Shibata Renzaburo and the reinvention of modernism in postwar Japanese popular literature

Shibata Renzaburo and the Reinvention of Modernism in Postwar Japanese Popular Literature explores the life and work of Shibata Renzaburo (?????, 1917–1978), the author of adventure and historical novels who was instrumental in reinvigorating popular Japanese literature in the postwar period.

This book considers postwar Japanese society through the prism of Shibata’s writing, exploring how the postwar period under SCAP Occupation influenced Shibata’s writing and generated the extraordinary popularity of samurai fiction in the postwar era at large.

Through the use of a nihilistic warrior, Nemuri Kyoshiro, and other samurai characters, Shibata Renzaburo addresses important social issues of the day, such as the trauma of defeat, postwar reconstruction, and the attending societal ills and neuroses, while keeping his literature entertaining and easy to read, which ensured its mass appeal in postwar Japan.