He describes Oda’s writing akin to how Oda saw himself, Burton Watson, the translator, in his introduction to the collection, gives the reader an understanding of Oda’s writing. Putting this story as the first one in this book is smart because it gives the reader a good idea of Oda’s writing style. Not necessarily a hidden meaning, but more then what the story is presenting to you. This duel meaning, while maintain the air of light heartedness, reminds the reader that there is a double meaning to the story. So, a restaurant Meoto Zenzai is actually one recipe served in two dishes. However, Zenzai is also the name of a sweet dish made from adzuki beans. Meoto means husband and wife while zenzai means an exclamation of approval. Sweet Beans for two or Hurray for Marriage! But they are amazing stories that begs for more translations of his works. Though Oda has written numerous books during his life, this collection only features 4 of them. I knew I would, but just that satisfaction that this would be one of the best books of the year is an amazing feeling to have. Meoto zenzai, Roppakukinsei, and Sesō, along with another story, Ki no miyako (木の都, 'City of Trees', 1943–44), have been translated by Burton Watson and published together as Stories of Osaka Life (Columbia University Press, 1990 paperback, Weatherhill, 1994).I loved this book. Several of Oda's stories have been made into movies, including Deep Autumn ( 秋深き, Aki fukaki ) (2008) and, most notably, Meoto zenzai, which has been adapted four times, including an award-winning film, released in 1955, which was directed by Toyoda Shirō, and starred Morishige Hisaya and Awashima Chikage. The photograph shows Oda apparently writing while seated at a table in Jiyūken. The inscription says that Oda has died, but has left us some of the good flavor of curry rice in his writing. Jiyūken opened as a coffee and snack shop in 1910, and has become known for its style of ' curry rice'. It is awarded annually to an outstanding work of fiction by a new author.Īn autographed photograph of Oda hangs in the Osaka restaurant Jiyūken ( 自由軒). In 1983, under the sponsorship of the Osaka Bungaku Shinkōkai, a literary prize was established in Oda's name to commemorate the 70th anniversary of his birth and with the aim of carrying on the long tradition of Kansai literature. Hozenji Yokochō and its surrounding alleys are one of the main settings in Meoto Zenzai.

In 1963, a monument was erected by Oda's friends and colleagues near Hozenji Temple in Osaka. More likely, it was from a recurrent bout of tuberculosis. After the funeral, his friend and fellow writer Osamu Dazai published an emotional eulogy blaming the critics for Oda's sudden death. In 1947, after suffering from a lung hemorrhage, Oda died in Tokyo Hospital. In addition to his fiction, Oda wrote many critical essays, most notably 'Kanōsei no bungaku' (可能性の文学, 'The Literature of Possibility', 1946). Oda also wrote radio drama scenarios and submitted a script to a magazine that was later made into the film Kaette kita otoko (還って来た男, The Returnee, 1944), by Kawashima Yūzō (it was the director's commercial debut). In the story Sesō (世相, The State of the Times, 1946), Oda describes the first months of the occupation period following Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, which were marked by food shortages so severe that government rations were not enough even to sustain life and people turned to the black market to procure the food they needed for their own survival.ĭuring Oda's lifetime, several of his works were banned. Oda's characters usually did not fit into what were traditionally considered appropriate forms, either in their frank humanness or in their stubborn individuality, as in Roppakukinsei ( 六白金星, Six Platinum Stars/Six White Venus, 1946), or out of the cruel necessity of survival. Named after an Osaka sweet shop, it follows the life of a couple whose relationship survives despite the persistent wastefulness, debauchery, and unkept promises of the erring man. The following year, Oda published Meoto Zenzai ( 夫婦善哉). In 1939, his story Zokushu ( 俗臭, Vulgarity) was a candidate for the Akutagawa Prize. A native of Osaka, he wrote mostly of life in that city and the customs and manners of the common people there. Oda's writing career spans both prewar and postwar Japan.

Sakunosuke oda