Takayama Chogyū

Takayama Chogyū (高山樗牛), real name Takayama Rinjiro, was a Japanese author and literary critic. He profoundly influenced Japanese literature in the late Meiji period with his blend of romantic individualism, concepts of self-realization, aesthetics, and nationalism. However, many of Chogyū's works seems cryptic to contemporary readers due to the archaic style which he employed.

Early life
Chogyū was born in Tsuruoka city in Yamagata Prefecture. His father was a minor samurai of the Shonai domain, who found employment with the police after the Meiji Restoration. At the age of two he was adopted by his aunt's family.

In 1887 he entered high school in Sendai, where he excelled in English language and English literature. While studying philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University, he was influenced by Thomas Hill Green's concepts of self-realization and nationalism.

Literary career
Chogyū entered and won a fiction contest sponsored by Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper for his semi-historical romance, Takiguchi Nyudo. While still a student, he co-founded the literary journal Teikoku Bungaku ("Imperial Literature") and submitted articles to the literary magazine, Taiyō ("Sun"), of which he later became senior editor. He also changed his official residence to Hokkaidō to avoid military conscription.

In 1896, Chogyū returned to Sendai to teach English and logic at a prestigious high school. A student revolt the following year forced him give up teaching to edit a literary magazine, and he returned Tokyo. It was at this time he married Sato Sugi.

During the surge of ultra-nationalism that enveloped Japan in the wake of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895. Chogyū wrote about his identity as a Japanese. He regarded nationalism as laudable in some respects, but also recognized a need to cooperate internationally. Although patriotic, Chogyū later expressed concern with the militaristic tendencies developing in Japan.

In 1900, Ministry of Education selected Chogyū to study in Europe together with Natsume Sōseki, but he developed tuberculosis and declined. During his convalescence, he wrote articles praising Friedrich Nietzsche and on aesthetics. In 1901, Chogyū became a professor at Toyo University. Teaching one day a week, he devoted most of his time to writing. In 1902, he received a doctorate in literature from Tokyo Imperial University, writing about Asuka period art. The work left him exhausted.

As sea air was thought to be helpful for lung ailments, Chogyū moved from Tokyo to the seaside resort towns of Atami, Shimizu, Oiso, and finally to Kamakura in an effort to cure his disease. With the likelihood of recovery increasingly remote, he turned his attention the teachings of 13th century Buddhist leader, Nichiren. He continued to write, but on religious philosophy, especially Nichirenism. Unfortunately, his condition worsened and he died on 24 December 1902 at a hospital in nearby Chigasaki. He lived in a house within the precincts of Kamakura's Hase-dera during the last year of his life, and his funeral rites were at the temple.

However, his grave is located at Ryuge-ji, a temple in Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture. The inscription on the grave is from one of his writings: “Obviously we should transcend the present”.

Although Chogyū's literary career spanned a mere six years, he had a major impact on other Japanese writers and it is a pity he is unknown outside of Japan.