Takizawa Bakin was the dominant Japanese writer of the early 19th century, admired for his lengthy, serious historical novels that are highly moral in tone.
Background
Takizawa Bakin was born on July 4, 1767 in Tokyo, Japan. Bakin was the fifth son of Omon and Okiyoshi.
His father, Okiyoshi, was a samurai in the service of one of the Shōgun's retainers, Matsudaira Nobunari. Two of his older brothers died in infancy, while the other two, Rabun (1759-1798) and Keichū (1765-1786), played pivotal roles in Bakin's life. He had two younger sisters, Ohisa, born in 1771, and Okiku, born in 1774.
In his diaries, Bakin wrote that his father, a heavy drinker, was devoted to scholarship and the classics, and diligent in his work as a samurai. He died in 1775, when Bakin was only nine years old, having aggravated his gout through drinking.
Bakin's family stipend was soon reduced by half, and in December of the following year, Rabun gave up his service to the Matsudaira clan in favor of living as a rōnin. Bakin and his family were forced into a much smaller dwelling as a result.
Education
He became a disciple of Kyoden Santo and took up serious writing, implementing his income by selling drugs on the side.
Career
Takizawa's first novel "Gepyo Kien" was a great success and established him as a promising writer. His second attempt "Nanso Satomi Hakkenaen" was another best-seller, and after this he began putting out book after book in regular succession.
With his more than 30 long novels - known as yomihon, "reading books" - Bakin created the historical romance in Japan. Court romances, military chronicles, nō plays, popular dramas, legends, and Chinese vernacular fiction all furnished him material. He freed the novel in Tokyo from subservience to actor, illustrator, and raconteur. Loyalty, filial piety, and the restoration of once-great families were his main themes. His special attention to Chinese civilization, Buddhist philosophy, and national history was tempered by a concern for language and style, compassion for his fellow man, and a belief in human dignity. Still, the samurai tradition and his own innate stubbornness led him to support the established order and gave a strong note of didacticism to his writing. Bakin’s finest work is Nansō Satomi hakkenden (1814-1842; "Satomi and the Eight Dogs"), on the theme of restoring a family’s fortunes.
In 1828 Takizawa began writing "Kinsei Bishonenroku" (Accounts of Handsome Boys) and he lost the sight of his right eye in 1833 and became totally blind in 1840. More misfortune awaited the hapless man: the following year his wife died and he had to seek refuge with relatives. In spite of all this he kept on writing and eventually finished Hakken-den, a work that took 28 years to complete. Poverty soon caught up with him and it was with great difficulty that he could sustain his beloved grandson. The first to go under the hammer was his cherished library of about 5,000 books, but not till he died did he stop writing. In the 60 years he spent writing he completed more than 260 works.
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
He became blind in 1840.