Author Guide · Japanese Fiction
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In 1943 the magazine Chūō Kōron began serialising a slow, detailed novel about four sisters from a fading Osaka merchant family. The military government suspended the serial. Junichiro Tanizaki, born in Tokyo in 1886, kept writing in secret, and The Makioka Sisters was completed in 1948. Ten years before it began he had written In Praise of Shadows, a short essay on lacquer, paper screens and dim rooms that is still in print in English nearly fifty years after its translation. He wrote for more than fifty years, from the story “The Tattooer” in 1910 to Diary of a Mad Old Man in 1962. This guide covers his 11 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 11 key books · 1925–1962 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Junichiro Tanizaki’s best-known books are The Makioka Sisters (1948), the essay In Praise of Shadows (1933), Naomi (1925), Some Prefer Nettles (1929), The Key (1956) and Diary of a Mad Old Man (1962). Start with In Praise of Shadows, a short essay that sets out the taste behind his novels.
Where to Start with Junichiro Tanizaki
If you want a short way in
→ In Praise of Shadows (1933) — his essay on shadow, lacquer and Japanese rooms.
If you want his great novel
→ The Makioka Sisters (1948) — four sisters in Osaka on the eve of war.
If you want old and new Japan in conflict
→ Some Prefer Nettles (1929) — a failing marriage and the puppet theatre.
If you want his late, darker side
→ Diary of a Mad Old Man (1962) — an old man’s diary of desire.
11 Junichiro Tanizaki Books, in Order
Naomi
Chijin no ai (A Fool’s Love, serialised 1924–1925); translated by Anthony H. Chambers (1985). Jōji, a 28-year-old engineer, takes in Naomi, a 15-year-old café waitress who looks Western to him, intending to educate her and marry her. She grows into a modern, Westernised woman who ends up controlling him. The novel is a portrait of the craze for Western dress, dancing and film in 1920s Tokyo.
Some Prefer Nettles
Tade kuu mushi (1929); translated by Edward G. Seidensticker (1955). Kaname and Misako, a couple near Osaka, no longer love each other and keep putting off a divorce. Through Misako’s father and his young mistress O-hisa, Kaname is drawn to the Bunraku puppet theatre of Osaka and Awaji and to an older Japan he had turned away from.
Quicksand
Manji (serialised 1928–1930); translated by Howard Hibbett. Sonoko Kakiuchi, a young Osaka housewife, tells a novelist in Osaka dialect how she fell in love with Mitsuko, a woman she met at art school, and how her husband and Mitsuko’s lover were drawn into the affair. Yasuzo Masumura filmed it in 1964.
The Reed Cutter
Ashikari (1932); translated by Anthony H. Chambers, in one volume with Captain Shigemoto’s Mother. On an autumn evening a narrator visits Minase, where Emperor Go-Toba had a villa, and meets a man among the reeds who tells him of his father’s lifelong love for a widow, O-yū. Kenji Mizoguchi based Miss Oyu (1951) on it.
A Portrait of Shunkin
Shunkinshō (1933); translated by Howard Hibbett in Seven Japanese Tales (1963). The narrator pieces together the life of Shunkin, a blind and imperious shamisen teacher in nineteenth-century Osaka, and Sasuke, the servant and pupil who devotes his life to her. When her face is scarred, he blinds himself so as never to see it. It has been filmed many times.
In Praise of Shadows
In’ei raisan (1933); translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker (1977). A long essay comparing Japanese and Western taste through rooms, paper screens, lacquerware, toilets, Nō and Kabuki, and the complexions of women in dim light. Tanizaki argues that Japanese beauty depends on shadow and is being lost to electric light. Vintage reissued the translation in an illustrated design edition in 2019.
A Cat, a Man, and Two Women
Neko to Shōzō to futari no onna (1936); translated by Paul McCarthy (1990). Shōzō, an indolent shopkeeper’s son near Kobe, loves his cat Lily more than either his new wife Fukuko or his former wife Shinako, who asks to have the cat. A short comedy of jealousy in which the cat is the one everyone competes for.
