Yuriko Takeda's "Fuji Diary" records writers who had dealings with her husband, Yasujun Takeda, and the most frequent appearance is Shohei Ooka, who also built a house on the land of Mt. Fuji. In addition, editors who come to pick up manuscripts or request manuscripts are also indispensable. It was the sixties and seventies when the publishing industry was booming, and some magazine editors even took a taxi from Tokyo to get their manuscripts, which can be said to be at any cost. Yasujun Takeda is most familiar with Chuo Koronsha, and the editors of Chuo Koronsha's literary magazine, Hai, appear frequently. In contrast, Kodansha's "Group Portrait" editor Takayoshi Tokushima only appears once in his diary, and is an inconspicuous presence.
The account of Tokushima was written on August 17, 1965, when Tokushima Takayoshi was thirty-one years old and a young editor. On the day he came, the Ooka family also came to eat. Tokushima, who often visited the Takeda family's residence in Akasaka, Tokyo, traveled all the way to the villa at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture to finalize the upcoming October issue of Group Portrait (20th Anniversary Extra-Large), and he was in charge of the manuscripts of eight writers, including Yasujun Takeda and Seihei Ooka. He talked about how busy he had been at work lately, and even took injections to replenish his strength, and Yuriko wrote in her diary: "Ooka and her husband listened and said 'oh' as if they were sympathizing with him, but my husband never seemed to write for them." ”
The last time Yasujun Takeda wrote for "Group Portraits" was three years ago. Regardless of whether there is motivation to write or not, the writer certainly cannot push down this issue that has special significance for "Group Portrait". A group of people drank too late, and Tokushima Takayoshi did not go to the hotel and stayed at Takeda's house. The next day, before he took the train back, Tae-soon dictated, he took notes and began to write a short essay draft.
Takayoshi Tokushima later wrote a collection of essays reminiscing about his editorial career, A Little Testimony – Unforgettable Writers (Red Study, 2010). For the chapter on Tae-soon, he chose the past when he took oral notes in the summer of 1965. "[Takeda] took some time to gather his thoughts at first, but as soon as he spoke, it was a complete written language. Usually he would 'uh-huh' and 'hmm', echoing people with inexplicable meanings, glancing at this side for a moment, and then immediately looking away, this time he didn't make such a move, lowered his head, and said words naturally. ”
Everything is difficult at the beginning, as long as you start, the manuscript can always be completed. On August 20 and 22, Yuriko sent the manuscript on the train in two separate rounds and sent it by train mail to the editorial office of Group Portrait in Tokyo. The manuscript did not have a title, and Tokushima Takayoshi sent a telegram with a telegram to inquire about the cost of the call. The messenger went up the hill in the dark night, and Yuriko told the telegraph operator, "Please write until you see the fireworks." Probably because he didn't want to go, he gave the man two bags of fairy shells.
One day three years later, Yuriko suddenly told Tokushima Takayoshi, "The manuscript is ready. This time it wasn't an advance request, although as a magazine editor, Tokushima often said to writers, "Please write for us." And Tae-soon gave not a short draft, but a small long "My Child Christ", which can be said to be an unexpected joy. The novel was first published in Group Portrait (1968.8), published by Kodansha in the same year, and later reprinted in the form of a library book.
Takayoshi Tokushima was promoted to editor-in-chief of Kodansha at the age of 37, but left the magazine at the age of 47 and moved to the Kodansha Publishing Department, where he later became the chairman of Kodansha. Reading his essays, I feel that he has always regarded himself as an editor, and one of the most interesting ones is related to Haruki Murakami.
In the summer of 1986, Tokushima Takayoshi was then the head of the publishing department of Kodansha. Yoko Kinoshita, the editor of the publishing department, came to him and said that Haruki Murakami planned to live overseas to write a new feature, and the two cats in the family needed to find someone to entrust them, one of which had already been implemented, and the other could not find anyone to accept it. Yoko's meaning is very clear, you are the leader, you are responsible.
In this way, Tokushima Takayoshi took over the responsibility of taking care of the twelve-year-old Siamese cat "Muse". Haruki Murakami later jokingly wrote in his essay: "Or rather, it's almost forced in his house - 'I gave you a new feature, so the cat please!'" ’”
At that time, Haruki Murakami had just published his fourth book, "The End of the World and the Cold Wonderland", and he was considered a "potential newcomer author", and had not yet become a writer who would later become popular all over the world. Leaving the two cats in Japan, he and his wife Yoko first went to Rome, Italy, then to the Greek island of Mykonos, and then returned to Rome to settle down, and the novel that took half a year to write was "Norwegian Wood". In April 1987, Mr. and Mrs. Murakami traveled to Bologna, Italy, where the International Children's Book Fair was held every year, and Kodansha's editors were also present to submit their manuscripts in person. Afraid of mistakes, Murakami used a malfunctioning photocopier to copy the 900-page manuscript page by page.
The cover design took a long time, mainly because Murakami always felt that the famous designer's plan was not to his liking, changed it several times, and finally scrapped. In the end, Murakami handwrote the title of the book in a vertical row, saying "I want this feeling", unfolded the red and green wrapping paper to show the editor, and drew up the slogan for the waist cover himself. The result is a classic design that will reach millions of readers: the first volume is bright red, the green of the author's name contrasts with it, and the text on the waist of the book is white: "Describing infinite loss and regeneration, the most intense 100% romance novel now!!" The next volume is green, the title of the book is a striking red, and the text on the waist of the book reads: "Intense, quiet and sad 100% love novel!! ”
If the publisher made any effort to present the book's appearance, according to Tokushima Takayoshi's recollections, one was to achieve the hue of the wrapping paper displayed by Murakami, the same color was overprinted twice, and the other was to change the waist cover to gold at the end of the year, although some people ridiculed that it was "a Christmas gift". In fact, it was the novel itself that really drove sales, and neither the author nor the publisher expected that the book would sell at a rocket-like rate, and it would continue to sell for many years.
As for Muse, she is like a cat queen and quickly gains the love of the entire Tokushima family. She learns to eat sweets in her new home, and as before, she poops and protests when she is upset. "How Murakami Asahindo Was Forged" (Asahi Shimbun, 1997) contains three essays about her, and she needs Murakami to hold her hand every time she gives birth to a kitten, which makes people laugh when they read it. And she can "speak", which reads a lot like Murakami's daydream as a novelist, but Tokushima Takayoshi's essay corroborates this. Once, when Tokushima Takayoshi accidentally caught the muse's tail when he closed the door, she was furious and jumped upstairs to complain to Mrs. Tokushima, and her muffled voice sounded like a person talking.
Reading Murakami's description of the muse, it's hard not to think of his later novel, Kafka by the Sea (Xinchaosha, 2002), in which a conversation with a cat is an important plot.
Muse died in 1996 and lived for twenty-one years and six months. During the nine years she was at home in Tokushima, the family never traveled with the family in order not to let her be alone at home, and the love they gave to Muse was not because of the writer's request, but simply because she was such a maverick and charming cat.