Shusaku Endo: An Introduction

Shusaku Endo was born in Tokyo March 27, 1923. Shortly after his birth, Endo’s family moved to a Japanese-occupied area in China (Manchuria), where they lived until his parents divorced in 1933. Endo then moved back to Japan with his mom, where they settled in Kobe, living with one of his aunts. 

In 1943 he began attending Keio University, but his schooling was interrupted by the break out of war. Endo was prevented from fighting due to poor health, so instead he worked in a munitions factory. During this time he also submitted to various literary journals, one of which he would become chief editor of in later years (Mita Bungaku).

After graduating from college Endo attended Waseda University with the intent of pursuing medicine. However after a visit to the University of Lyons, he then became interested in the work of French Catholic authors and as a result completed a degree in French literature. Endo also spent time teaching college courses at both Sophia and Seijo University.

Although Endo had a teaching career, he was first and foremost a novelist. Along with a few other names Shusaku Endo is recognized as being one of the “third generation”, the third major group of writers following World War II. In 1954 Endo won the AkutagawaPrize for Shiroi Hito (White Men), one of the first stepping-stones in building his reputation as an influential author. Endo was also awarded the Tanizaki Prize for Silence in 1966 and narrowly missed being given the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. The next year he was given the Order of Culture, a special honor awarded by the Emperor of Japan to those individuals who have contributed to Japan’s art, literature or culture.

For all of Endo’s success in the literary world, he had quite different luck in that of physical health. When visiting France in 1952 he contracted pleurisy, a disease of the lungs and chest. In 1960 when he returned to France, Endo again caught the disease and spent the next three years in and out of hospitals in both France and Japan. It is also rumored that throughout his lifetime Endo “contracted tuberculosis, underwent thoracoplasty, and had a lung removed” (Wiki).  In 1996, Endo died of hepatitis.

Shusaku Endo married Junko Okada in 1955, and one year later their son Ryunosuke was born. Endo is still regarded as one of “modern Japan’s most distinguished Catholic novelist(s)” (NYTimes). There is a museum in Sotome, Nagasaki dedicated to Shusaku Endo’s life and literature.

Sources:

"Shusaku Endo." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shusaku_Endo>.

"Father Ulick Loring on Shusaku Endo: A Japanese Prophet of East and West." The Ficino Society. 19 Feb. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. <http://theficinosociety.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/father-ulick-loring-shusaku-endo-a-japanese-prophet-of-east-and-west/>.

Pace, Eric. "Shusaku Endo Is Dead at 73; Japanese Catholic Novelist." The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 Sept. 1996. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/30/arts/shusaku-endo-is-dead-at-73-japanese-catholic-novelist.html>.