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is a Japanese novel by Osamu Dazai. It was published in 1947 and is set in Japan after World War II. Principal characters are Kazuko, her brother Naoji, and their elderly mother. The story shows a family in decline and crisis, like many other families during this period of transition between traditional Japan and a more advanced, industrial society. Many families needed to leave their old lives behind and start anew. Throughout the story, mostly through the character Naoji, the author brings up a number of social and philosophical problems of that time period. The novel was adapted into a film, also called ''The Setting Sun'', which was released by Kaerucafe on June 13, 2009. Directed by Masatoshi Akihara and with a screenplay by Yukie Ochiai, the film starred Eriko Sato as Kazuko. Other cast members included Yōichi Nukumizu, Yosuke Ito, Sera Rinka, Kota Masago, Ichiro Ogura, and Hitomi Takahashi as the mother.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Shayō )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= 斜陽 )〕 ==Plot summary== After World War II, a small aristocratic family in Japan has lost all of their money. The family consists of three people: Kazuko, her brother Naoji, and their mother. Naoji is a soldier in the South Pacific and is absent throughout much of the beginning of the novel. Kazuko was married once before, but she divorced. In the family's old house, Kazuko's mother eats rationed food. Kazuko recalls a time when she tried to burn snake eggs, thinking that they were viper eggs. It is revealed that at the time of Kazuko's father's death, there were many snakes present. Therefore, snakes have become ominous in her mother's eyes. After recalling the time Kazuko burned the eggs, she reveals that she feels a snake is growing inside of her own chest. The family eventually moves to the countryside. Kazuko begins working in the fields. She claims to be growing into a "coarse woman". Naoji eventually returns. He is addicted to opium and treats his mother and sister cruelly. He also goes out every night drinking. Kazuko finds Naoji's "Moonflower Journal," which he wrote when he had narcotic poisoning. It consists of pages upon pages of unconnected gripes about the world, and how people always lie. Kazuko falls for a novelist named Mr. Uehara. She writes three letters to him, claiming to love a man named M.C., while addressing the letter to him with two combinations of M.C. after his name. “My Chekhov” and “My Child” indicate that he was in fact the one she is referring to in the letters. He does not respond. Soon after, her mother is diagnosed with tuberculosis. Kazuko sees a black snake on the porch and remembers how her father died when one was present. She yells at it, claiming to have already felt its vengeance. It does not retreat. Her mother eventually dies. After an outing with Mr. Uehara six years after she met him, Kazuko realizes that he also is not in the best health and calls him a victim. That morning, Kazuko finds out that Naoji has committed suicide. His suicide note reveals his reasons for not wanting to live anymore. Naoji believed that humans have the right to choose whether they want to live or die. He confesses his weakness and anguish out of his birth in noble class. But he protests the idea "all man is same", insisting that Marxism affirms the priority of workers, and democracy that of personal dignity. He also tells Kazuko about a woman once loved, but had difficulty writing her name. He finally reveals that her name is Suga. His last request is that he be buried in his mother's hemp kimono, something he had wanted to wear the next summer. In the last chapter, Kazuko claims that people keep leaving her. The story ends with a letter to Mr. Uehara. She reveals that she is pregnant, and that she will happily raise the child on her own. She has thrown away the old morality and is embracing a new revolutionary way of life, like Rosa Luxemburg and Jesus coming to bring a sword in Matthew 10 that she has read, very much like what all of Japan was undergoing. She says that they are "victims of a transitional period", and ends the letter addressing Mr. Uehara once again as M.C., this time "My Comedian". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Setting Sun」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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