Symposium on Tanizaki Jun'ichiro

On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of its founding, the Japanese Studies Institute of the Department of Indian and Far Eastern Studies at the University of Venice, Italy organized an international symposium on Tanizaki Jun'ichiro(1886-1965) to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the writer's death. The symposium was held on April 5-8, in the magnificent Aula Magna of the University of Venice. The Japanese Ambassador to Italy, Hanabusa Masamichi, the Director of the Japanese Culture Institute in Rome, Nishimoto Koji, and the Chairman of Chuokoronsha, sponsor of the Symposium, and an old friend of Tanizaki, Shimanaka Hoji, addressed the participants.
The opening speech, entitled I colori dell'ombra, was given by Maria Teresa Orsi of the University of Rome, and concerned the colours of the shadows so praised by Tanizaki. The five sessions which followed consisted of four papers each. Several subjects were examined in depth and the discussion was lively and animated. Donald Keene and Jean- Jacques Tschudin spoke about Tanizaki's writing for the theatre and their papers shed new light on a subject not often addressed by critics. The field of cinema was examined from the point of view of Tanizaki's active participation in the industry during the 1920s (Joanne Bernardi) and of the misadaptions of his novels (Donald Richie).
Sasameyuki was studies as a political novel (Anthony Chambers), as a story which can be read as an emaki (Chiba Shunji), and as a work in which disease can be seen as a metaphor (William Johnston). Close attention was paid to references (Jacqueline Pigeot in Yoshino kuzu; Mikolaj Melanowicz also in Yoshino kuzu; Anthony Liman in Haha o kouru ki; Ken Ito in Itansha no kanashimi) and narrative styles (Howard Hibbett spoke about comic mischief in Tanizaki; Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit examined the writer's art of storytelling; Anne Bayard- Sakai explored the 'double face' of his writing, especially in A to B no hanashi and Tomoda to Matsunaga no hanashi). This latter work was also examined by Paul McCarthy in his paper on the 'West' in Tanizaki. A broader perspective on the work of the author was presented by Suzuki Sadami, who saw Tanizaki as a cultural critic, and by the writer Kono Taeko, who gave a personal interpretation of 'presentiment' in Tanizaki's literature. The theme of foot-fetishism, which was present throughout in the logo of the Symposium -- the famous Bussokuseki designed by Munakata Shiko for the first edition of Futen rojin nikki (1966) -- was taken up by Adriana Boscaro in her paper examining descriptions of the beauty of feet in Tanizaki's early works. Two recollections closed the Symposium: one from Ibuki Kazuko, Tanizaki's secretary for many years; another, most moving, from Takeya Naomi, scholar of Italian literature at Osaka University of Arts. Some years ago Ms Takeya succeeded in saving one of Tanizaki's residences, the 'Ishoan', from demolition by having it moved to another area. She showed slides of the Great Hanshin Earthquake and of 'Ishoan', which thanks to its removal is now the only traditional Japanese house remaining in the area. The double message Ms Takeya brought to all the participants was to urge them to continue to spread knowledge of Tanizaki's literature throughout the world, and to say 'many thanks from Kobe. Ishoan is still standing'.

Professor Adriana Boscaro of the Japanese Studies Institute of Venice was the organizer of the Symposium on Tanizaki Jun'ichiro.