Gensai Murai: Forgotten Names of the Meiji Japan

Abstract

The article surveys Japanese, Western and Russian research on the life and writing of Gensai Murai (1863–1927), a Japanese writer and journalist who authored the culinary novel “Kuido:raku” (The Pleasure of Eating, 1903). Despite his extensive literary legacy and the early success of the novel, Murai is rarely counted among the best-known writers and educators of the Meiji era (1868–1912). A detailed biography published in 2004 renewed interest in his work. Western studies usually mention Murai and his novel only in discussions of everyday life in Meiji Japan. The article reviews the main studies and examines why he has received little attention in Russian historiography.