Page:Tayama Katai and His Novel Entitled Futon (Reece).pdf/59

 War in March 1904. It is recorded that on August 15, 1904, Katai was hospitalized in Manchuria, with the suspicion of having contacted typhoid, and a month later he was shipped back to Tokyo. Michiyo stayed with Katai's sister-in-law, while Katai was in Manchuria, and attended Tsuda Woman's College. In the meantime Michiyo fell in love with Nagashiro Shizuo, a student at Dōshisha. She planned to live with Nagashiro; however, her plans came to naught when her father abruptly took her home. The noticeable influences of Michiyo on Katai's life that were later incorporated in his heroine, Yoshiko, were now terminated as far as they relate to.

From the foregoing observations it can be readily seen that Katai already had a model for his heroine when he was writing. This model can be identified as Michiyo Okada, whose personal background was closely related to the story of the heroine Yoshiko in. However, an analysis of how much Michiyo's presence in Katai's life actually influenced his use of her as the model for his heroine in cannot be conclusive as there are no substantiating documents to confirm or refute this aspect of study.