The Hunting Gun

The Hunting Gun a.k.a. Shotgun (Japanese: 猟銃, Hepburn: Ryōjū) is a Japanese novella by Yasushi Inoue first published in 1949.[1][2][3] Spanning in time between the mid 1930s and late 1940s, it tells the story of a love affair between a married man and his wife's cousin, recounted through three long letters.

The Hunting Gun
AuthorYasushi Inoue
Original titleRyōjū
TranslatorSadamichi Yokō, Sanford Goldstein (1961)
George Saito (1962)
Michael Emmerich (2014)
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
PublisherBungakukai
Publication date
1949
Published in English
1961, 1962, 2014
Media typePrint

Plot

In a prologue, a nameless poet, after publishing a poem depicting a lonely hunter whose sight impressed him, is contacted by a man named Misugi who recognised himself as the described hunter. Misugi sends him three letters, one by his niece Shoko, the second by his wife Midori, and the third by his lover Saiko. These letters take up the major part of the book, with each woman describing the past events from a different perspective, a technique similar to Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon.[2][4]

Misugi, a company director and art collector, is newly married to the much younger and inexperienced Midori. Midori's older cousin Saiko is married to physician Kadota, with whom she has a daughter, Shoko. When Saiko learns of Kadota's adultery, she divorces him. Saiko visits Midori, making a great impression on Misugi with her sophistication and education. Misugi falls in love with her, and soon the two start a passionate affair. Saiko feels guilty for her betrayal of her younger cousin, vowing that she will kill herself if Midori ever found out. Unknown to her, Midori finds out about the adultery but decides to keep calm about her discovery. Midori has short affairs with other men while her marriage with Misugi deteriorates into coldness and loneliness. During a visit to the ill Saiko, Midori finally tells her that she knows all about her and Misugi's affair. Saiko, also devastated about the news that her ex-husband remarried, asks Shoko to burn her diary for her and commits suicide with poison. Instead of destroying it as told, Shoko reads her mother's diary, dismayed about its content.

Back in the present, in a short epilogue, the poet reflects on Misugi's character.

Publication history

The Hunting Gun first appeared in the October 1949 edition of Bungakukai magazine.[3] The novella's opening poem had previously appeared under the same title and in slightly different form in the October 1948 issue of Shibunka magazine.[5]

Reception

In his preface to the American edition of Inoue's novel Tun-huang, Damion Searls called The Hunting Gun Inoue's "masterpiece", an "exquisite book showcasing Inoue's great strengths–his remarkably sympathetic, complex and true female characters" and "a love story with multiple narrators where each narrative dramatically reshapes our understanding of the rest".[2]

Translations

The Hunting Gun was translated by Sadamichi Yokō and Sanford Goldstein in 1961 and by George Saito as Shotgun in the 1962 anthology Modern Japanese Short Stories.[6] A new translation, again as The Hunting Gun, was provided by Michael Emmerich in 2014.[7]

Adaptations

The Hunting Gun was adapted by director Heinosuke Gosho for his 1961 film Hunting Rifle.[8][9] It was also adapted for Japanese television in 1957 and 1963[10] and for Swiss television in 1971.[11]

A stage play adaptation directed by François Girard premiered in 2011.[12] In 2018, an opera adaptation composed by Thomas Larcher premiered at the Bregenz Festival, Austria.[13][14]

References
  1. "井上靖 (Inoue Yasushi)". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  2. Searls, Damion (Preface); Inoue, Yasushi (2010). Tun-Huang. New York: New York Review Of Books. ISBN 978-1-59017362-6.
  3. "井上靖／猟銃 (Yasushi Inoue / The Hunting Gun)". 西宮文学回廊 (Nishinomiya) (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  4. Starling, Ariel. "Yasushi Inoue's The Hunting Gun and Life Of A Counterfeiter". Music & Literature. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  5. Inoue, Yasushi (1982). Schaarschmidt, Siegfried (ed.). Eroberungszüge. Berlin: Volk und Welt. p. 120.
  6. Liukkonen, Petri. "Inoue Yasushi". Books and Writers. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  7. Kikuchi, Lucy. "The Hunting Gun". The Japan Society, London. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  8. Nolletti Jr., Arthur (2008). The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: Laughter through Tears. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 214–225. ISBN 978-0-253-34484-7.
  9. "猟銃 (Ryōjū)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  10. "猟銃 (Ryōjū)". TV Drama Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  11. "Le fusil de chasse (The Hunting Gun)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  12. "Miki Nakatani stage debut in 'The Hunting Gun' to include one performance with English subtitles". Japan Today. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  13. "Uraufführung der Oper "Das Jagdgewehr" (Premiere of opera "The Hunting Gun")". BR Klassik (in German). 14 August 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  14. "世界初演！井上靖原作、トーマス・ラルヒャー作曲の歌劇"猟銃"！2018年ブレゲンツ音楽祭ライヴ (World premiere! The opera "The Hunting Gun" written by Yasushi Inoue and composed by Thomas Larcher! 2018 Bregenz Music Festival Live)". Tower Records (in Japanese). 26 March 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2021.

Bibliography
  • Inoue, Yasushi (1961). The Hunting Gun. Translated by Goldstein, Sanford; Yokō, Sadamichi. Rutland and Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing.
  • Inoue, Yasushi (1962). "Shotgun". In Morris, Ivan (ed.). Modern Japanese Short Stories: An Anthology. Translated by Saito, George. Rutland and Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing.
  • Inoue, Yasushi (2014). The Hunting Gun. Translated by Emmerich, Michael. London: Pushkin Press. ISBN 978-1-78227001-0.
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