Pathway to Japanese Literature

Author: Kurata Hyakuzō

I. Love for the Academic Window and Romance

Students are those who establish a single aspiration and devote themselves to the path of learning.
First there must reside within them a heart gazing upon lofty clouds and love for the academic window.
Recent journalists' clamor often appears inclined toward belittling academia.
Yet what our nation requires today is rather the reconstruction of a new and vigorous academy.
For students to lack both love and pride for this academic window constitutes self-belittlement.
Needless to say even I am not ignorant of students' current social environment nor incapable of comprehending melancholy born from future prospects.
Nevertheless I exhort you:
Cling fast to abundant dreams; never relinquish youthful ardor.
Do not over-materialize matters.
This remains achievable even within your present circumstances.
I detest materialistic tendencies pervading student discourses and youth theories that justify flatness and apathy under pretexts of sympathy toward students.
Whether one dreams lies not in environment but innate disposition.
Princes need not necessarily dream.
Yet carpenters' sons do dream.
No era may permit youth's cessation of dreaming—should such occur humanity would march toward decline.
Only dreaming idealist youth constitute wholesome youth—youth bearing responsibility for shaping coming ages.

Could a youth who resides within the academic window even mutter about their environment?
To this I could only recommend reading Kropotkin’s *Appeal to the Youth* and leave it at that.
Students, you are youths chosen by good fortune; therefore, you bear the obligation to contemplate life and humanity and the ideal society, to dream of them, and to prepare for battle.

Now then, I thus represent you as sound youths embracing dreams and ideals within the academic window.
To preach romance to students who are neither diligent in their studies nor idealists holds absolutely no interest for me.
A student's constant posture must be first studying, second studying, third studying.
Admittedly, romance may seek to shatter this posture.
But it is precisely in that posture being on the verge of collapse despite efforts to maintain it through struggle that the beauty of academic romance resides, whereas students who fling aside their notebooks to chase after members of the opposite sex are neither beautiful as romantic youths nor likely to emerge victorious.

However, when I say this, I do not mean you should pursue studies and romance in moderation.
Still less does it carry the vulgar implication of enjoying romance during study breaks.
In romance itself reside morals and laws particular to romance.
In this sense, the motto "I won't pursue romance until I fail out of school" belongs not to idealism but to prosaic realism.
For idealist youth, both love of learning and passion for romance must blaze with equal intensity.
It is precisely within the conflict of these two fervors that lies the endearing romantic quality of academic love.

Thus with sincere passion do I seek to expound upon romance among youths pursuing learning—romance aligned with idealism's path.
Let students scorn and pity those affairs of middle-aged realists who have known women.
For such matters prove mostly vile; even at their best amounting merely to spiritless dalliances conducted by those bereft of youth's vigor.

II. Ethical Longing and Romance

How mysterious and heartening it was that the awakening of sexuality simultaneously stirred a longing for goodness.
This became the hallmark of youth’s soundness.
This formed humanity’s very root.
These two phenomena not only arose concurrently but mingled and fused as they emerged.
Should these fail to intertwine in their occurrence, one had to note it as pathological symptom—a leaning toward humanity’s perverse path.

For youth, sexual awakening was both a physical and spiritual event.
What could this surging impulse, this excitement, this something akin to alluring beauty be?
A mist now veiled life, rendering the world of beauty and goodness that seemed to lie beyond all the more alluring.
O youthful spring!

Even when flowers on earth were beautiful, there existed maidens.
What in the world were they?
This human multitude—crafted beautifully by nature—appeared to entice them or at least await them.

They appeared more modestly and gracefully fashioned than their male counterparts.
They seemed unaware of roughness or wickedness.
Though made more fragile than young men could ever be, they radiated higher refinement.
And what exquisite voices they possessed!

These maidens seemed almost poised to speak:

“Become worthy men.”
“Our beauty exists for those worthy of us.”

They were indeed something beautiful and good.
They were at least connected to it.
One could not conceive of them apart from the ideals of beauty and virtue.
Therefore, in exploring what they were and seeking to obtain them, one could not forget the key of beauty and virtue.—

For youths to envision maidens enveloped in a mist of beauty and goodness in this manner was not in the least sentimental; rather, it was wholesome.
Not only that—it was even wise.
Had not many eminent sages of antiquity adopted such a perspective in their youth?
Dante, Goethe, Michelangelo, and Tolstoy had all been such men.
What even those who feigned misogyny like Strindberg could not entirely suppress was this moral demand toward women.
The desire to seek women as such beings had been universally the established principle of first-rate individuals.
For Dante especially, Beatrice had been the Sovereign of Virtue and Flower of Morality.

