Modernism (modanizumu) manifested itself first in Europe, with notable modernist writers, such as James Joyce and T. S. Eliot. Its influence was quickly felt in Japan by such writers as Yokomitsu Riichi, Kawabata Yasunari, Hori Tatsuo, Ito Sei, and Ishikawa Jun. Seminal Japanese modernist works include Yokomitsu’s Kikai (1930; tr. Machine, 1961), Ishikawa’s Fugen (1936, tr. The Bodhisattva, or, Samantabhadra, 1990), and Kawabata’s Suisho genso (Crystal Fantasies, 1934). The modernist movement in Japan is also associated with the proletarian literature movement and the neoperceptionist school.
Historical dictionary of modern Japanese literature and theater. J. Scott Miller. 2009.