From Out of the Depths: The Japanese Literary Response to Christianity

Abstract

In thus highlighting the apparent irreconcilability of literature and religion, Endō Shūsaku, one of the most prominent authors in contemporary Japan, is here touching upon an issue that has long been a topic for debate in both literary and religious circles. Whilst clearly not unique to Japan, the concept would appear to have exerted an undue influence on the development of the literature of a nation which at no stage this century has boasted more than 1.5 per cent of its total population as adherents to Christianity. It is the aim of this essay to assess the extent to which Japanese literature has been influenced by Christianity over the past century and, in so doing, to explore several possible explanations for this apparently disproportionate influence. In this, the intent is clearly not to posit a new genre of ‘Christian literature’: to do so would be not only to ignore the differing awareness of problems which form the basis of each author’s art, but also to overlook the extent to which each has been integrated — or rather, has succeeded in integrating himself — into the mainstream of contemporary Japanese literature.² Nevertheless, in focusing on these authors struggling against the contradictions and irra?tionality of the age, certain similarities of approach do emerge, and it is these which this essay will seek to address. Before this is possible, however, consideration must be made of the often uneasy coexistence between the Christian faith on the one hand and the world of fiction on the other.

The Christian must distance himself from Evil. He is forbidden from approaching Evil. But the author is not permitted to avert his gaze from any aspect of the human soul — which includes not only the beautiful and good aspects, but also the objectionable and evil realm. He must confront every aspect of the human heart. Thus, anyone confronted with the duty of the believer on the one hand and the obligations of the author on the other cannot help but experience the pain of this contradiction.¹.