In the golden days of youth, there is nothing more sorrowful than becoming a corrupted realist who scorns women.
Moreover, such a path easily leads to early loss of virginity, develops into a habit of toying with women, and risks becoming an unfortunate obsession that prevents one from viewing life with straightforward clarity.

Those who during their student days flaunt a realism of female contempt may appear astute but are in fact superficial—this being precisely why they will never achieve true success.
Straightforwardness in all things must be the motto of youth.
Do not attempt to become worldly-wise young men.
Be magnanimous, unaffected, and pure in ardor.
That will eventually become the mother of true intelligence.

Ignite as one your aspiration to become a good human being following the Great Way of Heaven and Earth—that indispensable imperative of youth I described in Education and Ethics (a chapter from Students and Education)—with this irrepressible yearning for love.

Through goodness, seek the beauty of women; through women's beauty, enrich goodness and imbue it with vitality.

Pursue romances where contemplating fair maidens increasingly stirs your heart's desire to become a noble soul.

Attended a concert and beheld the intelligent, charming figure of a beautiful young lady playing the piano. Or witnessed girls spilling from their seats and walking through corridors—lively yet decorous in their bearing—so that even upon returning to the dormitory, one still seemed enveloped in an illusion of beauty. It seemed to say: "Study! Refine yourself!"

Walked through the cold streets and saw a girl selling evening papers. Disheveled hair, a beautiful forehead beneath wind-tousled bangs. But what meant her sorrowful gaze when accepting copper coins from me? As I walked, various thoughts arose. The construction of an ideal society—such things must come to be contemplated.

The romantic life of student years should have its greater portion filled with loving thoughts and yearning.
The more abundant this element becomes, the more truly it embodies youth.
It is precisely this that forges the happiness of youth.
Youth is inseparable from romanticism.
To those who discourteously cast aside mystery and veiling while deliberately seeking to expose life's ugliness, both youth and romance would naturally turn their faces away.

III. What Is the Essence of Love?

The question of what constitutes love has invited numerous interpretations from various standpoints since ancient times，and there has naturally been no established theory.
Plato’s allegorical approach，Schopenhauer’s metaphysical approach，Ellen Key’s personalist approach，Freud’s physio-psychological approach，Stendhal’s emotive-intuitive approach，Kollontai’s class-socialist approach—and countless others beyond enumeration.
All these various theories have undoubtedly captured one aspect of love’s multifaceted nature.
As generations shift hereafter，various theories will likely continue to accumulate.

However，conceptually determining what romance was did not hold such great importance.
Rather，through your own demands toward the opposite sex and experiences of romance，you were to personally probe this question and strive to formulate your own theory.

In reality，humans engaged in romance commensurate with their innate qualities and possessed theories of love to that very extent.
And a theory of love was not something that could be separated from one’s general demands toward the cosmos and life.
No matter what analysis Freud presented，those with strong religious consciousness would not be satisfied unless they elevated romance to the level of religion.
Even if realists claimed that romance was merely a superstructure over sexual desire and reproductive functions，idealists with profound spiritual yearnings persistently argued that romance possessed aspects transcending sexual desire，insisting rather that its secret essence lay precisely in this struggle to surpass it.

Youthful students may well refer to various theories concerning romance that occupies their minds.
Nor can they avoid encountering its manifold aspects through literature and film.
But ultimately, they must demand and create their own world of love through the images and imperatives surging within their breasts.

If you find yourself dissatisfied with the romances portrayed in today's literature and films, do not hesitate to cling to that dissatisfaction.
This is rather something admirable.

Generally speaking, there is no need to lower your romantic standards.
Even if your fantasies overflow with dreams, you need not kowtow to realist authors of love stories.

Having many idealistic images was rather good—that was the very hallmark of youth.
There was nothing as crude as insisting on viewing romance through purely biological lenses.
The advancement of intellect did not lie in that direction.
What effort did it require to consider romance in sexual terms?
That was nothing more than a mundane matter that anyone could engage in at any time.
The essential task of progressive theories of love had to be none other than to explore what our romantic demands fundamentally were through the spiritual elements of humanity that had reached today's cultural stage, along with the potential mystical aspects seemingly inherent to humanity.
Compared to this, even the investigation of love's social foundations should have been considered secondary.
Moreover, the theories of love held by those who had reached middle age after marriage were largely derived from material that could no longer be called romance—sentimental, hedonistic, and predatory in nature—and ought to have been viewed with suspicion by youthful students in their understanding of love.

