Osamu Dazai

Real Name: Shūji Tsushima (津島 修治) Common Name: Osamu Dazai (太宰 治)

Age: 39

Osamu Dazai was a writer who lived from 1909-1948. He's considered to be one of the classic writers of modern Japanese fiction, known for his melancholic books on the nature of suicide and excess. He led a disastrous life, drank to excess, attempted suicide many times.

Osamu Dazai is a master of the turn of phrase, deeply perceptive on the human condition. He indulges in too much drink, falls in love far too easily, ruminates over his depression. Despite his successes he feels a pervasive sense of worthlessness. He is ready to die but terrified of the pain of death.

He likes to hide his pain by teasing and joking: Despite his pain he loves making people laugh. He loves drinking with others and will try any drugs offered to him.

Habits: Coughing (from tuberculosis), drinking, drug use, quips, teasing, ruminating about sin and death

History: Osamu Dazai grew up in Imperial Japan in a large family. His father was often absent, and his mother was usually ill, leaving him in the care of his brothers and sisters.

Dazai started writing as a teenager with some success, but was devastated when his idol, Ryunoskue Akutagawa committed suicide. He started drinking and abandoning his studies, and got involved in Leftist causes. He was persecuted for connections to Communist causes by the Imperial Japanese government.

He tried several times to kill himself in his early years, including a double-suicide with a 19 year old bar hostess: she died, but he was rescued.

He was married several times, tried to commit double-suicide after his wife's affair with his best friend became public.

He was a prolific writer who managed to get published despite his political leanings. His most popular books were The Setting Sun and No Longer Human. He once very publicly threatened to stab a critic of his. He was rivals of Yukio Mishima, who found him a clownish degenerate.

He had several marriages over the course of his life, with several daughters and one son, a boy with Down Syndrome.

He was an alcoholic and occasional drug addict. At the end of his days, while married to Michiko Tsushima, he met 28 year old Tomie Yamazaki. He asked her "Would you like to fall in love with the intention of dying?"

They had an affair while Dazai's ill health, both from tuberculosis and drinking/drug abuse. In June 13, 1948, they committed double-suicide by jumping into a canal. " Man was born for love and revolution." -Osamu Dazai

Osamu Dazai was a historical fiction writer who wrote many books, often about depression and the nature of sin. An avid alcoholic, drug user, and romantic, he struggled with illness and suicidal ideation his entire life until his double-suicide with Tomi Yamazaki in 1948.