Ōgai Mori - Sensing that most other people are “erotomaniacs” without any useful insight into the origins or causes of their overly excitable sexual natures, a passionless, “abnormally frigid” philosophy professor seeks to understand what the fuss is all about

Ogai Mori, Vita Sexualis, Trans. by Kazuji Ninomiya and Sanford Goldstein, Tuttle Publishing, 1989. [1909.]

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"Though banned three weeks after its publication in 1909, Vita Sexualis is far more than a prurient erotic novel. The narrator, a professor of philosophy, wrestles with issues of sexual desire, sex education, and the proper place of sensuality. He tells the story of his own journey into sexual awareness, spanning fifteen years, from his first exposure to erotic woodcuts at the age of six, to his first physical response to a woman, and his eventual encounter with a professional courtesan. Beyond being a poignant account of one boy's coming of age, Vita Sexualis is also an important record of Japan's moral struggles during the cultural upheaval of the last years of the Meiji era.
In response to the publication of Vita Sexualis, Ogai Mori was reprimanded by Japan's vice-minister of war."

"Another Japanese classic, and one handpicked for censor by Japan’s vice minister of war, is Mori’s portrayal of a passionless, “abnormally frigid” philosophy professor in Japan named Mr. Kanai. Sensing that most other people are “erotomaniacs” without any useful insight into the origins or causes of their overly excitable sexual natures, the professor seeks to understand what the fuss is all about.
Vita Sexualis is so effective because the protagonist is relentlessly logical and the narrative voided of even the slightest emotional charge. “Mr. Kanai had never carefully thought about the way his sexual desires had germinated or the way they had developed,” Mori explains matter-of-factly. “Might he not probe these desires and write about them?” In examining, without apology or hesitation, those parts of himself that most people refuse to acknowledge exist, we’re all the better for Kanai’s soberly erotic self-analysis." - Jesse Bering

"Ogai Mori (1862 to 1922) was born into a privileged family in the southern Japan. His family had long had the been by right of inheritance physicians to the daimyo (a feudal samurai lord) of the region. As the oldest son of the family, Mori as expected graduated from Medical School. In his younger days he studied Confucian texts to supplement his schooling and insure a grounding in the classics. After graduation he enrolled in the Japanese Imperial Army. The army sent him to Germany to pursue advanced medical training and while there he developed a passion for European literature. Upon return to Japan he was given a high ranking position in the army medical corps. While pursuing his military career he started at his own expense a literary journal in the pages of which Japanese literary criticism first began. In time he was promoted to the position of Surgeon General of the Japanese Imperial Army. While in the army he served in Manchuria and Taiwan during periods of combat. As a hobby he pursued his writings, the most famous of which is The Wild Geese.
Vita Sexualis is considered an autobiographical novel of the sexual development of Mori. It was considered so daring at the time that it was banned three weeks after its initial publication and Mori drew an official reprimand from his military superiors. The book is narrated as if one writer was presenting the manuscript of a second one. In a very good introduction to the book, Sanford Goldstein, gives us a very interesting account of the place of erotically explicit literature in the literary culture of Japan of the period. Vita Sexualis is in no sense at all a an explicit book but it does talk in an open way about homosexual activity (including rape) in Japanese all male boarding schools which were attended by most elite Japanese of the time. The book is told sort of one year at a time starting with age six and ending at age twenty one. The narrator ends up in medical school just like Mori did. We see him learning about self gratification from his peers up to his first sexual encounter which was with a prostitute. This is portrayed as a normal right of male passage at the time. I thing the suggestion that elite Japanese males commonly visited prostitutes and tea houses of bad repute is probably one of the reasons the top functionaries of the Imperial Army did not like his book. We also see the role of geisha in the life of the Japanese elite. There is a lot of blurring of the line between prostitutes and gieshas in Japanese novels. Given time it was expected that gieshas would provide sexual services and also cultural instruction to young elite males. For sure this is the depiction of that aspect of Japanese life is shown in Vita Sexualis. I think maybe the real reason his book was banned as he revealed to much "boy's club" information about life among the elite in Japan.
I enjoyed this book. It is well written by an obviously very cultivated and highly intelligent man. It gives us an interesting look at the upbringing of elite males in Japan in the early part of the 20th century. One must think that the elite males who were the classmates of the main character in 1904 (when they were about 20) lead Japan into war thirty years later and we have to wonder if the values of classical Japan are already being shown as eroding in this 1904 work.
I recommend this book for any one very into the Japanese novel or anyone interested in the culture of early 20th century Japan. It is also a book those interested in seeing an open treatment of homosexuality in Japanese literature will enjoy." - The Reading Life

