Takiji Kobayashi

Takiji Kobayashi (1903–1933) was a Japanese author associated with proletarian literature. He is most famous for his 1929 short novel *Kani Kōsen* (often translated as *Crab Cannery Ship*), which follows cannery workers, fishermen, and seamen aboard a factory ship as they endure harsh conditions and eventually rebel against the company and its managers. Kobayashi died at age 29 from injuries sustained during violent torture after his arrest by the Special Higher Police.

Kobayashi was born in Odate, Akita, Japan. When he was four, his family relocated to Otaru, Hokkaido. Though his family was not well-off, an uncle covered his school fees, allowing him to attend Hokkaido Otaru Commercial High School and later Otaru Commercial School of Higher Learning (now Otaru University of Commerce). While a student, he developed an interest in writing, contributing essays to literary magazines, serving on his school’s alumni magazine editorial committee, and publishing his own work. One of his teachers was economist, critic, and poet Nobuyuki Okuma. During this period, financial strain and the economic recession led him to join the labor movement.

After graduating, Kobayashi worked at the Otaru branch of the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank. In the 1928 general election, he assisted candidate Kenzo Yamamoto’s campaign and attended a speech in a village at the base of Mount Yōtei—an experience he later used in his book *Higashikutchankō*. That same year, his story *March 15, 1928*, based on the March 15 incident, appeared in the literary magazine *Senki*. The story depicted torture by the Tokkō special higher police, angering government officials.

In 1929, *Kanikōsen* was published in *Senki*. It quickly drew attention and notoriety, becoming a key work of Marxist proletarian literature. In July of that year, it was adapted into a theatrical performance titled *North of latitude 50 degrees north* at the Imperial Garden Theater. The full text of *Kanikōsen*, now a short novel, was not available in Japan until 1948. It has been translated into English three times—as *The Cannery Boat* (1933), *The Factory Ship* (1973), and *The Crab Cannery Ship* (2013)—as well as into other languages.

Also in 1929, Kobayashi published *The Absentee Landlord*, after working on several versions. The novel describes the difficult lives of local and immigrant tenant farmers in Hokkaido and their struggles against wealthy landowners, set against Japan’s efforts to colonize and develop the island. The story is set in the unnamed village of 'S.', near Asahikawa, along the Ishikari River valley, about 80 miles northeast of Otaru.

The police, particularly the Tokkō, placed Kobayashi under surveillance. That same year, the publication of *The Absentee Landlord* in the *Chūōkōron* magazine led to his dismissal from the bank.

In spring 1930, Kobayashi moved to Tokyo and became secretary general of the Proletarian Writer's Guild of Japan. On May 23, he was arrested on suspicion of financially supporting the Japanese Communist Party, then released on June 7. After returning to Tokyo on June 24, he was arrested again. In July, due to *Kanikōsen*, he was indicted on charges of lèse-majesté. In August, he was prosecuted under the 1900 Public Order and Police Law and imprisoned in Toyotama Penitentiary. He was released on bail on January 22, 1931, and then secluded himself at Nanasawa Hot Spring in Kanagawa Prefecture. In October 1931, he officially joined the outlawed Japan Communist Party.

In November, he visited Naoya Shiga’s house in Nara Prefecture, and in spring 1932, he went underground.

On February 20, 1933, Kobayashi went to a meeting spot in Akasaka to meet a fellow Communist Party member, who was actually a Tokkō spy. The Tokkō were waiting, and though he tried to flee, he was captured and arrested. He was taken to Tsukiji Police Station and tortured. The police announced the next day that he had died of a heart attack. No hospital would perform an autopsy out of fear of the Tokkō.

In 2008, *Kanikōsen* became an unexpected bestseller after an advertising campaign linked the novel to the working poor.

Kobayashi’s major works have been translated into many languages, including Russian, Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish, Basque, Italian, Portuguese, German, French, Polish, Czech, Swedish, and Norwegian. In 1933, *The Cannery Boat and other Japanese short stories* was published in New York by International Publishers, with an anonymous translation by William Maxwell "Max" Bickerton. Due to censorship, this translation of *Kanikōsen* was incomplete, containing just over half of the original text. The full novel was not available in Japan until 1948. In 1973, the University of Tokyo Press, under UNESCO sponsorship, published English translations of *The Factory Ship* and *The Absentee Landlord* by Frank Motofuji. In 2013, the University of Hawaii Press released *The Crab Cannery Ship and Other Novels of Struggle*, which included a new translation.