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Draft:The New Sun

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The New Sun is an autobiographical picture book by Japanese artist Taro Yashima. It describes his life as a political dissident in pre-war militarist Japan. It was published in 1943 by Henry Holt and Company.[1] A sequel, Horizon is Calling, was published in 1947.[2]

Plot

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The New Sun is told from non-chronological order. Through black and white illustrations, Taro Yashima narrates his childhood, political activism, and imprisonment in militarist Japan.[3]

Taro, a descendant of a low-ranking Samurai, was born in Tosa, a province in southern Japan. His father was a local Doctor. At a very young age, Taro showed interest in painting. While attending high school he suffered under the school's abusive drill instructors. At one point, one of his drill instructors, a military officer, struck a teenage Taro with a book. During his high school years, Taro came across his first impressionist painting.[4]

After graduating high school, he attended Tokyo Imperial University. However, he was eventually expelled from the University for missing military drills. Following his expulsion, he earned a living doing illustrations for cheap magazines.[5]

Taro Yashima, horrified by the harsh conditions Japan's peasants lived under, joined a progressive art movement. However, following the outbreak of war in China, the police further curtailed the activities of Taro and other dissidents. The movement would be severely weakened as the years go by.[6]

Eventually, Taro Yashima, along with his wife, Mitsu Yashima, another fellow dissident who was pregnant at the time, would be thrown in jail. Taro would describe the inhuman conditions of the prison, such as cramped cells, inadequate food, and violent prison guards. Taro Yashima described how the guards would use chairs, shoes, wooden swords, and rubber hoses to beat him into unconsciousness. During his time in prison, his wife would give birth in a jail cell adjoining his.[7]

Eventually, Taro Yashima was released from prison. Following his release, he would wander around, passing by a bookstore, his old home, a hill he had once sketched, and a factory. The book ends with the final line "Surely this new sun would increase its brightness over me and over all people everywhere.".[8]

Reviews

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The New York Times described, in reference to The New Sun, "The black and whites tell the story with an economy and eloquence that might readily have turned into melodrama in an idiom less personal and stenographic than Mr. Yashima's own.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Japanese Liberal; THE NEW SUN". New York Times.
  2. ^ Taro Yashima (1947). Horizon is Calling. Henry Hold and Company.
  3. ^ Taro Yashima (1943). The New Sun. Henry Hold and Company.
  4. ^ Taro Yashima (1943). The New Sun. Henry Hold and Company. pp. 93–154.
  5. ^ Taro Yashima (1943). The New Sun. Henry Hold and Company. pp. 93–154.
  6. ^ Taro Yashima (1943). The New Sun. Henry Hold and Company. pp. 155–297.
  7. ^ Taro Yashima (1943). The New Sun. Henry Hold and Company. pp. 13–297.
  8. ^ Taro Yashima (1943). The New Sun. Henry Hold and Company. pp. 297–310.
  9. ^ "Japanese Liberal; THE NEW SUN". New York Times.
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