시마자키 도손 <복숭아 물방물

Abstract

This study explores how the mind functions in late adulthood by examining the change in Toson’s consciousness during the 1930s using “Dew of a Peach” (1936), his sixth and last miscellany. After Toson focused on the life within the walls including himself and his family between his return from France in 1916 and the late 1920, he started “life outside the walls” in the 1930s as his children became older and increasingly independent. As he became more socially engaged, he revealed his devotion to being a “public leader”, concerned with the country and people beyond the immediate concerns of the safety and comfort of himself and his children. He also demonstrated his “globalist consciousness” in arguing for harmony with neighboring countries and Japan’s opening up to the world. “Dew of a Peach” clearly demonstrates Toson’s externally-oriented energy in the 1930s through his transformation from “within the walls to outside the walls”. His later works, “Pilgrimage” (1940) and “Gate to the East” (1943) maintain his orientation toward openness for acceptance of and harmony with the world outside. This study reexamines the status of “Dew of a Peach” in the literature and concludes that the work establishes elderly consciousness and should become a new standard in elucidating the life and the work of late adulthood.