Abstract：Kasai Zenzo is a famous watakushi novelist in the modern Japanese literature history, whose writing career runs through Japan's Taisho era. He does not only inherit the Japanese traditional literature idea of authenticity and emotionalness, but also blends his opinions of art and life into his literary works, which has had an extensive influence upon private novelists of later ages. Kasai Zenzo, based on self-image, mainly describes the intellectuals' real life and inner world. The intellectuals created by Kasai Zenzo in his short stories choose to live a self-secluded life in the artistic, family and emotional aspects. It is these characters' social environment, their traditional idea and sense of crisis that make Kasai Zenzo become the representative writer of Japanese private novels full of existence crisis.

Keyword：Kasai Zenzo;intellectuals;secluded life;