This paper introduces Japan's post-war leftist cultural movement "Cultural Collective Village" and its literary practices. Initiated by Yanagawa Gan and centered around the magazine Cultural Collective Village, the movement brought together activists from the Kyushu region and Yamaguchi Prefecture. Academic research has primarily approached it from an intellectual history perspective, regarding it as an important resource for post-war popular thought. However, Cultural Collective Village was not only a source for intellectual history but also a space for literary creation, nurturing writers such as Ishimure Michiko and Morisaki Kazue and pioneering new directions in leftist literature. In recent years, the works of these writers have been republished in Japan, drawing renewed attention, and some have been translated and published domestically. Yet, there remains a lack of literary studies on the creative works published in Cultural Collective Village. This paper explores the literary innovations and significance of the magazine in terms of stylistic features, narrative structure, and thematic concerns, as well as its impact on post-war Japanese literature and culture.

The Leftist Origins of Japan's "Cultural Collective" Movement

This section discusses the origins and development of the "cultural collective" concept in Japan and its close ties to leftist political movements. In 1931, Kurahara Korehito introduced the concept to Japan, aiming to address issues in the proletarian art movement and expand the Japanese Communist Party's mass base through cultural and artistic activities. Kurahara emphasized the role of cultural collectives in political struggle and advocated for organizing cultural and artistic groups within enterprises. In the same year, the Japan Proletarian Culture Federation ("KOPF") was established, but due to the rightward shift in the political climate and the rise of fascist ideology, the organization was eventually suppressed. After World War II, Japan's cultural collective movement re-emerged as the Japanese Communist Party was rebuilt and legalized, providing new opportunities for leftist activists. The New Japan Literature Association was formed to promote the cultural collective movement, aiming to cultivate a mass foundation for democratic cultural construction. The post-war cultural collective movement, led by the Japanese Communist Party, sought to advance Japan's transition from capitalism to socialism. However, with the onset of the Cold War and worsening domestic economic conditions, the movement faced renewed repression. By the 1950s, the cultural collective movement reached its peak, but as its mass appeal and militancy waned, it gradually shifted toward entertainment. The founding of the Cultural Collective Village magazine in 1958 marked a new direction and literary practice for the movement amid shifting political, cultural, and economic contexts.

The "Collective Creation" and "Worker" Ethos of Cultural Collective Village

Published in Nakama City, Fukuoka Prefecture, the Cultural Collective Village magazine aimed to provide a platform for marginalized voices during a period of social transformation. Its founders—Yanagawa Gan, Morisaki Kazue, and Ueno Hidenobu—emphasized that the subject of literary creation should be the "collective," encompassing individuals of different classes, educational backgrounds, regions, genders, and professions to bridge social divides. The primary method of collective creation was "oral testimony" based on egalitarian dialogue, highlighting the productivity of exchange across differences. This approach sought to resist capitalism's erosion of social and spiritual culture, diverging somewhat from the Japanese Communist Party's program by pursuing "class solidarity" rooted in "the joy of unity." The magazine argued that cultural collectives were distinct from political parties and labor unions, maintaining a degree of distance and tension. The founders also advocated for writers and cultural activists to embody the "worker" ethos, serving as bridges between intellectuals and the masses. The creative form of Cultural Collective Village was collective creation based on horizontal, difference-driven exchange, integrating writers, activists, and the masses into the cultural collective. Its content was deeply connected to everyday life, distinguishing it from purely literary or commercial magazines in their relationship with readers.

The Literary Practices and Legacy of Cultural Collective Village

Through its literary practices, Cultural Collective Village showcased the creative subjects, methods, and ideals of Japan's leftist cultural movement. The magazine published poetry, life records, tanka, and other creative works, though its categorization was fluid, with many pieces left unclassified. These works reflected the disconnect between the lives of the underprivileged and the activities of cultural collectives, as seen in The Roots of the Southern Kyushu Cultural Collective, co-authored by Mukuta Osamu and Ishimure Michiko. The magazine deliberately avoided rigid genre classifications, distancing itself from intellectual discourse. Oral testimony was a key creative method, with narrators and recorders forming collectives to produce works. Ishimure Michiko's Strange Disease—Reportage on the Fishermen of Minamata Bay employed local dialect and punctuation to mimic the fragmented speech of patients, striving to authentically convey their struggles. Ueno Hidenobu's Reportage: Rupture documented the Eguchi Coal Mine Incident, combining firsthand travelogues with first-person narratives and dialogues to depict miners' suffering. The magazine's collective creation methods and ideas influenced a generation of Japanese writers concerned with discrimination and marginalization. It also featured works by laborers, such as Tamaki Makoto's autobiographical poem Hate, Brothers!. Writers gave voice to the silenced underclass, leveraging literature's interventionist potential to provide a platform for the oppressed. However, Cultural Collective Village ceased publication after just three years, reflecting the broader challenges of Japan's post-war leftist movements. Despite its shortcomings, the brilliance of the "Cultural Collective Village" movement endures, offering resources for imagining alternative cultural and political histories.