In Japan, Akutagawa Award, established in 1935 by Kan Kikuchi, then-editor of Bungeishunjū magazine, is a Japanese literary award presented semi-annually. The award is named after Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927), a prominent Japanese writer considered the father of short stories of Japan. It is one of Japan’s most sought after literary prizes.

From March to July 1921, Akutagawa Ryunosuke traveled across China as a journalist for Osaka-based Mainichi Shimbun. He landed I Shanghai on March 20. He visited Hangzhou for two days in May. From August 1921, he began serializing his Shanghai Travelogue in Mainichi Shimbun in Osaka and Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbum. In 1925, Kaizo Sha, a publisher and bookstore in Japan, put on the market the writer’s China Travelogue. It is the longest work Akutagawa ever wrote. Moreover, modern scholars use this travelogue as a reference book for information on life in China back then. In this book, ten chapters are about Hangzhou. One night in Hangzhou covers three chapters and West Lake is in six chapters, and Lingyin Temple is a stand-alone chapter. His account allows the reader to trace exactly what he did in the two days and two nights of his stay in Hangzhou.

The following are some of the highlights of his activities in Hangzhou.

First Sight of the West Lake

Akutagawa reached Hangzhou by train at 7 in the evening. He got into contact with a receptionist from Xinxin Hotel on North Hill Street by the northern bank of the West Lake. The Japanese writer then took a rickshaw ride through the city to the lakeside hotel. His first sight of the lake gave him an impression of quietness. In his travelogue, the writer described the darkish lake water and empty road. Akutagawa and his friend (a photographer) didn’t see anybody. It can be construed that the first glimpse occurred on Hubin Road, part of the busiest bank section of the West Lake today. Then he got a full glimpse of the beauty of the West Lake. The moonlight cascaded from a crack of clouds and poured on the Broken Bridge. He said he had never seen such silver and dark colors in Japan.

Boat Tour on the Lake

On the morning of the first day in Hangzhou, Akutagawa took a boat tour at a pier not far from the Japanese Consulate in Hangzhou, which is now behind Lake View Pavilion on the West Lake. After the victory of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1945, the consulate property was confiscated by the national government and repurposed into a hotel for international guests. In 1946, John Leighton Stuart stayed at the hotel in his visit to Hangzhou in October, three months after he was appointed USA ambassador to China. Though the boat Akutagawa took was called a pleasure boat, it was just an ordinary tourist boat decorated with an awning and a brass handrail. The writer went westward on the lake in parallel with the Bai Causeway. Then he passed an attraction called Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake, a platform on the lake. Akutagawa visited the Solitary Hill Temple. He wished to visit Wenlange Pavilion where a copy of Complete Library of the Four Branches was housed as of 1782, but the library didn’t open to visitors. Akutagawa then opted to visit the Yue Residence.

Yu Residence

The residence is the former residence of Yu Yue (1821-1907), among his best known disciples was Zhang Taiyan (1869-1936), a philologist, textual critic, philosopher and revolutionary. He studied philology and textual criticism under the guidance of Yu Yue. Interestingly enough, the Japanese writer had just visited Zhang in Shanghai before he came to Hangzhou. In his travelogue, Akutagawa described the master in vivid details. At the residence, Akutagawa admired a painting by Peng Yulin (1816-1890), a renowned politician and artist of the Qing (1644-1911). Akutagawa mentioned that it was the original of the painting and that his friend Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965), one of the major writers of modern Japanese literature, had a replica of the painting.

Yue Fei Temple

After the Yu Residence, Akutagawa visited the tomb of Su Xiaoxiao (479-502), a young girl who died in a heartbreaking tragedy, and the tomb of Qiu Jin (1875-1907), a revolutionary who was executed after the failure of an armed uprising against the Qing Dynasty. After the tomb visit, Akutagawa resumed the boat tour. The boat went under a bridge that is part of the Su Causeway. After a brief boat ride, Akutagawa came to the memorial temple of Yue Fei, a general who was accused of nonexistent crimes and executed after his factories against the invading nomads from the north. 

Thunder Peak Pagoda

After lunch at Louwailou Restaurant, Akutagawa took a boat ride to visit Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, an isle attraction near the southern side of the lake. After the isle, the boat went near the Thunder Peak Pagoda, which stood like an old man. The pagoda, originally built in 977, crashed in 1924, three years after Akutagawa’s visit. The present one, a modern structure, was built in 2002. On his way back to Xinxin Hotel, Akutagawa examined Baochu Pagoda on the northern side of the lake.

Lingyin Temple

On the basis of the writer’s account, Akutagawa visited the Lingyin Temple on the second day of his visit to Hangzhou. On his way to the temple, he visited the Jade Spring, a garden park where huge fishes are kept in an oblong fish pond. He then visited the Lingyin Temple and the Peak Flying from Afar. On his way back to the hotel, he visited the Fenglin Temple. He wrote about his visit to Lingyin Temple on postcards. The texts reappeared in his China Travelogue.

Akutagawa’s account of his travel across China reflects his impressions of China in 1921. His ten chapters about his sightseeing tour in Hangzhou are a precious historical record of West Lake in terms of history, culture, and changes.