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Talking about his thoughts on "Seven Emperor Judoki" (Kadokawa Shoten)
("Weekly Reader")  

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This is a requiem for the characters who have died.
He talks about his latest work, "Seven Emperor Judoki".

(Interview article on "Weekly Reader")

I'm glad that it was conveyed to female readers

——I would like to ask you from the story of the previous work “Why did Masahiko Kimura not kill Rikidozan” (hereinafter abbreviated as “Masahiko Kimura”). In addition to receiving the Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award and the Shincho Document Award, how do you feel now that many readers have accepted the world of super-boldness written by Mr. Masuda? Are you sure?

Toshinari Masuda I am very happy. At that time, it was a biography of an unknown judoka, and I, the author, was also an unknown newcomer. The price is as high as 273 yen and the thickness is 700 pages. It's also a two-column set. Many people read it after clearing the five hurdles. I think it was a miracle in itself. Yoshiko Sakurai and Riku Onda, the selection committee members of the Shincho Document Award, gave high marks, but I was happy that many female readers who had no interest in judo or martial arts said that it was "interesting". is not it. For this upcoming "Seven Emperor Judoki", I received emails and phone calls from female editors from various companies saying "I was impressed". At first glance, both works depict the world of men, so it seems that women will avoid them, but I think that if you write a work that "draws human beings", which is the origin of literature, it will be accepted regardless of gender. I did. Of course, in both works, a little love with women has appeared.
 

——The previous work was a non-fiction work. "Seven Emperor Judoki" is also an autobiographical novel based on Mr. Masuda's life, but it is written as a novel and as a fiction. Did you feel any difference in writing, non-fiction and fiction?

 

Toshinari Masuda I originally made my debut with the "This mystery is amazing!" Grand Prize, so I think I'm a novelist. I put the reader first anyway. It's the same for fiction and nonfiction. I also tried to make Kimura-sensei's books easy to read and understand. That book is actually packed with a large amount of esoteric information comparable to academic papers. Not only the detailed history of judo, but also the history of Showa such as the history of war, immigration, and the media. However, if you make the reader feel that it is difficult, you will stop turning the pages. Therefore, I tried to weave the story while incorporating such information, but not to make the reader think it was difficult. I don't think I'm a writer if I let the reader stop the page even a little. The other is a feeling of air. It's an atmosphere that makes the reader feel as if they were there.

There is something I want to tell the reader at the expense of my life

——If you put the two works “Seven Emperor Judoki” and “Masahiko Kimura” side by side, you can read them like “Twins' work”. The times are different, and the content is different because it is a biography and a youth novel. However, it was an inevitable work that a writer named Mr. Masuda had to write. In that sense, I think they have something in common.
 

Toshinari Masuda I want to keep the work I want to convey with my life while I am alive. Recently, Project Itoh and Masayuki Shunou have died at a young age. When I think of their regrets ... I can't help but tears ... Therefore, I will write the work that should be written first so that I will not regret it whenever I die. It's been seven years since I made my debut, but since only three books are organized as a book, I'm impatient to see other writers playing an active role, but after all, the world I believed in, only myself. I want to write what I can't write. When I tried to make "Masahiko Kimura" into a book, I was told by various places that "such a minor story cannot be a product." The same is true for "Seven Emperor Judoki". It's only about the judo club in the more minor Hokkaido University. No celebrity appears. Not an outstanding hero will play an active role. However, I think it's the artist's job to make ordinary people who are nothing but scented and to exist there. There will be many fictitious characters in this novel, but I want the reader to have the feeling that even a fictitious person is next to me. I would like to continue to publish such novels.
 


Requiem for those who have died

——I imagine that it probably took a long time to write “Seven Emperor Judoki”. In other words, it is drawn based on the dense experience spent at the Kitadai Judo Club, but it took a considerable amount of time to sublimate it into a story because it was dense. When did you actually decide to write a novel?
 

