Chapter 2.1: The Mentor | JAPAN Forward

Mr Shintaro Ishihara was the Goethe of Japan. I was his pupil, a person in the same profession, and his escort runner. In this chapter, I have woven together my private recollections, which span as long as twenty-plus years, and "my unfulfilled promise" to him. ー Shin Ushijima

Chapter 2.1: 師 The Mentor

Read other chapters in My Mentor, Shintaro Ishihara

Mr Shintaro Ishihara would call me from time to time, sometimes out of the blue and sometimes with advance notice. When I was unable to take his call, he sometimes left a message with my secretary asking me to call him back.

I have already written that Mr Ishihara's unique kindness and consideration were reflected in his manner of making phone calls.

One time, he called me out of the blue and said, "You should read Sei Ito's Transformation" (Iwanami Shoten Publishers, 1983).

As if on cue, I replied, "Transformation' is my favorite novel. So, I've read it many times." It was true. As I had once lived in Gyotoku, I had a special affection toward Transformation because it introduced Gyotoku on the Tozai Line, which extended only to Otemachi in those days.

"As its name suggests, the Tozai Line, which terminates at Otemachi now, is going to be extended further east in the near future. It will go beneath the Sumida River around the Eitai Bridge, to reach Fukagawa. And then it will go still further east, beyond the Arakawa flood bypass, pass Gyotoku, which is famous for seaweed and shellfish, and finally emerge near Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture." (P 205 of Transformation.) I had drawn a line on the side of the two-character word 行徳 (Gyotoku) in pencil.

"Oh, is that so?" Mr Ishihara seemed to be satisfied with my response and became quite talkative.

"The book is really interesting, isn't it? I couldn't help but laugh while reading. It's quite a delightful, grown-up book," he said in a merry tone.

"Sei Ito was quite the womanizer."

Ito the Man

What Mr Ishihara said came as no surprise to me. I was fond of Sei Ito so much so that I had read his complete works. One can easily understand from his writing how much Sei Ito valued heterosexual relationships as an important part of life.

*Sei Ito, writer. (Tokyo Institute of Technology Facebook page)*

But looking back now, Mr Ishihara might have had an ulterior purpose behind introducing Sei Ito's "Transformation" to me.

I think that I also mentioned Sei Ito's Flood (氾濫, Shincho Paperbacks, 1958) in that phone conversation. It was Flood that had endeared Sei Ito to me.

For those who have not yet read Transformation, I will recapitulate what must have interested Mr Ishihara at the time.

The Impact of 'Transformation'

First of all, the theme begins with the mandala-like endless succession of past and present sexual encounters of a man named Hokumei Tatsuta, an amorous painter nearing 60 years of age, and the theories of art and life he believes he has obtained from them. One of the mandala patterns, Ito depicts a scene in which a man called Tosei Iwai, an older painter who has lost sexual potency at the age of 70, appears and teaches a lesson to Hokumei Tatsuta:

"'Tatsuta-kun, when you reach 70, you'll realize that the impurities, lust, and evil thoughts that you squashed in yourself in the past were all drops of life. It seems to me that I've reached 70 just to understand that. Life is leaking and will disappear in time. You'll see how wonderful it is to live, feel, and touch ー humanity exists there. Words are not enough; it goes beyond conversation.'

"Iwai glowered at me as if to threaten me, then averted his eyes, casting me an envious look, and raged, as if grinding his teeth at the realization that life itself was lost. This seeming fierceness explained the reason why his entourage left him, one after another, entrusting his care to me." (P 299 of Transformation.)

I read Transformation in my twenties.

It was as a university student that I read another work of Sei Ito for the first time. I had just watched the movie adaptation of Flood on a tiny, seven-inch, wine-red Sony black-and-white television set. The movie starred Sachiko Hidari and Shin Saburi. I was particularly impressed by the scene where Sachiko, who had bummed money off the man, took a defiant attitude when the man accused her of infidelity. Moreover, I became lost in her beauty.

