The Soundscape East of the River: Sonic Icons in Nagai Kafū's Writings

By focusing on the auditory dimension of Nagai Kafū’s (1879-1959) descriptions of Tokyo in his most renowned—and admittedly most representative—novel, Bokutō kidan (A Strange Tale from East of the River, 1937), my paper attempts to provide new insights into this author’s critique of the modern(ised) city. Drawing primarily on Bijsterveld’s (2008) theory of the textualisation of sounds and auditory topoi, and on previous literature that defines the functions of sound within the narrative, this paper aims to examine the ways in which Kafū capitalised on the metaphorical potential of urban sounds and music in order to perform his critique of Japanese modernisation. I will address the question of how sounds mediate the experience of the city in his literature; further, I will discuss the iconic imagery associated with these sounds, to substantiate my argument that Kafū’s narration of Tokyo, while building on previous sets of icons and landmarks, also played a significant role in the formation of new ones, exerting a far-reaching influence on the perception of the space of the city.