Those Who Cannot Find Their Way Home ：Focus on Takeo ODA’s <i>Bokyo</i>

LIN, Liting

doi:2020.10.1.111

The Journal of Japanese Language Literature Studies > Volume 10(1); 2020 > Article

Special Issue

Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies 2020;10(1): 111-126.
doi: https://doi.org/10.22628/bcjjl.2020.10.1.111

Those Who Cannot Find Their Way Home ：Focus on Takeo ODA’s Bokyo

Liting LIN

International Research Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

海を渡れない人 ―― 小田嶽夫｢望郷｣を中心に

林麗婷

日本学術振興会外国人特別研究員、神戸大学招へい外国人研究者

Correspondence Liting LIN ,Email: ajiaajia111@gmail.com

Published online: 30 June 2020.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses Takeo Oda’s novella Bokyo( 望郷 ), which is about Keirin Ko(黄景林), a half-Chinese, half-Japanese intellectual living in Japan and seeking to return to his hometown, Hangzhou (杭州), after World War II. First, this paper surveys news and reports about the problems of overseas Chinese going back to China, a theme which is central to Bokyo, in this way conveying the dilemma of overseas Chinese who face the problem of what constitutes a “hometown”. Second, it analyzes the protagonist of Bokyo, and argues that Keirin Ko’s experience is similar to that of Jingsun Tao(陶晶孫), a Chinese intellectual who escaped to Japan after a stay in Taiwan. However, this study indicates that having a Japanese mother complicates Keirin Ko’s national identity. Third, the paper considers changes in the image of West Lake(西湖), especially its connection with Manshu SU(蘇曼殊), which are highlighted in Bokyo, and concludes that West Lake represents a spiritual base of diaspora intellectuals who are removed from their motherland.

Keywords: Takeo Oda, Bokyo, Overseas Chinese in Japan, Jingsun Tao, West Lake

キ―ワ―ド: 小田嶽夫, 望郷, 在日華僑, 陶晶孫, 西湖