Oda Makoto (1932 2007) was a contemporary writer who had been connected to Korea and Chosen in various ties beginning when a travelogue ‘Nandemomieteyarou’ (何でも見てやろう), which represented his early writing career, was translated to Korean one year after it was published in 1961. As examples of the ties, born in the relationship with a Jainichi Korean woman, who got married to him and became his lifelong companion, and her family, a long essay, ‘Omonitaiheiki’ (オモニ太平記)(1990), was also translated to Korean. ‘Abojiwohumu’ (“アボジ”を踏む)(1996), which won the Kawabata Yasunari Literary Award, was adapted by ‘Hallasan Troupe’, a theater group in the Jeju Island, and put on the stages in Busan, Seoul and other cities (1999).
This article discusses how Oda’s such literary engagement connects with the theme, ‘Toward Commensalism and Solidarity’, of this special edition of the journal. That is, it will be reviewed how Oda Makoto himself as a thinker and an expresser confronted the problem of ‘discrimination’, which interfered with ‘commensalism and solidarity.
For this, attention should be paid to his writing, ‘Arutegami’ (ある手紙) )(1972), which was written in response to the criticism on his novel, ‘Hiemono’ (冷え物) published exactly 50 years ago from now and before the Korea Japan Studies Association’ was created. Born and raised in Osaka where many Janinich Chosen people were living, Oda Makoto could not help but considering the notion of ‘discrimination’ against the Jainichi Chosen people, deeply rooted in the general Japanese working class, as his own problem including the way to overcome the discrimination. The clue could be read from ‘Arutegami’.
Next, the problem mentioned above will be examined through ‘Kawa’ (河), Oda’s last piece of work (1999~~2007), which, though published in a magazine for nearly over ten years, became an unfinished long novel due to the death of the author, and ‘Owaranaitabi’ (終らない旅) (2006) published in the meantime. The former was a piece of work, set in Japan, Chosen, and China in 1920’s, that describes the process of a boy, whose father was a Jainichi Chosen, and his mother a Japanese, growing up and changing from a ‘witness’ of history to a ‘participant’ of history. The latter is a story about families living in Japan, America, and Vietnam faced by a father and his son through two generations in the sorrow brought up by the Vietnam War. Through these works, Oda Makoto reveals the cross section of how he thought and what actions he tried to take when facing the difficult schism and cracks existing between the ‘discriminators’ and the ‘discriminated’.