rebellious storyteller shichirou sosazawa---1971

rebellious storyteller shichirou sosazawa---1971
Shichirou Ozawa was a unique figure in postwar Japanese literature, best known for his masterpiece Narayama Bushiyo (1956). This work, based on the custom of "ubasai," or the practice of reducing the mouths of the elderly, depicts ethics, familial love, and the dignity of aging in an extreme village society, and sharply questions the nature of human cruelty and survival. With its simple narrative and anti-modern and anti-moral viewpoints, the film had a great impact in the 1950s, when the ideals of postwar democracy were becoming more prevalent, and it attracted both praise and disapproval. In 1960, he was forced to go into hiding for a long period of time after his short stories, which included criticism of the emperor, provoked a backlash from right-wing groups, and the "Fukazawa Shichiro blackmail incident" occurred. The existence of Fukasawa brought to light the gap between democratic ideals and the real structure of oppression. His way of life embodied the image of a reb
ellious intellectual.