Fun fact: Tanizaki's Brazilian translator, Leiko Gotada, is his niece. Remarkably, she began her career as a translator after turning 50-60. Driven by a desire to introduce Japanese literature to her children, she initially started translating Musashi informally as a hobby.
- In the recent novel by Bernardo Carvalho, O sol se põe em São Paulo, heavily inspired by the plot of Tanizaki's Voragem (Manji), the narrator mentions the presence in Brazil of a niece of Tanizaki. He even claims to have spoken with her. Are you really the niece of the Japanese writer? Have you ever met him in person?
Bernardo Carvalho came to my house! He came to talk to me during the time he was writing that novel... I never met Tanizaki personally. He passed away when I was in my early twenties and had just gotten married. But my mother had traveled to Japan and met him. She also corresponded with him.
- Carvalho’s novel is fascinating, especially for addressing the issue of emigration and the relationship between the descendants of Japanese emigrants and the culture of their ancestors. And your mother, did she share any anecdotes about Tanizaki?
She shared many. She would say, for instance, that my uncle was very fond of food. Quite grumpy too. And that he adored cats. The eldest of the siblings, Tanizaki seems to have also been very affectionate with the rest of the family, which, by the way, had some rather unique customs. My mother’s and Tanizaki’s grandfather, who worked in wine production, hated wars and was a pacifist in a militaristic and war-driven Japan. He was also Catholic in a predominantly Shinto and Buddhist country. Moreover, he was sympathetic to women and respected them more than was customary. He had many children, both sons and daughters, but he ‘gave away’ the sons to take on other family names, while he kept the daughters, giving them the family name. In this way, the women in the family were not ‘given’ in marriage; instead, it was the husbands who were ‘given’ to them. Thus, contrary to the prevailing customs, it was also the women who carried on the Tanizaki name, which is now known worldwide as the name of the writer.
Fun fact: Tanizaki's Brazilian translator, Leiko Gotada, is his niece. Remarkably, she began her career as a translator after turning 50-60. Driven by a desire to introduce Japanese literature to her children, she initially started translating Musashi informally as a hobby.
In this interview (https://periodicos.uff.br/cadernosdeletras/article/download/43484/24829/146631), she comments about her uncle:
- In the recent novel by Bernardo Carvalho, O sol se põe em São Paulo, heavily inspired by the plot of Tanizaki's Voragem (Manji), the narrator mentions the presence in Brazil of a niece of Tanizaki. He even claims to have spoken with her. Are you really the niece of the Japanese writer? Have you ever met him in person?
Bernardo Carvalho came to my house! He came to talk to me during the time he was writing that novel... I never met Tanizaki personally. He passed away when I was in my early twenties and had just gotten married. But my mother had traveled to Japan and met him. She also corresponded with him.
- Carvalho’s novel is fascinating, especially for addressing the issue of emigration and the relationship between the descendants of Japanese emigrants and the culture of their ancestors. And your mother, did she share any anecdotes about Tanizaki?
She shared many. She would say, for instance, that my uncle was very fond of food. Quite grumpy too. And that he adored cats. The eldest of the siblings, Tanizaki seems to have also been very affectionate with the rest of the family, which, by the way, had some rather unique customs. My mother’s and Tanizaki’s grandfather, who worked in wine production, hated wars and was a pacifist in a militaristic and war-driven Japan. He was also Catholic in a predominantly Shinto and Buddhist country. Moreover, he was sympathetic to women and respected them more than was customary. He had many children, both sons and daughters, but he ‘gave away’ the sons to take on other family names, while he kept the daughters, giving them the family name. In this way, the women in the family were not ‘given’ in marriage; instead, it was the husbands who were ‘given’ to them. Thus, contrary to the prevailing customs, it was also the women who carried on the Tanizaki name, which is now known worldwide as the name of the writer.