"The very first thing that is mentioned about Ogai Mori’s 1909 published novel, Vita Sexualis, is that it was banned three weeks after publication. I find this amusing since the book is bereft of sex, and more about the burgeoning curiosity about it. All this is fine, and actually makes for an interesting read, albeit readers looking for steamy scenes are likely to be disappointed. Yet, those who know where to find them are not going to be sifting through a Japanese novel published in 1909.
Vita Sexualis has much in common with Ogai’s other novel, The Wild Geese, in terms of execution — both books are spare in their storytelling and focus on small moments of insight to resonate both character development and the narrative. As the book opens, we are informed of the narrator: “Mr. Shizuka Kanai is a philosopher by profession.” While the opening chapter is in third person, the book then shifts to the first, and interestingly Ogai follows a format where each chapter begins with every age of the professor, starting at six. The chapters are short, and more like scenes, similar to what Evan S. Connell uses in his excellent character novels Mrs. Bridge and Mr. Bridge.
There are also humorous moments present, as when the professor reaches the age of ten he describes looking at several erotic drawings:
“While I kept glancing at them over and over again, some doubts occurred. One part of the body was drawn with extreme exaggeration. When I was much younger, it had been quite natural for me to think that this part of the body was a leg when it actually wasn’t.”
Much of the sexual references are imbued throughout the text, and the narrator never actually speaks the name of any specific body parts that piques his curiosity. Granted, the humor doesn’t compare to the best of Soseki (Botchan, Sanshiro and I am a Cat are all hilarious) since Ogai doesn’t sustain it throughout most of the narrative. But perhaps what some will find odd is the narrator’s disinterest towards all things sexual. He notices, and he comments, but he never really participates in it — or if he has, he is not going to share it with the readers.
Like all first person accounts, readers must assume that the narrator is perhaps not completely unreliable, but clearly someone who slants things in his favor. For example, when Kanai is sent away to school at the age of 13, he learns of the different types of groups males are lumped in — the “mashers” and the “queers.” And whenever speaking of sexual desire, it always done in a distant way, rather than personal:
“When I consider the question of sexual desire, my fellow students in those days consisted of the ‘mashers,’ who were dandies and affected elegance of dress and manner, and the ‘queers,’ who were more manly and casual in their dress. The mashers belonged to that group which enjoyed looking at those strange drawings I’ve already mentioned.”
Given when this novel is published, the homoerotic undertones likely played a role in the banning of the book. Whether or not this is a force behind the character isn’t really said, but implied. He eventually graduates without having had any sexual encounters with women, but he continues to speak of women and what they represent, even in a more distant manner than one might expect. (He even at one point addresses his thoughts on marriage, but does so without any sentimentality.) And while there are moments of philosophical observation, one would think there would be a bit more from a philosophy professor. As example, he has an interesting digression on “self-vindication” and how it relates to writing and art: “I don’t believe any work of art can escape the label ‘self vindication.’ For man’s life is his attempt at vindicating himself. For the life of each and every living creature is a self-vindication.”
Vita Sexualis is not a great novel, but one can see how it helped pave the way for later (and better) works by Tanizaki and his many recurring male protagonists with foot fetishes. Vita Sexualis succeeds at showing the “moral struggles” during the decline of the Meiji Era — a decline which resulted in the eventual shift towards a more Westernized thought and influence throughout Japan. Yet despite its title, Vita Sexualis is more a novel about inhibition and observation than exploration. In other words, while it might have been risqué in its day, it is far from that now.
As noted in my review of The Wild Geese, Ogai is an important writer to pursue, especially for those looking to the early influences of later writers like Tanizaki and Kawabata. From what I have seen thus far, I would still rank him below Soseki, but hopefully in time more of his works will become available in English." - Jessica Schneider

"Ogai Mori was a deeply respected figure in Meiji-era Japan. Best remembered today as an author, playwright and poet, he also the Japanese Surgeon General and an expert on Military Hygiene. Secure in his position, respected and wealthy, in 1909 Mori took an unexpected turn and published "Vita Sexualis," a controversial title that was banned three week after its publication.
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of "Vita Sexualis" is is lack of sexuality. Ostensibly a record of burgeoning sexuality, written by a father to his son, so that his son would be better prepared for his own maturation, the main character is almost completely asexual, unable to understand the rampant behavior of his friends and contemporaries. He openly admits that he has never experienced the desires that seem to drive everyone around him. Women and men make themselves available to him, but he is defiant in his moral purity and never indulges.
What is most shocking is also most interesting. Like Ihara Saikaku's "Life of an Amorous Man," "Vita Sexualis" is a guided tour through Meiji-era sexuality, such as the famed Yoshiwara pleasure district. However unlike Saikaku's bohemian protagonist, Mori's man is strictly a spectator, inwardly mussing on why those around him take such joy in such base activities.
"Vita Sexualis" is sexual philosophy. It is an intellectual take, something which Mori excelled at. It stands out in a field full of devil-may-care exploitative literature in the same vein, and shows that one can write a serious and intelligent sex book." - Zack Davisson

Study Guide for Mori Ōgai’s Vita Sexualis