The eyes with which middle-aged men view women after marriage are cursed.
For instance, perspectives claiming that romance amounts to mere curious desire toward unknown women clearly belong to middle-aged psychology, not the romantic psychology of youths before marriage.
In truth, this constitutes the psychology of aesthetic predation.

In romance there must always exist a consciousness of reverence toward one's partner.
There exists a spiritual aspect of yearning and longing—to put it hyperbolically, a sentiment that compels one to kneel.
And this object is singular, not plural.
Aesthetic predation intensifies sentiment through juxtaposing depictions.

For unmarried youths—particularly those within the academic window—romance must first be spiritual yearning and vital longing.
It must be that in which one casts all their innermost spiritual flowers into beautiful maidens to blossom.

If you behold the beauty of her countenance,

All flowers are yours……

This is a fragment from a medieval Italian poet’s verse.

The you I find lovely resembles the first crimson leaves upon autumn mountains.

This was a poem by a Manyoshu poet. Compare your beautiful maidens to flowers; liken them to crimson leaves and cherish them. Who could remain ignorant that curiosity and sexual desire lurk within youths as biological beings? Yet these impulses lay suppressed and dormant beneath smokescreens of romanticism—that bounding frame of youth—and fervent spiritual yearning.

For unmarried youths, romance constituted an unconscious quest to seek their future "better half." That which forms the core of orthodox romantic theory—the so-called "yearning for two to become one"—manifested this very desire. However pagan love theorists might deride it, this remained romance's true path—the wellspring from which all vows, sincerity, and tears flowed forth. None could call it love unless seeking to fuse two destinies—not merely their sexual urges and sentiments—into singular unity. You must resolve within your heart that this lovely maiden shall become your future spouse and shoulder that responsibility accordingly. Any carnal union where partners shirk mutual responsibility for each other's fates merits only the name of affair—unworthy of romance's noble title.

Romance is the action through which men and women—incomplete when mutually isolated—fuse to perfect their human form; it follows not the principle of "savoring," but that of "becoming," and through this fusion indeed comes into being a new "life."

A sexual relationship that fears the birth of a child is not romance.

"Thou must support her and her child."

During my student days, I wrote this on my notebook's cover to encourage my studies.

IV. The Length of Youth and Virginity

Romance is not merely an ethical longing—it goes without saying that it is also a physical and sensory imperative.
To put it plainly, it is also the impulse to touch each other's hands, lips, and skin.
Therefore, any romance imbued with ethical, soulful longing must ultimately await physical union to achieve completion.
However, the stronger the soul’s demands become, the more preparation its physical union requires.
That is to say, it is only natural that these demands come forth without gaps—so that the body does not unite apart from the soul’s imperatives, ensuring no such separation exists.
This is not a matter of one party protecting themselves from calculation, but rather that unless both do so mutually, they cannot feel satisfied in their romantic consciousness.
This is what constitutes true propriety.

Students are, generally speaking, youths under twenty-five years old.
Is there any valid reason youths cannot preserve their virginity until twenty-five years of age?
Furthermore, from the perspective of their lifelong happiness, would doing so constitute a loss?
From my experience, I do not believe this to be the case.
Knowing women is poison to youth.
It is no exaggeration to say that as virginity departs, youth departs.
A youth who has known a woman can no longer feel the purest longing toward maidens.
The dreams of youth can no longer remain pure.
They acquire the truly deplorable habit of mentally representing physical pleasure as separate from the soul.
Romance with the opposite sex unaccompanied by intercourse, no matter how elevated the soul may be, becomes like a drinker facing delicacies without wine—unable to feel joy any longer.
No matter how noble or delicate the woman may be, they become unable to feel unadulterated longing.
And what makes this even more unfortunate is that it clouds the purity of the eyes that view life's phenomena in general.
The independence of pleasure inevitably makes one associate it with material welfare and worldly power.
When humans come to hold such a view, they are already in adulthood and no longer in youth.

As a matter of fact, the happiness of youth departed from there.
How many youths filled with an idealist's longing must have plummeted from this into adulthood's worldly realism?

If we compare how a married man beholds a beautiful maiden versus how an unmarried man does so, one could easily imagine the latter's gaze being far more imbued with yearning.
That constituted the boundless world of unknown joy belonging to the unmarried.
The unadulterated longing inherent in virginity formed youth's essential happiness; once a man came to know a woman, youth became cracked porcelain whose resonance could no longer ring clear without discordant noise.
And this extended not merely to matters of sexuality but to life's general outlook.
No idealist poet or thinker could compose love paeans as purely as those from his pre-virginity days after losing chastity.
To cite my own case, when I wrote "The Heart Seeking to Find Oneself in the Opposite Sex," I remained a virgin.
Even while praising intercourse, I had preserved my virginity.

