Strolling around the former homes of literary figures (Bunkyo Ward) ~JAN, 2025~

This may be what we call "oshikatsu（favorite activities)" today, but I wandered around the former residences of Meiji period literary figures. It's been 100 years since they passed away, so I don't think I'm called as a stalker. I lived in a student dormitory in Koishikawa when I was a student, so I know the area well. However, nearly 40 years have passed, and I was worried about the changes in the city, but the streets of Bunkyo Ward have not changed much, and it was a fun walk, as it seems to quietly support these historical sites. Natsume Soseki lived in Sendagi after returning from studying in the UK, and taught at the First High School and the University of Tokyo, during which he wrote "I Am a Cat" and "London Island," which drew him attention as a novelist.

In the same town, Takamura Koun and his son Kotaro lived nearby. There is a sign at the site of the house where Kotaro married Chieko and lived. It is believed to have been in a quiet residential area at the time, but the sky there must have looked different from the sky overlooking Mount Adatara.

Sendagi is also home to Mori Ogai's former residence, Kancho-ro, where Bunkyo Ward built a memorial museum in 2012 to display his belongings and documents. It is a stylish building designed by Toki Fumio, and I was impressed that Bunkyo Ward was serious about something of Ogai's caliber. I also thought that in today's intolerant world（tax money use is easily criticized), it is important to carry out projects like this, which involve passing on and leaving behind things for future generations. Incidentally, during the latter half of the Meiji period when Ogai lived there, the view of Shinagawa-oki was still visible from the second floor, which is why it was named Kancho-ro.

Bunkyo Ward is located on the eastern edge of the so-called "Musashino Plateau," but there are several valleys cutting north and south toward the Kanda River, and there are many slopes. Especially when moving east to west, you are at the mercy of going up and down hills, but walking up hills that didn't bother me much when I was a student for the first time in a long time made me realize how old I am. On the way from Sendagi to Kikuzaka in Hongo, you can see the Yayoi Campus of the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Agriculture, and Yayoi-style pottery was discovered around here. After the Jomon Sea Level Transgression ended and the sea level receded offshore, this plateau was probably the first place to be livable.

Along with Kyoka Izumi and Saisei Muro, Tokuda Shusei is known as one of the three great Kanazawa writers, but he may not be as well known as the other two. After the death of his father, who was a retainer of the Yokoyama clan and chief retainer of the Kaga domain, Shusei dropped out of the Fourth High School and moved to Tokyo. He studied under Koyo Ozaki and was an active novelist from the Meiji period until the prewar period. 

Down Kikuzaka, across Kasuga-dori, there is a barber shop called Kinotoko, where Ishikawa Takuboku lived with his family on the second floor, and it is still in business today. It was rebuilt half a century ago to expand Kasuga-dori, and the old house seems to have been moved to Meiji-mura in Aichi Prefecture, so I'd like to go see it someday.

Kyosuke Kindaichi, who was two years older than Takuboku at Morioka Junior High School, seems to have taken care of Takuboku when he moved to Tokyo. Not only financially, but he also took him to poetry gatherings at the Kanchoro Theater, which Ogai hosted, and made an effort to help him become famous as a novelist. Unfortunately, Takuboku died young at the age of 26.

The house of Kyosuke Kindaichi was on the edge of the Hongo Plateau, and the house of Shoyo Tsubouchi was nearby. From there, down the Abumizaka slope, you will find the former residence of Ichiyo Higuchi, at a narrow alley like the bottom of a valley. Bunkyo Ward is clearly divided into residential areas on high ground and tenement houses on low ground, and this area in particular has steep slopes and narrow alleys intersecting, leaving traces of the time. Ichiyo wrote "Takekurabe", "Nigorie" and "Juusan-ya" in succession for 14 months until she died of tuberculosis at the age of 24, and it is moving to think that she was so absorbed in her writing that she was squeezing her life out of the sun in a tenement house. Mori Ogai was a superhuman who reached the highest rank of military doctor and was also famous as a novelist and literary figure, but he introduced Ichiyo to a famous doctor, telling her, "You, this talent should not be ended."

Sato Haruo's former home is located in the upscale residential area of Sekiguchi. The area is also highly cultural, with Chinzanso and the Hosokawa family's Eisei Bunko nearby. When I was in high school, I read poems by Hagiwara Sakutaro and Nakahara Chuya, but I was shocked and hooked by Sato Haruo's poem (Love by the Seaside) recited by Mr. Okui Kiyoshi (English teacher) at my prep school. I was also shocked to find out later that many of the love poems were about adultery, but there are many excellent poems, including one about pacific saury, that touch the heartstrings of sadness that lie deep in the heart.

Omachi Keigetsu spent his final years at Tsuta Onsen, near Lake Towada and Oirase, but up until then his base was Mejirodai. I stayed at the onsen for two nights last summer and retraced his steps at the Omachi Keigetsu Museum in the inn. I was impressed that he was not just a poet, but also a traveler and a heavy drinker.

The baths and bathhouse are built on the bedrock where the 46℃ hot spring water gushes out directly, making for an extremely luxurious experience. I plan to go again this year.