Shunro Oshikawa
Shunro Oshikawa was a Japanese author born on March 21, 1876, who emerged during Japan's significant modernization period in the late 19th century. Influenced by French science-fiction writer Jules Verne, Oshikawa sought to explore themes of national identity and technological advancement in his works. His most notable contribution is the six-volume series set in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, beginning with the novel "Kaitei gunkan" in 1900. This story, which foreshadowed the 1904 Russo-Japanese War, features Captain Sakuragi, a character inspired by Verne's Captain Nemo, who grapples with Japan's response to European imperialism.
Oshikawa's narratives are deeply rooted in Japanese culture, reflecting the nation's struggle to assert itself amidst the growing military and economic pressures from Western powers. While "Kaitei gunkan" remains relatively unknown outside Japan, it has influenced Japanese popular culture, inspiring anime adaptations such as "Atragon" and "Super Atragon." Oshikawa passed away on November 16, 1914, leaving behind a legacy that connects Japanese literary themes with broader questions of identity and resistance in the face of foreign dominance.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Shunro Oshikawa
Writer
- Born: March 21, 1876
- Birthplace: Japan
- Died: November 16, 1914
Biography
Shunro Oshikawa was born on March 21, 1876, in Japan, just as his country was going through its rapid period of modernization following Matthew Perry’s forcible opening of the long- isolated island nation to foreign commerce. As a result, Oshikawa read the works of French science-fiction pioneer Jules Verne and fell heavily under his influence. Oshikawa was aware of his countryman’s struggle to prove themselves equal to white Europeans by adopting European technology and political structures as a means of being competitive, yet at the same time desiring to retain their essential Japanese nature and not become an ersatz European nation.
This awareness can be seen in his most famous work, a six- volume series of books set in the Pacific and Indian oceans, which echoes Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1873). However, the novels in the series are steeped in Japanese culture and values as they depict Japan’s struggle to come to grips with European and American military and economic might. In 1900, Oshikawa wrote Kaitei gunkan, the first novel in the series, a prescient story of war between Japan and Russia. Only five years later these two countries would be engaged in a real war, although the submersible warship Oshikawa described in his novel would not become important to the Japanese navy until World War II.
The protagonist of Oshikawa’s novel, Captain Sakuragi, is modeled upon Verne’s Captain Nemo. Sakuragi despairs of the Japanese government’s ability to respond to the depredations of European powers throughout Asia, who are said to be committing atrocities in Japan itself. Seeing no honorable alternative, Sakuragi resigns from the Japanese navy and builds his own submarine, the undersea warship of the title, and with the aid of a select crew of patriotic sailors and officers he carries on his own private war against the European intruders.
Although the novel was not translated into English and is little known in the United States, the story subsequently captured the imagination of Japanese animators and became the basis of the anime film, Atragon, and its sequel, Super Atragon. As a result, many American fans of Japanese animation are familiar with the storyline of Kaitei gunkan, yet lack any knowledge of the story’s origins. Oshikawa died on November 16, 1914.