First, I will talk about the earliest fictional stories of it.
In 1919, Kikuchi Kan, a classical Japanese writer wrote a short story, entitled Tatiana Hime. This story was based on a news article which was appeared in 1917. The news was, that somehow Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaievna survived and would give a lecture about her memoirs in Japan. It turned to be a rumor, however, Kikuchi translated the unique news article into a fictional story. In his fictional story, Kikuchi writes sympathy for the tragic fate of the Imperial family.
Here is the news article, which was appeared in Tokyo Asahi Shimbun on December 4, 1917 (page 5):
A Woman Who Was Mistaken for Grand Duchess Tatiana: The Policemen in Yokohama Were No Use
There was a rumor that the ex-Grand Duchess Tatiana, the second daughter of the ex-Tsar in Russia would exile to the United States of America. Chuangchun Telegraph has reported that she left Chuangchun and also it was said that she would arrive in Yokohama (The name of a place near Tokyo, in Japan) by taking the train which left Shimonoseki (The name of a place which is located in the western part of Japan) for Yokohama in the evening on December 2. Also, it was said that she would leave for the USA by taking a steamship called Shunyomaru which would leave Yokohama on December 3.
Kanagawa Prefectural Police considered this event would be important, however, according to the researches, this information about the visit of a Russian woman who could be Grand Duchess Tatiana is not true at present. Indeed, the policemen in Kanagawa prefecture and Mizugami Kaga frequently checked with the Toyo Kisen Company [A Japanese Steamship Company, established in 1896] in the afternoon of December 3. Although in this rumor there seemed to be something secret, it turned out that Mrs. H Romanov (aged 36) who was a wife of Mr. Romanov (56) staying in the room of no.136 of the steamship on the morning of December 3, was not Grand Duchess Tatiana. The room clerk of the steamship, Mr. Yoshioka has said, “Although Mrs. Romanov is incredibly beautiful, she is older than Grand Duchess Tatiana and she does not resemble Grand Duchess Tatiana at all if you compare her with the photos of Grand Duchess Tatiana. She has a husband and a seventeen-year-old son.” According to Mr. Yonezima, who works at the steamship company has talked with Mrs. Romanov, “Mrs. Romanov said that she was not Grand Duchess Tatiana, at all. However, she said that she would feel honored if Grand Duchess Tatiana takes this steamship just like the rumors.”
(The Resource of This Article is from Yokohama Telephone Exchange Office)
This news article was also appeared in some other news papers in Japan. It is the story of a Russian woman whose last name happened to be Romanov. And because of the last name, Romanov, the woman was mistaken for Tatiana. In 1917, as you know, the last imperial family led their life in captivity.
As I browsed the old newspapers around 1917-1918 in Japan, (the letters in Japanese were difficult to understand, because it’s different from the modern ones) I found a series of the column, entitled “The Biography of ex-Tsar” slightly after Nicholas’s abdication and some various photos of Nicholas were appeared in the news article of Nicholas’s abdication. Japan followed the information about the last Imperial family and I guess Japan felt sympathy for them.
The earliest work produced in Japan was not about Anastasia but Tatiana. Considering the fact that Japan had produced the fictional work related to the Russian Imperial family in the earlier stage, Japan had an interest in the legend of Anastasia and Imperial Russia.
(I referred to a paper written by Yashushi Muto, a Japanese scholar of literature, entitled The Legend of Anastasia. Kofu: Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Literature, 1999. In a Journal, Documents and Studies Vol.4.)
The next fictional story was written by Yumeno Kyusaku, who mainly wrote scary stories, in 1928. It is entitled The Love After Death. In this story, Anastasia is disguised as a soldier to cover her identity. She has the jewels of Romanovs in the story. A man named Kornikov, who was given the jewels by Anastasia, tells the story about Anastasia after her death. Kornikov is haunted by the story of her and her jewelry and his hair becomes white in one day because of his tremble. This story written by Yumeno was appreciated by the writers.
1928 was when Anna Anderson visited New York and also the year when two films about Anna Anderson were released in Germany. Did Yumeno know about Anna Anderson? Considering that Yumeno was a reporter of a newspaper and had great knowledge on Russia, he should have already known about the mystery of Anastasia.
Yumeno has written, "The fate of the love after death which possesses with me has reached to an extreme of nobility, seriousness and mystery." And I guess, Japan's translation of the legend of Anastasia has the feature, "haunting and beautiful." Comparing Japanese ones with Hollywood translation of it, Japan's ones are unique. What do you think?
I'm sorry that I'm writing too long and hope it is not boring...okay, next I'll make the lists of the titles of the fictional works in Japan.
aya-anya
