RYUNOSUKE AKUTAGAWA

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AUTHORS OF THE WORLD...RYUNOSUKE AKUTAGAWA....WATERCOLOUR...Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (芥川 龍之介 Akutagawa Ryūnosuke?, 1 March 1892 – 24 July 1927) was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "Father of the Japanese short story" and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. He committed suicide at the age of 35 through an overdose of barbital. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was born in the Kyōbashi district of Tokyo, the third child and only son of father Toshizō Niihara and mother Fuku Niihara (née Akutagawa). He was named "Ryūnosuke" ("Son [of] Dragon") because he was allegedly[clarify] born in the Year of the Dragon, in the Month of the Dragon, on the Day of the Dragon, and at the Hour of the Dragon. His mother went insane shortly after his birth, so he was adopted and raised by his maternal uncle, Akutagawa Dōshō, from whom he received the Akutagawa family name. He was interested in classical Chinese literature from an early age, as well as the works of Mori Ōgai and Natsume Sōseki. Towards the end of his life, Akutagawa began suffering from visual hallucinations and nervousness over fear that he had inherited his mother's mental disorder. In 1927 he tried to take his own life, together with a friend of his wife, but the attempt failed. He finally committed suicide by taking an overdose of Veronal, which had been given to him by Saito Mokichi on July 24 of the same year. His dying words in his will claimed he felt a "vague insecurity" 「ぼんやりした不安」 (Bon'yari shita fuan?) about the future. He was 35 years old. Akutagawa wrote no full-length novels, focusing instead on short stories of which he wrote over 150 during his brief life. The classic film Rashōmon (1950) directed by Akira Kurosawa retells the Akutagawa's story "In a Grove." The title and the frame scenes set in the Rashomon Gate are taken from Akutagawa's story, "Rashomon." Ukrainian composer Victoria Poleva has