So, I immediately bought the paperback edition of Flood.

Treasures on the Shelf

Taking the worn-out book from the bookcase in my study, I looked and found a penciled inscription on the copyright page. It said that I finished reading the book on February 27, 1971. That was my freshman year at university.

To my surprise, there was also a note that I had read it for a second time on February 14, 2003. I was 53 at the time. It can be quite useful to jot down things that have happened for future reference.

There was more, too. The book was still neatly wrapped in paraffin paper, which showed how much I cherished it. Each one of my books was precious in those days, and their care showed that I had some time to appreciate them.

It was my habit in those days. Books deserve to be bought, kept, and displayed on bookshelves. That is my firm belief.

But even so, what inspired me to read the book again after a lapse of 32 years? I should have been too busy at the age of 53 to reread the book.

Undoubtedly, it was a talk with Mr Ishihara that aroused my interest to read it again. We must have talked about Sei Ito immediately before February 14, 2003. That's the only possible explanation.

After Mr Ishihara told me how much pleasure he took in reading Transformation, I brought up Flood. That instilled an element of nostalgia and put me in the mood to read it again. In addition, we might have talked about Takeo Okuno, who had helped Sei Ito while he was writing Flood. And I mentioned the movie adaptation of Flood, but I do not remember whether Sachiko Hidari and Shin Saburi were brought up in our conversation. Had they been discussed, I would remember.

Ages and Antonyms

When Mr Ishihara and I talked on the phone about Sei Ito and his novels, I was 53 years old.

In that case, Mr Ishihara was already 70!

Coincidentally, a sub-protagonist in the story, Tosei Iwai, was the same age as Mr Ishihara. Iwai, whom Sei Ito added to the cast of Flood, was named using an antonym created on a variation of the author's own name.

Mr Ishihara should not have been envious of me, aged fifty-three, thinking, "You're still sexually useful." According to Toru Kenjo (Gentosha), Mr Ishihara's close friend for a good many years, Ishihara kept sexually active even over eighty. That is so like Mr Ishihara.

Sei Ito held a special place in Mr Ishihara's life. continued to be an irreplaceable being for Mr Ishihara.

Ishihara himself wrote that, although he had enrolled at Hitotsubashi University, he was never satisfied with the undergraduate lectures of his faculty. Meanwhile, he and his friend Kiyoshi Nishimura were devoted to reviving the coterie magazine, Hitotsubashi Bungei, which was defunct at the time. Twice, the two friends visited Sei Ito, already a popular novelist, to beg him for money to revive the magazine.

Ishihara also contributed A Bleak Classroom (灰色の教室, Hitotsubashi Literature, Reprint No 1) to the first revived edition. From there, his novel attracted the attention of author Fukashi Asami, who had contributed reviews to the monthly literary magazine, Bungakukai. Asami also published a few lines of comment in favor of Mr Ishihara.

It was exactly the moment when Lady Luck smiled on the life of Shintaro Ishihara, or rather, embraced him tightly.

Ito The Mentor

Everyone knows that Shintaro Ishihara became a star by winning the Akutagawa Prize for Season of the Sun. But around that time, Ishihara also asked Sei Ito for advice on what to do with the dramatic developments in his life.

"One thing led to another, and I've suddenly risen to prominence, being sought after here and there. How can I deal with this situation? I'm feeling a bit delighted but a bit intimidated, too, and I'm totally puzzled," Ishihara admitted, asking for Sei Ito's advice. In reply, Ito advised, "[I] Think it's too good an opportunity to pass up, so you can jump, skip, and run wild as you like. If you blunder, you can write about it. That's what being a novelist is all about."

Mr Ishihara was very much persuaded, and after that, it seemed that whatever he attempted, he never failed to produce successful results.

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(To read the book in Japanese, please visit the publisher's website.)