Toshinari Masuda It was more than 20 years ago. A junior member of the judo club died ... he died himself ... The shock at that time was tremendous for me. A junior rival, the captain of the Kyushu University Judo Club, also died of illness at about the same time. I was only 22 and 24 years old. When my junior died, I was so shocked that I called my senior in the judo club while crying. Then the senior was crying and distraught, and he said "I don't know what to do ..." and hung up immediately. No matter how many times I call, I cry over the handset and hang up. The senior also appears in "Seven Emperor Judoki", but the deceased junior longed for the senior and said, "I want to be such a man," and kept holding a picture of the senior until his death. It took the senior several years to recover from the death of his junior. I am the same. Another person aspired to be a psychiatrist, everyone strayed, and sprinted forward to sublimate the pain. It had such a big impact on our lives. There was a huge amount of notebooks I wrote back then, and various events and my thoughts were written down, which is the basis of the novel. So I wrote this novel as a requiem for my juniors. Then I wrote it as a requiem for the captain of Kyushu University, who also died at that rival.

 

——Did you have such a painful event in the background of “Seven Emperor Judoki”? Although it was said to be a "requiem," each person had a realism that was not fake, and in addition, the line of sight to the characters was easy, and I strongly felt Mr. Masuda's affection. What you write with love and care is transmitted to what you read.

Toshinari Masuda When I went to the house of my junior who had died, my parents and sisters and younger brothers asked me. "How did my son spend time with everyone?" "What kind of person was my brother?" Only we know about university life in Hokkaido. So I told you what I knew. Considering the feelings of my family, it's harder than us. But the family listens carefully and hard to any small episode. I think it's really painful ... Hiromasa Tatsuzawa, a member of my synchronous judo club, appears as the quasi-leading role in "Seven Emperor Judoki", but it is modeled on a real person. He wrote while thinking if. When I was twenty-four or twenty-five, I wrote this novel, thinking about what would have happened to me if he had died and disappeared from me. rice field. If Tatsuzawa had died, my dad and mom would probably ask me. "What kind of life did your son live in Hokkaido?" Of course, he is alive and well, but he cried to tell his parents that he was such a man who lived such a life in the judo club. Among the models of the characters, there are many people who have died besides the judo members. I'm dead so much that I don't know how many people have died. So while I was writing, I was crying all the time.
 



I want ordinary office workers and women to read it

——Mr. Tatsuzawa is depicted as a selfish boy who left a little childishness when he joined the club, but at the end of the story, he grows up brilliantly and becomes a fine young man. I felt that one of the major reading points of this novel is that it depicts the changes and growth of human beings.
 

Toshinari Masuda Actually, I myself was the same. When I first entered university, I was rather withdrawn and had a literary boy. But after a year, I let the yakuza wash my back in the bath (laughs). That scene is also a true story. When I was admitted to the hospital because of an injury, a young yakuza and a bed were next to each other. At first I wasn't on good terms with him, but eventually he followed me and took me to drive the Cadillac when I went shopping outside. Even in Tatsuzawa, he became a majestic young man with a power like a lion, and he was favored by the nurses at the hospital and grew up to be a really cool man. Everyone changes in a year. Professor Ryuichiro Matsubara, a socio-economist, is the director of the judo department at the University of Tokyo, but I often hear that. "The most interesting thing about me is that the students change." Not just me and Tatsuzawa, but anyone can change in a year. It will grow more after two years. It will grow further after three years. Seven Emperor Judo, where you practice to the limit, is such a place. So, if you bring thirty members of the University of Tokyo Judo here, I can easily tell from the first grade to the fourth grade. Even if you don't know them at all, you can easily tell by looking at their faces and appearances. It is the same whether it is Tohoku University or Kyoto University. If you spend time in the judo club of the Seven Universities, it will change steadily year by year. Of course, this novel is about judo on the surface, and the title says so, so some people may think it's about martial arts, but it's actually different. Therefore, even if a woman reads it, she will say "interesting" and "impressed". It is a novel that depicts the meaning of human beings alive. So if you read it, anyone can sympathize with it. I've been interviewed by a lot of media this time, but when I asked who I liked the most among the characters, they were all different. Each person who reads it reads while projecting himself to someone. Looking at the impressions on the internet, I had the impression that "I want all mothers to read this as a textbook for raising their sons," but I thought so too. Then, by drawing an organization called the judo club, it is also a hymn to the organizers. Furthermore, by drawing some captains, it has become a management philosophical content. That's why I want office workers to read it.
 

