『細雪』の中の戦争 -蒔岡家を囲む外国人との交流を通じて

War in “Sasameyuki” Reflected in the interactions of the foreigners surrounding the Makioka family

Junichiro Tanizaki’s novel “Sasameyuki” is a serial work which he started in 1943, but its publication was interrupted by the military, as they deemed it not suitable for wartime. However, Tanizaki continued writing it even when the prospect of its publication was not assured, and it was completed in 1948 and was then published. The story depicts the everyday lives of four sisters who own a store in Senba, which was “time-honored from the Tokugawa period”. The marriage proposal Yukiko (the third daughter) receives and the love affair of Taeko (the fourth daughter) are the central axes of “Sasameyuki”. “Sasameyuki” is thought as a work of “Anti-era” as a work depicting the extravagant everyday life of the Makioka sister, and It has been thought that “not fitting in the wartime” in the military is due to this “extravagant everyday”. However, in this paper, we consider this concept of “Anti-era” as “denial to the times”. Various characters in the story mainly emerge in relation to Yukiko’s marriage and Taeko’s love affair. However, the Stolz family who are neighbors of the Sachiko and Kirilenko families who in turn are acquaintances of Taeko, appear frequently in the novel, despite the fact that they have no involvement in the Makioka family’s activities. The Stolzes are a German family who run a shop in Kobe, and they and the Makioka family become close to each other because the former have a son and daughter who are about Sachiko’s daughter Etsuko’s age. The Kirilenkos are an exiled Russian family and their daughter Katarina helps provide the motive for Taeko to learn how to make a doll. Although the Stolz and the Kirilenko families, both foreign, seem to be similar, it has been pointed out that there is a difference in the attitude that the Makioka family displays toward them. The Makiokas proactively engage with the Stolz family to the extent of inviting them to their house, but they don t extend this welcome to the Kirilenko family. The favorable attitude towards the Stolz family that the Makioka family displays is believed to reflect the strong Japan-Germany relations of that time. In addition, Teinosuke’s attentive attitude toward the Kirilenko family echoes the state of Japan-Soviet relations of the period after the Russian revolution. The era of war, which had not appeared until then, is appeared when the Stolz family leaves Japan and returns to Germany. It is believed that Tanizaki’s perception of the war is reflected in the letters exchanged between the Stolz and the Makioka families. Although the circumstances of the Stolz family’s departure is depicted in detail, on the other hand, Catalina’s departure is not described, only referred to in conversation among the Makioka family. The fate of Catalina is also only transmitted indirectly through messages from others, and the Makioka family engages in a miscalculation at her expense. The Makioka family’s miscalculation at Catalina is regarded as a miscalculation in the war for the reader after the war. In these ways the depiction of the Stolz and Kirilenko families functions as a narrative device which encourages the reader to remember the war.