I do not dwell on such matters by choice.
For youth, this is an important matter that cannot be left untouched.
No one would fail to desire a prolonged youth.
That duration serves as a crucial measure for assessing life's happiness.
This is what those who have passed through youth profoundly feel.
And if you wish to prolong the happiness of youth, you must prolong your virginity.
To spend one’s student days in virginity is no loss when viewed across a lifetime.
I say this not with the heart of some austere church father, but through practical consideration.
In other words, opportunities for knowing women—if one so desires—abound in adulthood.

Of course, those who remain ignorant of women until twenty-five will know the anguish of desire.
Yet that anguish constitutes youth's very essence.
It forms the seedbed yielding youth's unique joys.
It becomes the driving force that beautifies youth, grants resilience, and purifies thought.

I lived through youth and now mourn it.
When contemplating how youth represents life's golden age, I grow compelled to exhort others to cherish its happiness.
To achieve this, you must preserve virginity as long as possible.

However, those who had already lost it through some twist of fate could not be helped.
They were to cultivate self-discipline so those cracks might fade and connective tissue form around them.
The River Lethe that healed wounds—forgetfulness too was nature’s blessing.
One needed not think in purely absolute terms.
Even youths preserving their virginity—none remained ignorant of masturbation, nor could any lack physical imagination.
The notion that there existed absolutely no recovery was no heavenly thought but a devil’s idea.

However, cherishing virginity, keeping their aspirations pure, and enriching their minds with dreams and longing—this constituted an indispensable disposition for youths in romance.

V. Mutual Selection and Male Initiative

Young men and women mutually stimulate each other through their gender-based choices, and the processes of creation and selection naturally unfold.
New archetypes of beauty among young men and maidens are born.
This phenomenon manifests not merely between individuals but permeates entire generations.
Should all young men demand healthy, cheerful, sensually playful maidens—such maidens will inevitably emerge.
Should maidens favor robust yet restrained youths tinged with melancholy—such youths will veritably materialize.
Thus do maidens reminiscent of Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable-type young men become commonplace throughout society.

This is a dreadful thing.
The kinds of maidens youths prefer and the types of young men maidens desire truly shape the quality, strength, and character of the next generation.

Therefore, I wish for young men and women to adopt preferences and ways of choosing that we can believe in humanity's health and progressiveness.

But are the preferences of today’s young women truly good?
Are the eyes with which they appraise young men truly worthy of trust?
Conversely, what of young men’s criteria regarding young women?
What kind of young woman a youth prefers serves as a fitting measure of his demands on life.
If a youth prefers a young woman who is beautiful, sensible, and seemingly capable, then he is a person of such character.
If one prefers young women who are natural, spiritually inclined, and deeply devoted at heart, then he is a youth of such character.
If one prefers a young woman who is intelligent, modest, and socially conscious, then such aspirations exist in the youth.

The absence of demands upon maidens is not something to be praised—it is a mark of coldness toward life and dullness. Rather, I wish for vigorous demands to be made so that splendid, distinctive maidens may be brought forth.

It is said that when young British nobles hesitated during their nation’s crises, they were despised by young ladies for cowardice, and thus eagerly headed to the front lines. If told by "the chief’s daughter" that she wouldn’t marry any man who didn’t dance, then the young tribesmen could not help but dance.

However, it was difficult to say that the maidens of this country today were sufficiently self-aware.
It would have been disheartening if the youths who must shoulder the next generation had been merely dragged along by maidens’ preferences.
If left to their preferences, even as smart, quick-witted, socially adept youths increased, those with depth and steadfast idealism seemed likely to diminish.
Youths fighting poverty and battling for ethnic and social reform seemed unlikely to catch anyone’s eye.

Therefore, youths must resolutely take initiative in mutual selection and be determined to implement "lover education." They must find maidens with good potential and instill in them what kind of youths they should prefer. They must enlighten them that youths with great and idealistic souls ablaze—even if not ideally suited as partners for strolling along paved walks—are truly worthy of entrusting the future to. They must protest that such notions—preferring gentlemen who, though slightly older, have secured social standing over poor university students—are truly foolish. Do not let Japanese maidens become too realistic; they must advocate that romantic love alone is the flower of youth. With love, passion, and confidence, there is nothing that cannot be done. In fact, during my student days, I managed within a year to educate a lover who had only known moral training to understand Van Gogh and Bergson, and even not grimace at Rodin’s The Kiss. When youths converse about love during their student days, a youth whose joyful exchanges do not at least half serve as lover education is unreliable, and such romance must be deemed base. As I have said repeatedly, it is precisely romance interwoven with the passion for spiritual elevation that must belong to youth students.

