Tokyo: The life of a literary giant begins with home self-defense!

Chapter 205: Why rely on the ladder?
Yakuouyukiji Temple, Mt. Takao.

This ancient temple was built in 744.

Emperor Shomu ordered Gyoki Bodhisattva to build it.

Today, this quiet ancient temple is surrounded by cedar trees. A girl walks to the pulpit under the gaze of everyone.

The gilded color on her body looked like a floating golden dragon, and her pretty face was gorgeous and beautiful in the light and shadow among the trees.

"Who is this?"

"So young."

Everyone present lowered their heads and talked about it. No one had ever seen the girl that Monk Hongping suddenly invited up.

When the New Wave Award was presented, he only left his pen name, and when the Youth Award was presented, he refused to take photos.

This girl seemed to be secretly enjoying the joy of writing, and then for some reason she had to stand in front of everyone.

"Today is April 18th, the 20th year of the Heisei Era."

The beautiful girl was wearing a gilded kimono and had her hair tied up in an elegant bun.

"Hello everyone, I am Natsuko Imamura, the author of "Thirteenth Night"."

Be stunned, dazed, and then start clapping.

Just now, Monk Hongping talked about the pros and cons of twenty works. Now, just inviting this girl to come up is very telling.

"The Thirteenth Night" is written with a sad and desperate tone, telling the story of the Meiji Restoration era from a female perspective.

This girl may very well be the winner of this year's Akutagawa Prize.

There were all kinds of looks of envy, praise, and so on.

The Akutagawa Prize is the highest literary award in the country, and everyone almost sees a faint black dragon draped over the girl.

The winner of the Akutagawa Prize in 2018, combined with the implicit meaning of the words of Monk Hirohei.

The sound from the audience startled a flock of birds in the fir forest.

Birds flew from bottom to top, towards the clear and vast sky. Long Chuanche sat under the stage listening to the girl's creative experience.

"I often read Mr. Akutagawa's books. His aesthetics is almost the opposite of that of a friend of mine."

The aesthetic topic the girl talked about was Ryunosuke Akutagawa's "Eyes of the Dying", an aesthetic concept that is quite different from Kawabata Yasunari.

Yasunari Kawabata's aesthetic concept is simple and pure. The flowers in front of me are so beautiful, so I am willing to live for it.

And Akutagawa Ryunosuke's is that only a dying person can discover the beauty of nature, and it is the "eyes of death" that can write pure words.

“That’s why one of my friends commented that my writing style is ‘deeply desperate’”

The girl was talking about her creative context and literary techniques, and Longchuan Che was listening with great interest.

"Are you envious?"

Someone sat down at the seat next to him, and Longchuan Che thought it was his girlfriend who came back, but he turned his head away.

"What are you here for?"

Long Chuan Che had a strange expression on his face, and his shiny bald head was very eye-catching.

"I once asked you if you were willing to submit The Golden Pavilion to the Akutagawa Prize, but you burned it. Do you regret it now?"

The old monk spoke softly as he sat with Longchuan Che and watched the girl explain her work.

Most pure literary works are obscure, and many people cannot appreciate them without reading annotations and analysis.

The girl said that her writing style was inspired by Ryunosuke Akutagawa's "The Dying Eyes", and the story structure was inspired by a love affair between people of different classes.

The protagonist of "Thirteenth Night", Aguan, was born in the Meiji era, a time of class division.

In that era, A Guan, a woman from the lower class, was chosen by the powerful and wealthy to become the wife of a rich man.

She originally had someone she loved, but due to society and the influence of the other party, she had to marry the rich man she didn't like.

On the surface, this novel is just a story of tragic love between a man and a woman, but after a deeper analysis.

The so-called rich people represent the old noble families of the Meiji era, while the lower-class people, Aguan, represent ordinary people.

The long-standing feudal system, family system and strict hierarchy exist.

This caused A Guan to have a miserable life.

While everyone was listening to the girl's clever ideas, Ryuukawa Tetsu was chatting with the old monk in a corner of the [Tingwen Pavilion].

In front of the two of them was a small table, on which were fruits, various green vegetables, and a cup of sake.

