A Study of Takiji Kobayashi's Rural Novels

This paper considers the lives of peasants in Hokkaido through Kobayashi Takiji's rural novels. Even in the new Hokkaido, life was difficult for the peasants, and the shadow of war loomed over them. As the peasants suffered from exploitation by landowners, they were terrified of war. Through a series of rural novels, from “The Snow Forest” to “The Absent Landowner” and from “The Absent Landowner” to “The Village at the Edge of the Swamp”, Takiji depicted the rural areas being eroded by Japanese capitalism. In “The Snow Forest” he describes the work of individuals, in “The Absent Landowner” he creates farmers' organizations, and in “The Village at the Edge of the Swamp”, he describes the rural areas being dragged into the war. In short, “The Village at the Edge of the Swamp” shows an anti-war consciousness.