Thus, youths with ambition and resolve must possess the guidance necessary to enlighten maidens—who know nothing but favoring sweet things—about what kind of youths are truly worthy of love, cultivating them into lovers that satisfy their own hearts.

If youths merely court maidens and conform to their preferences, the quality of young men in this era will decline, and the maidens' own preferences will not improve.

VI. Heights Beyond Romance

However crucial and captivating a theme romance may be for youth, in life it does not reign supreme. Throughout one's youthful years, matters of love must never fully dominate the mind. The universe and self, social community and self, one's mission-driven work, and questions of humanitarian love and justice—these must outweigh romance and demand attention as public imperatives. For a man to lack stronger motivation from societal ideals than from romantic passion constitutes dishonor. To begin and end with love alone, to exhaust all passion in romance, to find completion in being an impeccable lover—this may indeed suffice as romanticism worthy of aesthetic empathy, even testifying to personal integrity. Yet as a man, I cannot consider this noble. Young men naturally reject such complacency.

In the case of the former British Emperor—though I would never hesitate to praise his sincerity toward Mrs. Simpson even to the point of abdicating the throne—had there burned within that sovereign an awareness of Britain's civilizational and historical political mission, could he still have taken such an attitude? In my work *The Taika Reform*, I portrayed young Prince Naka no Ōe—torn between his love for Princess Nukata and his mission of national renewal—as ultimately compelled to abandon romance and choose political duty. Had Alexander forgotten his expeditions for love of a Persian woman, Spinoza neglected his contemplations through sexual isolation, or D’Annunzio abandoned battle from excessive passion for a woman of Fiume, we could not have refrained from lamenting it on their behalf.

The awareness of one's mission surpasses romance.
Religious and conscientious imperatives surpass romance.
Human justice and national duty surpass romance.
Youth must pursue romance while upholding these loftier heights that transcend such affairs.

This returns us to what I meant when urging that the desire for goodness and pursuit of love be kindled as one flame.
To mutually vow offering up romance itself for that which surpasses romance elevates love to greater heights.

The mutual avoidance of physical indulgence was itself an effort to remain prudent through these higher principles.
Moral and spiritual elevation thus became the theme of romance.
When two people shared a common mission, reverently upheld it, and intertwined their romance with this mission—if such a scenario existed—this represented the most desirable circumstance.

VII. My Experiences and Some Practical Suggestions

The above might be considered general precepts of romance for youth students. However, real-world romance presents truly diverse circumstances—human frailty prone to pitfalls, prosaic aspects deserving sympathy born from societal inadequacies, and various situations defying uniform assessment.

Particularly as my previous admonitions focused more on instilling idealistic purity in Realists than imparting practical knowledge to Idealists, they lacked counsel about minimizing wounds and losses in actual life. Indeed, the Idealist's path brimmed with peril—I myself sustained grievous romantic wounds during student days, abandoned halfway through studies, and became burdened with a lifelong ailment. I naturally possessed no courage to recommend young students emulate me. Yet I could not bring myself to advise loving in moderation—maintaining studies, avoiding sleepless nights, preserving societal and familial rules—as if romance permitted perfect equilibrium.

Life holds delicate moments of emergence; romance contains its own vital force. A youth loving the opposite sex without heart's disturbance scarcely seems human. There exists even a poetic line: "The hero's heart frays like thread." Especially when such romance meets obstacles, moments arise when study becomes impossible. Considering that the capacity for romantic devotion equals the power dedicating itself to you and your work, one would rather spurn tepid approaches to love.

Therefore this fault lies not in excessive loving capacity, but deficient intellect and willpower. Passions raging like wild horses must be reined through keen intellect and resolute will. In my case, I blurred vision to project arbitrary illusions upon an unremarkable woman—the philosophical intellect honed till then vanished somewhere—leaving me wrestling alone and sustaining grave self-inflicted wounds. This stands as intellectual disgrace.

Hunger and impatience.

Youths who were too starved for love and whose romantic ideals burned too intensely would commit such errors.
They fell into idol worship without properly evaluating their partners.
They piled unreasonable expectations upon their lovers beyond what they could bear, only to disillusion themselves through their own making.
Nothing proved more crucial than discerning members of the opposite sex with care.
Since one's vision grew clouded once enamored, intellectual discernment and restraint of passion became imperative before succumbing to affection.
Unless one happened to be an exceptional romanticist, love at first sight remained elusive.
Should a second glance reveal mediocrity, that fervent longing cooled of its own accord.
The gravest folly lay in drowning oneself through willful recklessness.
No act surpassed in foolishness loving an unremarkable paramour and thereby incurring grievous wounds.

