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14 - Ogawa Kunio: Renewal of Faith and Identity in His seishomono (Bible Stories)
- Edited by Mark Williams, International Christian University, Tokyo, Van Gessel, Brigham Young University, Utah, Yamane Michihiro, Notre Dame Seishin University
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- Book:
- Handbook of Japanese Christian Writers
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 09 June 2023
- Print publication:
- 01 November 2022, pp 262-283
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- Chapter
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Summary
Ogawa Kunio, one of the most famous Catholic writers in postwar Japan, produced a series of biblical fiction novels (seishomono). His encounter with Christianity influenced his seishomono and impinged on his literary output to a significant degree.
Introduction
Ogawa Kunio (1927–2008), one of the most famous Catholic writers in postwar Japan, created his seishomono, a series of biblically-inspired novels, throughout his literary career. Though little attention has been paid to Ogawa's works in English-speaking academia, the series has been widely discussed in Japanese literary circles—with particular focus on analysis of his usage of Christian motifs, leading to frequent comparisons with the literature of Endō Shūsaku (1923–1996). In contrast to the works of Endō, however, the critic Yamagata Kazumi stated that the issue of indigenization is more “abstracted” in Ogawa's works (Yamagata 1997, 7).1 The issue has captured the attention of novelists and literary critics since the early 20th century in Japan, but Ogawa appears to take a very different approach to writing about faith and Christianity. Endō himself once described the difference between their novelistic approaches to issues of faith as follows: “You walk a hundred meters ahead of me, and I move at a languid pace a hundred meters behind” (Endō et al. 1974, 156). The distance described by Endō is by no means a reference to literary maturity or superiority in creating a Christ figure in literature. Instead, this purported gap suggests that these two authors have different concerns in their approach towards Christianity, and these concerns clearly affect the course of their literary careers. Ogawa's encounter with, and the trajectory of his journey with, the Christian faith are critical in understanding his oeuvre, particularly his seishomono.
This chapter aims to illustrate how Ogawa's encounter with Christianity influences his seishomono and to assess the extent to which this encounter impinges on his literary output.2 In this, the intent is not merely to draw theological implications from the series: to do so would be to risk creating a unique genre of Christian literature in modern Japanese literature.
Co-existence of social isolation and homebound status increase the risk of all-cause mortality
- Ryota Sakurai, Masashi Yasunaga, Mariko Nishi, Taro Fukaya, Masami Hasebe, Yoh Murayama, Takashi Koike, Hiroko Matsunaga, Kumiko Nonaka, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Masashige Saito, Erika Kobayashi, Yoshinori Fujiwara
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- Journal:
- International Psychogeriatrics / Volume 31 / Issue 5 / May 2019
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 19 July 2018, pp. 703-711
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- Article
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Background:
Social isolation and homebound statuses are possible risk factors for increased mortality among older adults. However, no study has addressed the impact of accumulation of these two factors on mortality. The aim of this study was to examine whether such accumulation increased the risk of all-cause mortality.
Methods:The analyzed sample was drawn from a mail survey of 1,023 older adults without instrumental activities of daily living disability. Participants were classified into four groups according to the frequency of both face-to-face and non-face-to-face interactions with others (social isolation and non-social isolation) and the frequency of going outdoors (homebound and non-homebound). Social isolation and homebound statuses were defined as having a social interaction less than once a week and going outdoors either every few days or less, respectively. All-cause mortality information during a six-year follow-up was obtained.
Results:In total, 78 (7.6%) participants were both socially isolated and homebound. During the follow-up period, 65 participants died, with an overall mortality rate of 10.6 per 1000 person-years. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses demonstrated that older adults who were socially isolated and homebound showed a significantly higher risk of subsequent all-cause mortality compared with healthy adults who were neither socially isolated nor homebound, independent of potential covariates (aHR, 2.19; 95% CI: 1.04–4.63).
Conclusion:Our results suggest that the co-existence of social isolation and homebound statuses may synergistically increase risk of mortality. Both active and socially integrated lifestyle in later life might play a major role in maintaining a healthy status.