Atsushi Nakajima

Atsushi Nakajima (中島 敦) was a Japanese author known for his unique style and self-introspective themes.

His major works include "The Moon Over the Mountain" and "Light, Wind and Dreams" with the former being published in many Japanese textbooks.

During his life he wrote about 20 works, including unfinished works, typically inspired by Classical Chinese stories and his own life experiences.

Atsushi Nakajima was born in Yotsuya ward, Tokyo, Japan on 5 May 1909.

He was born into a family of Confucian Scholars with his father, grandfather and three uncles being scholars themselves.

Nakajima's childhood is filled with turbulent times with his parents divorcing two years into their marriage and less than one year since Nakajima was born.

The infant Nakajima was then sent to Saitama Prefecture where his grandparents lived, where he would be taken care of.

Unfortunately one year after he was sent to his grandparents, his grandfather died.

In February 1914, he would be sent to his father who at this point had remarried.

His father worked a teaching job and often transferred to many different locations.

He would also remain as an only child until 1914, where his step-mother gave birth to his half-sister, unfortunately his step-mother would die during childbirth.

In 1918 he would move to Seoul and later on in 1920 he also moved to Manchuria for his father's teaching job.

Because of this teaching job, the young Nakajima often transferred schools which led to a feeling of isolation.

Despite his frequent transfers however, Nakajima was known for being an intelligent student who consistently received good grades.

His family life was equally rough as he was not very close to his father and his stepmother would abuse him.

His father then remarried for the third time in 1924 but his new stepmother would also continue to be equally abusive.

Through his childhood, Nakajima had poor health.

He would develop asthma at the age of 17 which would continue for the rest of his life.

Despite his family's deep roots in Chinese studies and Nakajima's knowledge on the topic, he decided to enroll into the University of Tokyo where he would study Japanese literature.

He would make his graduation thesis on the topic of Aestheticism.

The thesis, titled "The Study of Aestheticism" traces the influences of modern Japanese literature to Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire.

The thesis then also proceeds to analyze the works of Tanizaki Jun'ichirō, Mori Ōgai, Ueda Bin and Nagai Kafū.

After graduating, he would get married with Taka Hashimoto.

The couple had three children: Takeshi, Masako, and Kaku.

Sadly, Masako died three days after her birth.

His literary career started very early into his life.

After graduating from his school in Seoul, he would join the Tokyo First Higher School's (第一高等学校) literary program where he would begin writing fiction.

In 1927 he would begin publishing in the school's literary magazine and by 1929 he would become a member of the editorial staff.

During this period he would begin showing his signature style of setting his stories in exotic locations such as China or Korea along with recurring themes of self-doubt, questions on the meaning of life, isolation, fate and the nature of human existence.

Some of his later works also display a sense of irony and satire.

Despite his skills as an author, Nakajima barely published any of his works to literary magazines due to him having high literary standards and Nakajima lacking the confidence to publish in these journals.

One of Nakajima's most well-known literary works is The Moon Over the Mountain (山月記) sometimes also known as Tiger Poet (人虎伝).

The story is derived from a story from the Tang dynasty period.

The story was first published in the February 1942 issue of Bungakukai.

The Moon Over the Mountain tells the story of Yuan Can who recently had heard about a man-eating tiger roaming around his area.

One day he encountered the tiger and the tiger started speaking to him.

Yuan Can discovered that the tiger was his friend named Li Zheng (李徴), Li Zheng was smart and could qualify as a government official but his true ambition was to be a poet.

Unfortunately, he failed and started working as a government official.

While traveling for official business one day, Li Zheng claims that he went insane and transformed into a tiger.

Li Zheng claims that this was because of the "cowardly pride" and "arrogant shame" he harbored within him which caused him to transform into the tiger.