Depending on one’s character, there are times when one cannot endure wanting a lover.
It is when the demands for love and beauty intensify to where one desperately craves a partner that one begins contemplating thoughts verging on madness.
I once earnestly considered trailing each female music student in Ueno Park to ask, “Will you love me?”
Such moments prove most treacherous.
There is no need for such desperate haste—if you wait patiently, fate will assuredly grant an opportunity.
One remains so very young, yet cannot fathom how youth still stretches endlessly ahead.
There is no cause for concern even should one find no opportunities throughout student days until twenty-five.
Indeed, such circumstances could never occur.
You shall absolutely never want for romantic chances or opportunities to know women.
You must await Venus’s providence that will heed your appointed hour.
For students, beginning too soon often proves perilous, but lateness merits no anxiety.

The Poison of Reckless Romance

The notion of desiring to experience numerous romances early in one’s youth must be cast aside.
Because you must not forget that you are now before marriage and in this preparatory period.
One must enter marriage through beautiful romance.
That is life’s grand undertaking.
Some relaxation regarding sexual matters may still be permissible after marriage.
Before marriage, one must keep their heart taut and body pure, preparing for beautiful romance.
For this romance determines one’s own wife and the mother of one’s children.
Attempting to accumulate playful romances and affairs before marriage must be called a truly impure mentality lacking any sense of sanctity.
All impure things, prosaic matters, and dubious elements must be pushed into adulthood, keeping the garden of youth as unsullied as possible.
And in any case, you must hold a sacred wedding ceremony in that garden.

No matter how detestable adulthood may overturn life's debris and emerge, you must at least possess a beautiful, pure youth.
Moreover, spending that youth within the academic window constitutes a happiness granted to but one in five hundred.
This represents a truly immense fortune you students fail to recognize yourselves—that you can both love and yearn while maintaining your posture of learning may indeed be called paradise in this mortal existence.
To engage in pure, ardent romance constitutes your natural obligation.
Defiled pleasures should not occupy your thoughts.

The future of youths habituated to defiled pleasures during their student days holds no promise whatsoever.
There are countless examples of this around me.
They sink into mediocrity both socially and humanly.
The cause lies in how physical pleasure makes them prematurely adult-like, rendering academic pursuits childish and draining their perseverance to sustain efforts.
The most detestable mentality inevitably follows - craving concrete results while tripping over one's own exertions.
Needless to say, society repays such tendencies with glacial indifference.
Their failure to attain distinguished social standing becomes self-evident.

Another pernicious effect of pursuing defiled pleasures was wastefulness.
This phenomenon made them regard material plans for post-graduation life as extremely difficult—verging on impossible.
Engaging in spiritual work amidst material austerity became something one could not even dream of.
To put it simply, the habit of defiled pleasures during one’s student days inevitably resulted in spiritual weakness.
And it became the prime cause for them to fall into a pitiable state where, having become socially disadvantaged in the future, they could not even obtain the very pleasures they pursued.

The Habit of Playful Romance

The habit of superficial romantic dalliance that stops short of carnal desire carries its own distinct pernicious influence. This constitutes what we term "frivolity"—the most detestable tendency found among promising youths. To speak plainly, I would sooner accept youths driven by acquisitive instinct pursuing physical gratification than tolerate this brand of shallowness. Those students frequenting Ginza promenades and café circuits, attending dance halls in tailored suits, gathering female companions at picnics—lightly inhaling feminine fragrance while avoiding commitment or marriage, seeking to pass spring days in stylish buoyancy—this presents the most unreliable of spectacles. Should they conduct themselves thus gloomily rather than cheerfully, it grows doubly insipid. Do no profound thoughts pierce their youthful breasts? When eras turn bleak, does no will to transform them awaken? Where lies their abandoned zeal for societal reform? Their discarded awareness of ethnic mission? They lack even rebellious resolve. Do they imagine eternal love—embraces transcending death—that such ideals have fallen out of "this season's fashion"?

Such tendencies of the Younger Generation fill me with lament.
I cannot help but hope that the era’s scorching winds will blow upon them.

