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Review: Takaoka’s Travels — This Surrealist Pilgrimage Delights and Disturbs
A new English translation of Takaoka’s Travels by Japanese author Shibusawa Tatsuhiko is a funny, fantastical fever dream.
By Alyssa Fusek
There’s a reason why writers like Oe Kenzaburo and Kawakami Hiromi praise the counterculture icon Shibusawa Tatsuhiko (1928–1987). As an essayist and translator of French surrealists like Jean Cocteau and the Marquis de Sade, Shibusawa didn’t shy away from delving deeply into subjects ranging from demonology to eroticism. He was the key figure in Japan’s second postwar obscenity trial over his translation of de Sade’s Juliette (which, unsurprisingly, featured numerous explicit scenes.) But this nine-year ordeal and commitment to writing only further cemented his place in Japan’s postwar literary scene.
All those interests and more culminated in his only full-length novel Takaoka’s Travels, masterfully translated by David Boyd and published by Stone Bridge Press. Winner of the 1987 Yomiuri Prize, Takaoka’s Travels is a surrealist blend of fantasy and historical fiction, perfect for fans of Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, that adds a supernatural spin to the tale of a real-life prince’s journey to India.
