Diary in a Double Bind: The Literary Refuge of Hōjō Tamio

Hōjō Tamio (1914-1937) is arguably the only Japanese short story writer who has won significant critical acclaim as well as popularity among contemporary readers while being diagnosed with Hansen’s disease. Up until today, he has been noted as a powerful chronicler of the lives of the patients, and a stronghold of literary history surrounding the disease. Celebrated literary figures, especially Kawabata Yasunari, who helped publish Hōjō’s works, were also eager to sustain his reputation in this vein. But did he wish for such a role? Through analyzing his diary entries written between 1934-1937, this paper aims to shed a light on an aspect of Hojo’s persona, which to some extent has been overlooked: a troubled, angry young writer who was more than occasionally doubtful about the authenticity of his own fame, and who was seriously irritated by the authorities suffocating his freedom of expression. While the diary is crucial to understand Hōjō’s thoughts, it also gives rise to a double bind situation, where he could only express his discontent and wrath under the condition that no other person is allowed to access his manifest.