Cases of Unrequited Love

When the person one cares for does not return one’s feelings—that is to say, in cases of so-called unrequited love—there exist various types.
There are times when matters simply refuse to go well despite intensifying heartfelt emotions.
In principle matters of romance demand withdrawal when mutual interest proves absent.
Yet situations occur where dormant affection remains unawakened within young women.
Instances emerge where fervent passion rouses slumbering sentiment through persistent devotion until mutual ardor blossoms.
Such phenomena particularly manifest when engaging with immature partners.
Nevertheless these circumstances necessitate extraordinary resolve and forbearance.

But even so, there are times when matters simply refuse to go well.
This constitutes one case of unrequited love.
That loneliness needs no explanation.
Truly many have experienced this desolation.

Then there are cases of betrayal by a sworn partner.
Another occurs when one's beloved has died.
In all such instances, the grief runs fathomless.
Yet it is precisely when humans endure this desolation and sorrow unflinchingly that they inevitably grow.
The soul acquires depth and luster.
At such times, one must not turn self-destructive, become a misogynist, or collapse beneath grief.
The depth of feeling matches the depth of wounding; facile consolations prove heartless cruelties, yet endurance remains imperative.
Those who properly withstand this trial gain spiritual purity and profundity that endure a lifetime.
Bereavement brings the longest-lasting sorrow.
Yet even here, time's passage and Providence's healing power must inevitably act.
That very healing carries its own loneliness, but to sustain one's whole life solely on memories of lost love exceeds even human romanticism's capacity.

Providence bestows another romance.
And this time, it often leads to happiness.
There is no need to despair even if you lose love.
You must live resolutely.

Yet I cannot help but wonder from where these voices emerge—voices questioning whether today's youth students even experience such profound anguish of heartbreak.

The weakening of one's capacity for love is youth's shame.
It ultimately becomes weakness in dedicating oneself to homeland and work.

Temptation

If we consider the negative aspects, there existed carnal predation and—beyond mere "frivolity"—deceptive affairs dubbed "womanizing." That is to say, it was the act of utilizing one’s future academic status as an advantageous condition and enticing women with marriage as bait. This was the most cowardly and shameful act a human could commit. No matter what happened, this alone you must never do. This was nothing less than the death of moral character. What would those who committed such acts scheme when they entered society? Those with such moral character would inevitably be ruined in society. Their end would inevitably be tragic. Society was not lenient.

Conversely, there undoubtedly existed women of ill character who fixed their sights on these advantageous conditions and attempted to seduce young students.
There were not uncommon cases where innocent, unworldly students fell prey to such women and tarnished the memories of their precious youth.
It did not end there—they might even have been forced to bear considerable wounds and burdens.
If it came to something like pregnancy, they could find themselves in an inextricable predicament.
This was something that had to be fully guarded against.
One had to be cautious of so-called women of the profession such as dancers, waitresses, inn maids, and geisha.
Particular caution was required regarding women older than oneself.

Male-Female Interactions: Laypeople and Professionals

In Japan, the fact that opportunities for social interaction between young men and women were extremely limited proved inconvenient.
As a result, interacting with ladies became difficult, and the women they came into contact with ended up being café girls, dancers, or those bearing an air of the demi-monde—this was truly lamentable.
I believed it constituted a social obligation to create beautiful and wise institutions for male-female interaction that would expand opportunities for mutual selection between men and women.

However scarce the opportunities may be, young students must seek their romantic partners among ladies.
No matter how exquisitely polished women of the water trade may appear, they cannot equal ordinary ladies.
When viewed comparatively, ladies possess an ineffable quality in their naivety, simplicity, and virginal freshness that professionals could never approximate.
"The term 'daughter of a good family' may sound commonplace, yet within it resides an indescribable distinction."
Women once compelled to peddle their allurements—though deserving compassion—remain ill-suited as romantic companions for young students.

Of course, even daughters of good families may possess their own conventionality, facile nature, and tedium. However, such traits can assuredly be overcome and guided through ardent "education of lovers." But once a woman has unfortunately sullied her essential feminine nature—those who have lived accustomed to selling their charms—I cannot recommend such women as pure partners for the unsullied youth of students still under twenty-five years of age.

They would have suitable counterparts of their own.

Professional women who are not of that ilk constitute a separate matter.
Under present circumstances, these must be considered a natural extension of ladies.
When contemplating the material foundations for post-graduation marriage, the circumstances show that couples' "dual-income" arrangements are growing ever more commonplace.
Moreover, among professional women there has been a steady increase in those endowed with vibrant intellects and fresh sensibilities.
The old-model conventional ladies are gradually being left behind as new functional types of ladies emerge.
What I seek to avoid as partners for youth students' springtime of life are exclusively women who trade in coquetry.

