ABSTRACT
For all practical purposes, Tamura Taijirōented invented nikutai bungaku. He gave prominent place in his titles to the physical and carnal body represented by the nikutai; he almost single-handedly introduced both the term and the idea of the postwar nikutai. The contemporary reaction to his work was explosive: "It was simply amazing how Tamura Taijirō's "Nikutai no mon" ("The Gate of Flesh"), appearing in the March 1947 issue of Gunzō, sent shockwaves not only through the literary establishment but through the general readership as well," recounts Okuno Takeo. He goes on to note that only Ishihara Shintarō's 1955 "Taiyō no kisetsu" ("Season of the Sun") known for its scandalous scene in which the protagonist pierces the paper of a fusuma with his erect penis, came close in its "societal repercussions." 1
