The Genre and Style of the Birch School

After the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905, Japan's capitalism developed by leaps and bounds, and culture and art were influenced by the European literary trends of the 19th century. The young intellectuals of the upper class who belonged to the Birch School rejected the gloomy depiction of real life in naturalistic literature, and were full of light and hope for the realization of their individuality. Japan was strongly influenced by the climax of the democratic ideological movement that took place around the world with the occurrence of the First World War in 1914. The Japanese intellectuals were hopeful about the bright ideals of mankind and the possibility of continuous progress. The literary art of the Birch School entered its heyday under this trend of thought and became the mainstay of the Taisho period literature, leaving a profound influence on the Japanese literature of the following years.

As Takeshi Arishima's tendency toward the socialist ideology of the materialistic view of history gradually came into contradiction with the generally idealistic concepts of the Birch School, the presiding figure of this school, Takeshi Musha, who had been a member of the Birch School for many years. The leader of this school, Mitsutoshi Takeshi Koji, was engaged in organizing the illusory "New Village Movement," which failed.

The Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1924 led to the closure of Shirakaba. In particular, the development of materialist thinking led to the gradual decline of the literary and artistic ideas of the Birch School.