As a general piece of advice arising from my experience: “Do not rush into romance.”
“Do not rush into marriage,” I want to say.
What could youth students possibly have to hurry about before reaching twenty-five?
Beautiful maidens will swarm forth as numerous as stars hereafter, and opportunities will overflow.
All too often, entering into romance too early with women of one’s own age and making marriage promises leads to unfavorable outcomes later on.
Especially acting out of sympathy for unfortunate maidens is the worst thing you can do.
The age difference should be at least five or six years—ideally around ten—but if you seek a partner at twenty-two or twenty-three, the difference inevitably becomes too slight.
That said, fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girls would not make suitable partners.

VIII. Final Position—Fateful Love

However, all these hopes amount to nothing more than pronouncements made through human standards—extremely generic, common-sense ones at that—while excluding that sacred, unknowable element we call fate.

In the most sacred world, no standards whatsoever exist.
There, romance too becomes fate.
Choice stands merely as secondary concern.
Whether a virgin student loves an older waitress or pledges his future to a blind girl—one cannot pass judgment based solely on such circumstances.
To place love's supreme principle in choice rather than fate runs utterly counter to my fundamental intent.
That approach cannot explain marriage's sanctity or marital union's non-utilitarian nature.
I must finally declare to youth students: "Pursue fateful love."
I myself recognize that love transcends choice—indeed, I could never have found satisfaction without experiencing such romance.
Should youth students desire strength sufficient to endure this path—should they aspire to become life's warriors and true wayfarers who embrace fate regardless of loss or misfortune—then I would counsel guiding their romantic lives through this theory of fate-driven love, so thoroughly inconvenient for self-preservation and earthly happiness.

We do not necessarily fall in love precisely because we encounter women ideally suited for our happiness and success at the opportune moment.
It is entirely possible for one to become inseparably bound to a woman lacking any domestic talents—one who would become a lifelong burden—at an extremely inopportune time, solely due to fateful love.
And the true basis of romance and marriage lies solely in this fateful love, while all else—be it good or ill—are but additional conditions.
It is not because this woman is beautiful, because she is virtuous, or because she is convenient that she is my wife.
Because they saw fate within their love, they became husband and wife.

Of course, the fate that binds husband and wife manifests through romance, and the psychology of love is mediated by the workings of unconscious selection.
However, the impetus that makes the two feel inseparably bound lies not in this selection, but in that fate.

From such beliefs of mine, it is difficult to derive practically beneficial insights on romance for youth students.
For concepts like practicality and benefit have already strayed from harsh truth.

The attitude of teaching people to approach love as a kind of fever by preparing antipyretics in advance, or alternatively treating it humorously as the Creator God’s prank, would likely be ill-suited to my inherent disposition.

Thus took shape something resembling earnest advice for you youth students—born from my identity as a romantic idealist holding a theory of fateful love in the depths of my being.
(April 20, 1937)

Reference Materials and Similar Works

Plato: Symposium, Phaedrus.

Dante: La Vita Nuova.

Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther (Kamino translation).

Schopenhauer: The World as Will and Representation (Anezaki translation)

Stendhal: Del'amour (Maekawa translation)

Russell: Marriage and Morals.

EllenKey: Love and Marriage (Harada translation)

Freud: Vorlesungen zur Einfahrung in die Psychoanalyse (Yasuda translation)

Kollontai: Agreat love (Nakajima translation).

Tolstoy: Anna Karenina (Nakamura translation)

Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (Tsubouchi translation)

Maeterlinck: Pelléas et Mélisande.

D'anunzio: Il trionfo dellamorte.

Rousseau: Confessions (Ishikawa translation)

Turgenev: Dieerste Liebe (Yonekawa translation).

Pushkin: Onegin (Yonekawa translation)

Heine: Buch der Lieder.

Novalis: Hymnenan die Nacht.

Romain Rolland: Le jou del'amour et de lamort (Katayama translation)

D. H. Lawrence : Sons and lovers (Miyake translation)

André Gide: Laporte étroite (Yamauchi translation)

Man'yōshū, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Chikamatsu's Double Suicide Plays, Diary of the Morning Glory, The Miraculous Tale of Tsubosaka.

Higuchi Ichiyō: Troubled Waters, Child’s Play

Arishima Takeo: Declaration

Shimazaki Tōson: Spring, Tōson's Poetry Collection

Nogami Yaeko: Machiko

Tanizaki Jun'ichirō: A Portrait of Shunkin

Kurata Hyakuzō: The Departure of Love and Cognition, A Father's Concern