The Autobiographical Narrative in Modern Japan: A Study of Kasai Zenzo, a Shi-shosetsu Writer

This study offers both a chronological description of the literary career of Kasai Zenzo (1887-1928), as well as an historical examination of shi-shosetsu (a Japanese autobiographical/confessional literary genre) during and after his lifetime. Kasai, living his entire life in poverty, turned to Zen Buddhism for spiritual solace and became both a major architect of the Taisho shi-shosetsu and its defining author.