 

The harsh scene is said to be the "life of this book"

——I would like to ask you to go into the specific content a little, but many pages are devoted to the practice scene as well as the game scene. It's a terrible practice, and I think there has never been a novel that clearly depicts fainting, incontinence, bleeding, bone fractures, and such intense practice scenes. The words on the first page of the cover, a passage drawn from the essay "Youth Wandering" by Yasushi Inoue, who experienced the Seven Emperor Judo, "We will create judo where the amount of practice determines everything. It was just practiced. "
 

Toshinari Masuda That was ... it was painful. After all, the students who enter the former imperial university are the children who came mainly to study. In such a situation, there is a part where I have lived by misunderstanding, and when I join the club, I suddenly find the reality of the world of "strength" where there is no escape. Such children practice like Olympic athletes, and do harsh practice to surpass it. It's not a fuss about studying for entrance exams. There will be a lot of terrible scenes, including the part of the training. Just before the book came out, various problems occurred in the judo world, and I thought about cutting that part. However, the editor advised me that "this part is the life of this book" and decided to leave it. When I think about it again, I think it's more like a war story in a sense. Yasushi Inoue also wrote in an essay, but he said that his experience at the judo club was more difficult than the war.
 


A place to control yourself instead of coercion

——In the case of a war, you are forcibly drafted, but the judo club is free to enter or leave, and nevertheless continue on its own will. That's why, isn't it another point of reading this novel?
 

Toshinari Masuda Yes. But it was really hard (bitter smile). Even though I longed for the Kitadai Judo club, I regretted it immediately after joining the club. But if I quit there, I would have lost. The other day, essayist Junko Sakai wrote about "Seven Emperor Judoki" like "They are so tight and proud because they are practicing like hell that you can't imagine." But I was happy. Even now, when I go to the game field and watch the fourth graders, their dignity and charm are rare. I don't meet such a face when I live a normal social life. Even the OBs who have retired from active duty have no more charm. When I was wondering what this kind of face was, I happened to see it recently. At the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Self-Defense Forces went to support from the direction of Nagoya to Tohoku. I happened to see a SDF truck stopped at an intersection, but the dignity of the profile of the young people in their twenties riding there. When I saw that face, I thought it was just like that. They are devoting themselves to others. It's a tremendous sense of mission, isn't it? I cried when I saw the profile of the young men riding the truck. I went straight to the disaster area without a disgusting face. The profile when humans do something for others is really wonderful. Seven Emperor Judo is also a large group competition of fifteen people, and each player will do his best to abandon himself for the other players. I will do my best for my life. Therefore, in a sense, "Seven Emperor Judoki" can be called a military record. It is the war record itself, and the title was taken from Caesar's "Galia Senki", but I think that is the aspect.
 


I think I had a great experience at that time

——The annual Seven Emperor Battle is exactly the battlefield, isn't it? "Masuda Shonen," who is modeled by Mr. Masuda himself, is also asked by his seniors before the match, "Are you dying for us?" Mr. Masuda takes the words that would be unthinkable in the general world as they are. It's not a metaphor, and you can never "visit" whether you faint or break your arm. It was a battleground for living or dying.

Toshinari Masuda It's not an exaggeration. But I think it was a wonderful experience to spend four years in such a world. Some people first became captains from the white belt, but becoming captains and leading dozens of members is a tremendously valuable experience before going out into society. Masao Kosuge, a former director of Asahiyama Zoo, is a senior at the Hokkaido University Judo Club, but says, "The miracle of Asahiyama Zoo came from what I learned at the Hokkaido University Judo Club." It seems that it was a great practice when Kosuge-san was also there. I will definitely do what I decided once. And it went to the final of the Seven Emperors. Even though there were no super-dreadnought players, he said, "If I don't lose, I can win someday," and proceeded to the final by a draw. All you can do is the result of doing everything. That is the reform of Asahiyama Zoo itself. That's why I said earlier that "Seven Emperor Judoki" is both a novel of salaryman hymns and an economic novel of business owners. As captain, I will continue to reform while pulling for a year. Matsutaro Shoriki (former owner of the Yomiuri Shimbun) and Shigeo Nagano (former president of Nippon Steel) and other brilliant people are from Nanatei Judo. I think that those people who represent the political and business world of the Showa era were practicing rehearsals to unite the hearts of their subordinates when they were in college. The same is true for members other than the captain. Everything comes to life later. A place where people who are not physically blessed can try themselves to the limit. Moreover, you can stop at any time. Such a place was the Kitadai Judo Club, and it was the world of Seven Emperor Judo.
 

