei, belonging to the Honkaku school and the strange school respectively. Samukawa met Shizuko in a museum and had correspondence.

A few months later, Shizuko was threatened by Shun-dei and asked Samukawa for help. Not long after, Shizuko's husband, Rokuro, was killed.

In order to find the murderer, a duel began between the two mystery writers.

This work combines pornography, strangeness, absurdity, and mystery, and is a masterpiece of Honkaku mystery.

Satake Maki carefully flipped through the pages and put away the manuscript. Akiwara Yuto looked at her back and said: "Satake, please do me a favor."

He paused and added: "Help me collect information on traditional literary journals on the market."

Hearing this request, Satake Maki became puzzled, "Why traditional literature?"

She was a bit puzzled; after all, Akiwara Yuto was doing well in the field of mystery and had already gained a large number of loyal readers.

Going to write traditional literature that is declining at this time, no matter how you look at it, is not a correct decision

At this time, going to write about the declining tradition instead, no matter how one looked at it, was not the correct decision.

After thinking for a while, she became worried; would Akiwara not write detective fiction anymore in the future?

Akiwara Yuto saw her thoughts and explained: "Don't worry, I will continue to write detective fiction. I just want to try my hand at traditional literature."

Although the sales of traditional literature books are hard to sell high and the profits may be quite limited, its most important point is that it can help the writer win a good reputation in the cultural circle.

If possible, related works will even be published in middle school textbooks, and this has very good benefits.

For example, Ryunosuke Akutagawa's *Luo Shengmen* did not cause much influence when it was first released. It was only when it was published in textbooks that it was recognized as a masterpiece by the entire Japanese nation.

Later on, this work was even adapted into various versions of film and television works and spread to overseas markets.

The influence overseas then spread back to Japan, making the Japanese public even more worshipful of Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

Besides this, some international literary awards also tend to value traditional literature more.

For example, the Japanese writers who have won the Nobel Prize in Literature are all in the field of traditional literature.

He doesn't have to worry about money now, but he still needs to go further in terms of fame.

Seeing that Akiwara Yuto's attitude was firm, Satake Maki nodded seriously, indicating she understood.

But because of the prevalence of social school works, many writers and critics regarded the views of the social school as the golden rule.

So much so that after Dao Tian Zhuang Si's *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* was published, it was suppressed and criticized by many supporters of the social school, and didn't even win the Edogawa Rampo Award.

With this precedent, he naturally couldn't say that if the social school had the advantage, it wouldn't suppress the Honkaku school.

Gao Tianzhijiu saw that Akiwara Yuto didn't respond and continued to persuade: "Teacher Akiwara, the reason why the Honkaku school can be so prevalent today is the result of the efforts of many seniors. We cannot give up this advantageous position."

"So, I hope you won't bring up this topic in the future."

Akiwara Yuto sighed and didn't say much.

He also saw Gao Tianzhijiu's firm confidence at this time; it was not something that could be persuaded by one book or a few words.

Just as he stood up to say goodbye, Gao Tianzhijiu suddenly bowed deeply, "Teacher Akiwara, please consider whether you want to stand with us."

Akiwara Yuto asked suspiciously: "This is?"

Gao Tianzhijiu said in a sincere voice: "I hope you can become a member of the New Honkaku!"

Akiwara Yuto was speechless; he was still preparing to persuade Gao Tianzhijiu, but didn't expect the other party to be trying to persuade him!

However, he quickly understood Gao Tianzhijiu's intention, which was the influence brought by the book *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders*.

In his past life, the New Honkaku school established the book *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* as a banner, thereby attracting interested readers and new authors.