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Kenichi Yoshida

よしだ けんいち

Yoshida Kenichi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1912-04-01 （Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo (Imperial Household Agency housing)）
Died
1977-08-03 （34 Harai-katacho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan (residence)） age 65
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese, English
Residence History
Imperial Household Agency housing, Sendagaya, Tokyo, Japan → Qingdao, China → Paris, France → London, United Kingdom → Tianjin, China → Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (postwar) → Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan → Harai-katacho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan (residence)

Career

Occupations
English literature scholar, literary critic, translator, novelist, essayist
Active Years
1935-1977
Affiliations
Chuo University, Faculty of Letters (Professor), Kokugakuin University (part-time lecturer)
Influenced By
William Shakespeare, Charles Baudelaire, Jules Laforgue, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, F. L. Lucas
Influenced
Yasuyuki Konishi (Pizzicato Five)

Education

Gakushuin Primary School
Period: 1918年 入学（在籍期間不明）
Country: Japan
Gyosei Junior & Senior High School
Period: 1926 - 1930
Year of Graduation: 1930
Country: Japan
Transferred from a school in Tianjin; graduated March 1930.
King's College, University of Cambridge
English literature
Degree: 中退 (withdrew)
Period: 1930 - 1931（1931年3月中退）
Year of Graduation: 1931
Country: United Kingdom
Studied under F. L. Lucas and others; withdrew in March 1931 and returned to Japan.
Athénée Français (Atenee Francaise, Tokyo)
French, Greek, Latin
Period: 〜1935（1935年6月卒業）
Year of Graduation: 1935
Country: Japan
Studied French, Greek and Latin.

Awards

Yomiuri Literary Prize
1957
Work: Shakespeare
Category: 文芸評論部門
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Shinchosha Literary Prize
1957
Work: On Japan
Organization: Shinchosha
Result: 受賞
Noma Literary Prize
1970
Work: The End of the European Century
Organization: Noma Cultural Foundation
Result: 受賞
Yomiuri Literary Prize
1971
Work: Amid the Rubble
Category: 小説部門
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

English Literature

1949 Literary criticism / History of literature

Debut work: an overview and criticism of English literature from Chaucer to the 20th century. Revised and reissued in later editions.

history of English literatureShakespearemodernity

The End of the European Century

1970 Essays / Criticism

A collection of essays originally serialized in 'Eureka' about European culture, fin-de-siècle sensibilities, and literature and history.

European culturefin-de-sièclecultural history

Amid the Rubble

1970 Novel

A novel set against the postwar cityscape, portraying human subtleties; recipient of the Yomiuri Literary Prize (novel category).

postwarurban lifehuman relationships

On Japan

1957 Essays / Criticism

A collection of essays on Japan addressing customs, culture, and national sensibilities.

Japanese culturecustomscriticism

Time

1976 Essays / Criticism

A long-form essay serialized in 1975–76, later published as a book; contemplative writing about books and history.

conceptions of timebooksmemory

My Food Memoirs

1972 Essays / Food writing

A collection of food essays written in a distinctive repetitive style, recounting food and travel memories.

food culturetravelmemoir

Bibliography

  • English Literature
  • Shakespeare
  • The Prime Minister's Son in Poverty
  • East-West Literary Theory
  • Essays: A Head Drowned in Drink
  • The Beggar Prince
  • On Modern Literature
  • Guide to a Literary Life
  • How to Improve Your English
  • Bittersweet Taste
  • On Japan
  • Feast
  • Savors Here and There
  • Byways of English Literature
  • Contemporary Japanese Literature
  • On Modern Poetry
  • Introduction to Literature
  • Sunset Selections: About My Father, Shigeru Yoshida, and Others
  • Literature of My Remaining Years
  • Amid the Rubble
  • The End of the European Century
  • Portraits of Authors
  • Complete Short Stories of Kenichi Yoshida
  • Imaginary Things
  • My Food Memoirs
  • Record of Friendships
  • On Britain
  • Old Tokyo
  • Buried Wood
  • Time
  • Definitive Sunset Selections
  • As I Remember

Translations by Author

  • Marginalia (Edgar Allan Poe) — translation
  • Hamlet Variations (Jules Laforgue) — translation
  • 1984 (George Orwell) — co-translation
  • The Renaissance (Walter Pater) — translation

Translations of Works

  • Japan is a Circle (Kodansha International, 1975) / Japanese edition translated by Ikuno Hiroshi (1978)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
long, flowing sentences with sparse punctuationessayistic and fragmentary criticismrefined linguistic sense and sensual description
Recurring Motifs
alcohol (especially sherry)travel and trainsfood and gastronomycomparisons between European literature and Japanese culturerelationship with his father, Shigeru Yoshida

Health

  • Acute illness (1977, became unwell during a trip to Europe)
    1977年7月〜8月（入退院の記録あり、8月3日死去）
    Fell ill during a European trip in 1977 and was hospitalized upon return; discharged briefly but died at home on August 3, 1977.

Legacy

Kenichi Yoshida left a wide-ranging body of work as an English literature scholar, critic, translator and essayist. His distinctive long-flowing prose, interest in food and travel, and comparative perspective on European and Japanese culture influenced later writers and critics. His papers and manuscripts were donated to the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature.

Museums

  • Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature (Yoshida Kenichi Collection) Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan Opened in 2016

Academic Societies

  • Chuo University, Faculty of Letters (teaching post)

Archives

  • Yoshida Kenichi Collection (Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature)

In Popular Culture

  • Yasuyuki Konishi (Pizzicato Five) often quoted a passage from Yoshida's essay 'Nagasaki' and used it as a tribute album title.
  • The book 'Time' appears as a prop in the film 'Jiyugaoka de'.

Quotes

  • The only means of opposing war is for each person to make their own life beautiful and cling to it.
    Source: Essay 'Nagasaki' (1957)

Trivia

  • He loved dogs throughout his life and named several mongrel female dogs (e.g., 'Hikoshichi').
  • Credited with naming the Kanazawa sake brand 'Kuroobi' (Black Belt).
  • Served as a defense witness in the 1951 Chatterley obscenity trial in Japan.
  • His father was Shigeru Yoshida, a former Prime Minister of Japan; their relationship was complicated.
  • His family donated about 5,700 items of his papers to the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature in 2016.