——It really feels like a “learning place”. Students pay tuition fees and universities give credits. Things that never grow in such a systematic place can grow in that place. And the stage of Hokkaido is another exquisite location, isn't it? There is a feeling of being trapped in deep snow, and there is no escape.
 

Toshinari Masuda It takes eight hours by car to go to a match in Hokkaido. To get to Tokyo, first take a limited express train to Hakodate for five hours. From there, board the Seikan Ferry. On the way back, take a night train from Ueno and get off at Aomori Station. It is exactly "Tsugaru Kaikyo winter scenery" (laughs).
 



I'm glad I was at that last ...

——I asked you about the depiction of the practice scene earlier, but the scene of the match of the Seven Emperors is also reproduced really realistically. Every move of the players is drawn in detail, including their facial expressions and psychological depictions. Do you remember it as if a professional shogi player remembered all his game records?
 

Toshinari Masuda There is such a place. And there are still videos about the match. I think it was rare for the general public at the time, but each of the seven universities has a video camera for reconnaissance, and you can watch your game from seven angles. Since it was shot from various sides, I can see myself when I was young, and I miss it. The memories of the hard times come back to life (laughs).
 

——When I talked to you before, the last game of high school students was also talked about yesterday.
 

Toshinari Masuda was thrown by a Tokai High School player with a waist and was taken. I was planning to go to Inter-High and enter Waseda's physical education by recommendation, but the plan failed brilliantly (laughs). But if I won there, I wouldn't have become a novelist, and in that sense I'm glad I lost.
 

——I would like to ask you one point about the last of the novel. After practicing like hell, each person's thoughts and fighting spirit are hidden in his chest, and he gets into the land of Tohoku. I'd like to leave this as a pleasure for the readers, but I think there could be another way of developing the game.
 

Toshinari Masuda But I think that the degree of perfection of the work was high because it was the last. I guess so? It doesn't go as the reader expected over there. That's why I think this novel is lively.
 


In the future, life and death, forgiveness, men and women will be the motifs

——Finally, the story is completely different, but a graphic novel based on “Masahiko Kimura” has begun (“KIMURA” —published in “Weekly Mass”). It's a tense scene from the beginning, and I'm looking forward to it every week. Could you tell us your thoughts on the serialization and the concept of the next novel?
 

Toshinari Masuda The motifs of my novel are life and death, forgiveness and salvation. Then men and women. With this as a motif, I will continue to announce my works. Since there is a lot of manuscript stock, I would like to make books in order, and the division and serialization of the manuscript is also decided by several magazines. As a writer, I would like to continue to stick to the story. After all, it's the story that moves people's hearts, not the individual. Immediately before Kaneo Iwatsuri died of cancer, I cried and told him, but 50 or 100 years later, Kaneo Iwatsuri was named by Toshihiko Koga, Hidehiko Yoshida, and Rickson Gracie. When it became famous. Even 100 years later, the name is engraved in the story of the three masters and pupils of "Tatsukuma Ushijima-Masahiko Kimura-Kaneo Iwatsuri" and continues to live. Remains as a person who tried to achieve revenge for his teacher, Masahiko Kimura. Simply saying that there was a strong person does not remain in people's memory for a long time. If you are in the story, it will remain forever for posterity. To say a few words about the graphic novels by Masahiko Kimura, who started the series, Ikki Kajiwara has already appeared for the first time. I think that all cultures and characters, including Showa print and manga culture, will be realistically depicted in the play. This is dedicated to the unfinished work by Kajiwara Ikki-sensei, "The Man's Constellation" (drawn by Kunichika Harada). It can be called a sequel. That's why I can't draw without Mr. Kunichika Harada. Professor Harada also said, "I will give my life to this series," so I think it will be a monster-like series. It will last for about 10 years, and it will be a blockbuster of about 30 volumes. Please look forward to.
(Interview published in "Weekly Reader")  



The following is the "Seven Emperor Judoki" PV made by Kadokawa Shoten.

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