The Makioka Sisters
Sasameyuki (1943–1948, serial suspended in wartime); translated by Edward G. Seidensticker (1957). In the late 1930s the four Makioka sisters of Osaka try to keep up the standing of a declining merchant family, above all by finding a husband for the shy third sister, Yukiko, while the youngest, Taeko, goes her own way. Kon Ichikawa filmed it in 1983.
Captain Shigemoto’s Mother
Shōshō Shigemoto no haha (1949–1950); translated by Anthony H. Chambers. In tenth-century Kyoto the powerful minister Fujiwara no Tokihira takes the young wife of the elderly counsellor Kunitsune. Kunitsune is left obsessed with her, and their small son Shigemoto grows up longing for the mother he lost. Tanizaki built the story from classical tales and diaries.
The Key
Kagi (1956); translated by Howard Hibbett. A 56-year-old Kyoto professor and his wife Ikuko each keep a diary they suspect the other is reading, and use them to manipulate each other; the husband encourages her attraction to their daughter’s suitor, Kimura, to rouse his own desire. Kon Ichikawa filmed it as Odd Obsession (1959).
Diary of a Mad Old Man
Fūten rōjin nikki (1961–1962); translated by Howard Hibbett (1965). Utsugi, a wealthy 77-year-old Tokyo man recovering from a stroke, records his pains, his medicines and his growing fixation on his daughter-in-law Satsuko, a former dancer. He plans to have her footprints carved on his gravestone. It was his last novel.
In What Order to Read Junichiro Tanizaki
None of Tanizaki’s books is part of a series, so each can be read on its own. Reading them by date shows the turn in his work after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, when he moved from Tokyo to the Kansai region: Naomi is still about Tokyo’s fascination with the West, while Some Prefer Nettles, Quicksand and the short works of the early 1930s turn to Osaka, its dialect, its theatre and the classical past.
A good route is to read In Praise of Shadows first, since it states the taste behind the novels, then a short novella such as A Portrait of Shunkin, then Some Prefer Nettles before The Makioka Sisters. Keep The Key and Diary of a Mad Old Man, both told through diaries, for last.
A reading path
1. In Praise of Shadows (1933)
2. A Portrait of Shunkin (1933)
3. Some Prefer Nettles (1929)
4. The Makioka Sisters (1948)
5. Diary of a Mad Old Man (1962)
Everything Else Junichiro Tanizaki Published
Beyond the 11 key books: 6 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Stories and early fiction
3
3 books · 1910–1919
- 1910The TattooerShisei, his first published story; in Seven Japanese Tales, translated by Howard Hibbett (1963)
- 1918Devils in DaylightHakuchū kigo, a detective novella; translated by J. Keith Vincent (2017)
- 1919The Gourmet ClubBishoku kurabu, title story of a collection translated by Anthony H. Chambers and Paul McCarthy (2001)
Historical fiction and memoir
3
3 books · 1931–1957
- 1931ArrowrootYoshino kuzu; translated by Anthony H. Chambers (1982)
- 1935The Secret History of the Lord of MusashiBushūkō hiwa; translated by Anthony H. Chambers (1982)
- 1957Childhood YearsYōshō jidai, a memoir of his Tokyo boyhood; translated by Paul McCarthy (1988)
The years · 1886–1965
Quick facts about Junichiro Tanizaki
- Known for
- Novels and essays about desire, obsession and the pull between Western modernity and traditional Japanese taste.
- 1886
- Born in Nihonbashi, Tokyo
- 1910
- Publishes “The Tattooer”
- 1923
- Moves to Kansai after the Great Kantō earthquake
- 1965
- Dies in Yugawara, aged 79
- Born
- 24 July 1886, Nihonbashi, Tokyo
- Education
- Japanese literature at Tokyo Imperial University; left in 1911 without a degree
- Moved
- To the Kansai region after the 1923 earthquake
- Genji
- Translated The Tale of Genji into modern Japanese, then revised it several times
- Honours
- Order of Culture, 1949; Nobel shortlist, 1964
- Died
- 30 July 1965, Yugawara, Kanagawa
The red mark is 1948: The Makioka Sisters, completed after wartime censorship.
How Junichiro Tanizaki Writes: Shadow, Desire and Old Japan
Tanizaki’s plots return again and again to one arrangement: a man who submits, willingly, to a woman he idealises. Jōji in Naomi, Sasuke in A Portrait of Shunkin and the old diarist of Diary of a Mad Old Man all give themselves over to an obsession that the reader can see is ruining them. He writes these men with comedy as well as candour, and he is precise about the physical details they fix on: skin, feet, a voice.