This is the appetizer of the kaiseki cuisine, a cuisine that was specially prepared for haiku poets in the Edo period, and it was inseparable from wine from the beginning. After taking a sip of Longyin, Ryukawa Tetsu remembered that his wife had also given him this wine.

Recently, that woman has appeared in my mind more and more frequently. Long Chuan Che said calmly:

"I have nothing to regret."

"There is an interesting saying in the literary world about young geniuses: 'Forty is the age of rise and fall.'"

"You call me a genius?"

Hongping didn't care about Longchuan Che's inappropriate teasing. He took a crisp fruit and put it in his mouth, chewed it twice and said lightly.

"You can become famous at 20, you are at your peak at 30, and you can only..."

The old monk took a sip of sake.

Japanese monks do not abstain from meat and can get married, so Hongping's drinking does not count as breaking the precepts.

“You can’t gain authority until you’re forty.”

The other party didn't say anything, so Longchuan Che helped him fill in the blanks.

Japan after the Meiji era was a country with a highly developed literature.

The Confucian concept of self-cultivation and peace in the country, coupled with the special nature of literature in transforming national character, has given literati the saying "forty is the age when one's fate is decided."

After ten years of creation and ten years of accumulation of authority, at the age of forty you have an opportunity to transform and dominate society.

"She doesn't have to."

Sitting next to Ryukawa Toru, Monk Hongping pointed at the girl on the podium.

She answered the questions from the audience with a smile. With Hongping's support, no one questioned her arguments and authority.

She will soon be able to skip the twenty years of hard work and proof, and step into the stage of her own ups and downs.

"I gave you a chance, but you didn't cherish it."

The old monk frowned and looked at Longchuan Che with a somewhat cold expression.

"How many twenty years can a writer have? The sooner you get through that stage, the sooner you can do more things. Why did you burn down "The Golden Pavilion" just because I didn't allow you to write "Snow Country"?"

Monk Hongping and his group were arrogant and proud. Sooner or later, they used their literary works to transform society and influence national character.

Ryuukawa Toru could have been one too, and he might even be the youngest one.

"Youth appreciation lacks foundation, how does it feel to watch your peers on the podium now?"

In a corner of the Fahua Hearing Pavilion, Longchuan Che propped up his face and looked at the girl on the stage who seemed a little miserable.

They came in together, but one of them was talking loudly on the podium and would be the most respected young person in the literary world after leaving the room, while the other
"It feels weird."

Longchuan Che held the wine glass.

Just like the eldest lady said, he underestimated the other party too much.

A Youth Prize does not prove anything. The other person can win the Akutagawa Prize at the age of 18 and be recognized by Master Hirohei, which also means she is a favored girl of heaven.

Moreover, at this point in time, Monk Hongping didn't have much time, so he spared no effort to recommend the other party.

Use your own achievements as a guarantee to tell everyone that the girl's work is thoughtful and meaningful, and is something that can positively guide national character.

"Finish writing 'The Golden Pavilion' and I can give her a ladder to heaven, or I can give you one."

Monk Hongping sat next to Ryukawa Tetsu with a dignified look. He was the leader of the literary world and the biggest "dictator" in literary history.

He can help a young writer quickly overcome a credibility crisis. With his approval, he won't be criticized for being "lacking in qualifications" or "unable to handle the task" when serving as a judge.

He is an old Buddha with great fame and prestige in the history of modern Japanese literature, and he is also the one who can send Ryukawa Toru straight to the top.

at this time.

The eldest lady finished her speech at the pulpit and winked at Longchuan Che amid everyone's congratulations.

"Ryukawa Tetsu, I'm almost on the other side, how about you?"

The girl's eyes showed this.

The girl's teasing made Longchuan Che smile, and then he looked at the old monk.

There is a line in Wang Bo's "Viewing the Immortal Within" from the Tang Dynasty: "If you can grow wings by yourself, why bother to look up to the ladder to the clouds?" Longchuan Che really wanted to use this sentence to answer Hongping.

But it was too late now.

Shirakawa Taketo of the Haiku Association came on stage and looked at him.
The owner of Dassai.

(End of this chapter)