芥川龍之介(Akutagawa Ryuunosuke)「切支丹（基督教）物」的第一部作品《煙草和魔鬼》算是他的前期作品，最早以「煙草」爲題發表於第四次《新思潮The literary journal Shinshichō("New Currents of Thought")》（1916年11月），隔年收錄於《煙草和魔鬼》一書中（1917年11月）。芥川是一位以寫作非常流暢的短篇作品著稱的作家，若說這篇是其中的上上之選亦不爲過，因爲芥川是位日文非常純熟的人，像《蜘蛛絲Kumo no Ito(The Spider's Thread)》之類的簡單短篇故事，算是短而美的作品，而「煙草和魔鬼」也一樣是容易閱讀的故事。芥川透過文學創作，常以他對人在「善惡」、「是非」、「成敗」、「得失」、「輸贏」等兩律相對性的觀點，提出他所認知的「矛盾共存」現象。這或許是芥川藉由他的小說寫作技巧、情節安排，最後所呈現的雖爲淺顯易懂的結論，可是總覺得芥川的作品不可能就以引出類似「塞翁失馬，焉知非福」或是「有得必有失，有失必有得」這樣的陳腔老調來取悅讀者，應該還有其他問題待探討才對，否則《煙草和魔鬼》便有失作爲芥川龍之介第一部「切支丹（基督教）物」的意義了。至於《煙草和魔鬼》文中關於基督教（西洋文化）傳入日本的問題點在哪裡？芥川藉由「切支丹（基督教）物」所要關心的主題是什麼？本論文將先談論一下外來文化傳入日本的歷史背景、演變過程之後，再進一步針對《煙草和魔鬼》做論述。

"Tobacco and the Devil" (Japanese Title: "Tabako to Akuma") is the first of Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's "Kirishitan" stories, stories that treat the theme of Christianity, and it is also the work of his earlier period. The story was first published on Nov. 1916, in the fourth issue of the literary journal, New Currents of Thought (Japanese title: Shinshicho), under the title "Tobacco." The next year, the story was collected in the book, Tobacco and the Devil, which was published on Nov. 1917. Akutagawa was a fluent writer, famous for his short stories. It would not be an exaggeration to name "Tobacco and the Devil" as one of his best. Akutagawa was a master of Japanese language; therefore, he was able to create short but beautiful, and easy-to-read stories such as "The Spider's Thread" (Japanese Title: "Kumo no Ito") and "Tobacco and the Devil."In his literary works, Akutagawa explained what he perceived as "contradictory coexistence" through reinforcing opposing views such as good and evil, right and wrong, success and failure, gain and loss, victory and defeat, and so on. These views could be the simple conclusions of his stories, which were arranged by Akutagawa with the use of his writing techniques or plot manipulation. However, there is this suspicion that somehow Akutagawa did not mean to just please his readers by presenting clichés and hackneyed ideas such as "the misfortune may be a blessing in disguise" or "you win some and lose some." There must be issues for us to discuss and problems for us to explore; otherwise, "Tobacco and the Devil" would not be considered as the first and the representative work of Akutagawa's Kirishitan stories.What problems with Christianity (representing the western culture) and its being introduced to Japan were presented in the text? What did Akutagawa want to discuss through his Kirishitan stories? This research paper will first discuss how the western culture had been imported to Japan and how it has been evolved over the years; after the introduction to the historical background, the paper will offer further analysis of "Tobacco and the Devil."