He liked to tell a story at one remove. Quicksand is a monologue addressed to a listening novelist, The Reed Cutter is a tale heard from a stranger in the reeds, A Portrait of Shunkin claims to be reconstructed from an old pamphlet, and The Key and Diary of a Mad Old Man are made of diary entries. The device lets him leave gaps and keep the reader unsure who to believe.
After his move to Kansai he turned toward classical Japan: Bunraku in Some Prefer Nettles, Heian tales in Captain Shigemoto’s Mother, and his modern Japanese version of The Tale of Genji, which he revised several times. In Praise of Shadows gives the theory behind that turn, the preference for things seen dimly, worn by use and half hidden. For the Zen side of Japanese taste, see the guide to D.T. Suzuki.
Frequently asked questions about Junichiro Tanizaki’s books
How many books has Junichiro Tanizaki written?
He wrote novels, novellas, short stories, plays, film scripts and essays from 1910 until the 1960s. This guide covers his 11 key books in English, and lists six more in the section after them.
What are Junichiro Tanizaki’s books in order?
Naomi (1925), Some Prefer Nettles (1929), Quicksand (1931), The Reed Cutter (1932), A Portrait of Shunkin (1933), In Praise of Shadows (1933), A Cat, a Man, and Two Women (1936), The Makioka Sisters (1948), Captain Shigemoto’s Mother (1950), The Key (1956) and Diary of a Mad Old Man (1962). Years are the first Japanese book editions.
Where should I start with Junichiro Tanizaki?
In Praise of Shadows (1933), translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker: it is short and explains the taste behind his fiction. For a novel, start with Some Prefer Nettles or go straight to The Makioka Sisters.
What is Junichiro Tanizaki’s most famous book?
The Makioka Sisters (Sasameyuki), translated by Edward G. Seidensticker in 1957, is his best-known novel. The essay In Praise of Shadows is probably his most widely read book in English.
What is In Praise of Shadows about?
It is an essay from 1933 on Japanese aesthetics. Tanizaki compares Japanese and Western houses, lighting, lacquerware, paper, food, toilets and theatre, and argues that traditional Japanese beauty depends on shadow and half-light, which electric lighting and Western habits were driving out.
Why was The Makioka Sisters censored?
Serialisation began in Chūō Kōron in 1943 and was suspended under the military government: a leisurely novel about the private lives of a well-off family did nothing to promote the war effort, and the magazine feared for its paper supply. Tanizaki kept writing in secret, and the novel was completed in 1948.
Did Junichiro Tanizaki win the Nobel Prize?
No. In 1964 he was one of the six authors on the final shortlist. That year he also became the first Japanese writer elected an honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. The first Japanese winner of the Nobel was Yasunari Kawabata, in 1968.
What happened between Tanizaki, his first wife and Haruo Sato?
Tanizaki married Chiyo Ishikawa in 1915. From around 1921 she had a relationship with his friend the poet Haruo Satō, which Tanizaki encouraged, and in 1930 the marriage ended and she married Satō. Tanizaki married twice more, in 1931 and, to Matsuko Morita, in 1935.
Which Junichiro Tanizaki books have been filmed?
The Key as Kon Ichikawa’s Odd Obsession (1959), Quicksand by Yasuzo Masumura (1964), The Makioka Sisters by Kon Ichikawa (1983), The Reed Cutter as Kenji Mizoguchi’s Miss Oyu (1951), and A Portrait of Shunkin several times.
Is Junichiro Tanizaki still alive?
No. He died of a heart attack on 30 July 1965 in Yugawara, Kanagawa, a few days after his 79th birthday. The Tanizaki Prize, one of Japan’s main literary awards, was founded in his name the same year.
Footnotes
- Jun’ichirō Tanizaki — Wikipedia
- Tanizaki Jun’ichirō — Britannica
- Tanizaki Junichiro — National Diet Library, Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures
- The Makioka Sisters — Britannica
- Haruo Sato — National Diet Library
- In Praise of Shadows — Penguin
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.”
— Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows (1933), translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker
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