Sunao Tokunaga

Sunao Tokunaga was born on January 20, 1899,[1] in Kumamoto Prefecture.[2] He was one of first writers of the Japanese proletarian literature movement of the 1920s to come from a truly lower-class background.[3]

He dropped out of elementary school,[3] and at the age of twelve became a printer's apprentice.[4] In 1922, he began working for the Hakubunkan Press (博文館印刷所 Hakubunkan-insatsusho), later renamed to the Kyōdō Press (共同印刷所 Kyōdō-insatsusho).[5] He took part in union activities while actively writing.[5] The union restricted his literary activities and extracted a promise from him that he would not write any novels.[5]

In 1926, he joined some 3,000 Kyōdō employees in striking.[5] After more than two months, the union was completely defeated, and 1,700 employees, including Tokunaga, were fired.[5] This experience provided inspiration for his most important novel, Taiyō no nai Machi (太陽のない街, "The Street without Sunlight"), which he began in 1928.[5] He eventually found another printing job at a large company, and while working there began his literary career.[5] He joined the Japan Proletarian Writers' League (日本プロレタリア作家同盟 Nihon Puroretaria Sakka Dōmei, also abbreviated "NALP") in February 1929.[5]

In March 1932, Tokunaga wrote an article expressing a desire for a popular literature that the proletariat could enjoy,[6] which inspired a sharp critical response from Takiji Kobayashi,[6] accusing Tokunaga of "right-wing, opportunistic tendencies".[6] In May of the same year several members of NALP, including Tokunaga, were rounded up for questioning by police following a meeting, but Tokunaga was soon released.[6] He left the League in October of the following year over what he saw as their prioritizing politics over literary merit.[6]

In October 1937 he requested his publisher withdraw Taiyō no nai Machi from print in light of the breakout of war with China.[6] He saw it as necessary for Japanese to unify during the war.[6] He continued to publish short stories and essays that were inoffensive to the authorities throughout the Pacific War.[6]

In 1945, immediately following Japan's loss in the war, Tokunaga, Shigeharu Nakano, Yuriko Miyamoto and others formed the Shin Nihon Bungakkai ("New Japanese Literary World") as a successor to the various pre-war socialist literary groups.[6] He joined the Communist Party of Japan in 1946, allowed the republication of Taiyō no nai Machi, and was welcomed back into the proletarian literary movement.[6]

In 1954, he journeyed to Moscow to represent Japan at the Congress of the Soviet Writers' Union.[6]

He died on February 15, 1958.[7]