Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki

It's a little difficult to describe the events of Spring Garden without repeating the publisher's description on the reverse of the book, published as part of the Pushkin Press series of Japanese novellas Haru no niwa was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in 2014 and is translated by Polly Barton. One of the main narrators, Taro, is recently divorced and lives alone in a block of apartments slated to be sold off to developers, as the story progresses the building begins to empty of it's tenants, interestingly each of the apartments is named after signs from the zodiac, so in places characters are referred to in regards their respective sign, e.g Mrs Snake.  Another prominent character is Nishi, a woman who lives upstairs, whom Taro becomes acquainted with. A central enigma to the story is that of the house that the owner of the apartment block, Mrs Saeki used to occupy, as we hear of Nishi's fascination of the building, which is an amalgamation of old and new, East and West, we learn of her first exposure to the building through a photobook entitled 'Spring Garden' by Taro Gyushima and Kaiko Umamura, so there are aspects to the novella that overlap with the images of 'Spring Garden', in a way instead of having 'a book within a book', there remains the resemblance of a book within a photobook.

An aspect of Shibasaka's prose is that of control, the pacing of the novella makes space and time for, at times understated contemplative observations, it's a novella about progressions and regressions, the old building being torn down, people moving on, the photobook 'Spring Garden' acts itself to open up a chapter from the past, briefly we see the progression of the lives of it's authors, and added to this is the history of the tenants of the house central to the subtle speculative enquiries of the novella. Through the photobook 'Spring Garden' and the narrative at hand there is a subtle rebound of the past between the two and the links that may reach between them. As well as dipping into the lives of Taro and Nishi and their progressions, Taro re-questions himself about his father's remains and the pestle and mortar, there's an array of orbiting characters, the Morio's, Mrs Snake, Numazu, (Taro's colleague), and the appearance of Mrs Saeki's son near the end of the novella. Interestingly Shibasaki adds an additional narrative perspective toward the end of the story through Taro's sister which broadens the scope of perceiving his character. 

Spring Garden, as mentioned before feels very contemplative in mood, being perhaps possibly somewhere between Hiraide's The Guest Cat and maybe, Togawa's The Master Key, (ok perhaps only in as much as the setting's equal), Shibasaki plays with a number of enigmas, some remain as backdrop and some move to the fore, and between them, and between perhaps the buildings of the book, the past and present tread a path both broken and constant.     

Spring Garden at Pushkin Press         

Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami

After The Nakano Thrift Shop it seemed natural to continue on with the recently published Record of A Night Too Brief, by Pushkin Press as part of their interesting mini series of translated Japanese novellas, in a translation by Lucy North, the collection was awarded the Akutagawa Prize back in 1996.

The opening story - Record of a Night Too Brief is the story that consumes the most pages, just under seventy, and through those it perhaps represents a change in the way some English readers might perceive Kawakami, here Kawakami is in much more of an experimental mode, the story is broken down across nineteen chapters which in places induce within the reader the impression that they are reading a short story collection within the one. Feeling sequential, although they feel like they can be read individually, the story sprawls the subject, or concept of night, which in one chapter transforms from an itching sensation on a narrator's back, in another, from a swirling cup of coffee, the story in places breaks it's own supposed sequence, a dancing couple begin to notice mushrooms sprouting from themselves as they age, a girl who seems to be in various stages of disintegration remains the fragmentary clue, or narrative landmark linking the pieces together, the question arises perhaps - is the narrator the same one across the chapters?. The story incorporates surrealistic episodes and instances and an attempt at replay and repair for the broken girl. Record of a Night Too Brief is a mini sprawl of refreshingly imaginative chapters, full of minutiae of all sizes, recalling perhaps in places Landolfi, some incorporating concepts of theoretical physics, another a vivid scene from a strange formal dinner, but the surrealism and allegory don't let up even as dawn approaches, and the reader is given a moment to recollect themselves briefly before moving on to the next story.

The second story, Missing feels much in the same vein, although being more subdued with more space for the explorative, the central plot line is narrated by a sister of two brothers, who are named through the story as brother no. 1 and brother no. 2, brother no. 1 through an intermediary, named Ten, is set to marry Hiroko in what appears to be an arranged marriage, although the dilemma is that he has gone missing, the family, the narrator relates has a history of members going missing, a great - grandmother in the past. At random though, brother no. 1 it seems appears to the narrator at various points like a visitation, in his place in the marriage brother no. 2 steps in, as much of the marriage arrangements are conducted over the phone. Entwined to this main plot line a number of surrealistic episodes and diversions occur, the incident with the jar containing the spirit of Goshiki, (an older ancestor), there's also the balancing of the family numbers being equal, Hiroko moves in, but doesn't settle well with the family and begins to shrink, each family has it's own ways - as another member observes. Underneath the strangeness, there's some interesting observations and allegories occurring in Missing, the presence of it's characters fading in and out, diminishing literally in size, is telling, a cryptic critique, and it's occurrences of strange rituals make it fascinating reading.

As mentioned the last story A Snake Stepped On was awarded the Akutagawa Prize, as with The Nakano Thrift Shop there are not that many characters to the story, narrated by Hiwako who works at a small shop producing prayer beads and supplies for local temples, finds life irrevocably transformed after stepping on a snake, there's a mist, and Hiwako hears a voice saying 'It's all over' and sees a woman walk away in the direction of her apartment. An impression of the story, and Kawakami's writing as a whole, is her ability to mix the ambiguities and unkowns of modern life and blend them with the sense of older myth and folklore, in the three stories of the collection the frontiers of each erode away and intercede, creating fascinating narratives that bring the two worlds into forming exacting allegories. The woman reappears in Hiwako's apartment posing as her mother, although Hiwako's mother lives miles away, she calls to make certain she's there, who is the snake woman?, an imposter making absurd claims, a mother figure of a different sense?. As the story proceeds the revelation comes that Hiwako is not alone in having to live with a snake/human, as her boss's wife Nishiko reveals that she is in the same circumstance, with the snakes calling for them to submit and join them and make the transformation. In places the story shares the same claustrophobic fervor of Abe Kobo's 1949 short story Dendrocacalia and at moments visually it brings to mind Junji Ito's terrifying Uzumaki with spiralling snakes. Underneath this there remains the allegorical study of the transformative power of mankind's darker nature, a fascinating culmination to an engrossing collection.

Record of a Night Too Brief at Pushkin Press

The Phoenix Tree and Other Stories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Phoenix Tree and Other Stories collects four stories by Akutagawa Prize winning author Kizaki Satoko - 木崎 さと子, who received the prize in 1985 for her story Ao giri, which is included here translated by Carol A. Flath as The Phoenix Tree. Kizaki had also previously been shortlisted for the prize with her debut story Rasoku - Barefoot, which won the Bungakukai Prize in 1980. Born in 1939 in Changchun, (then under the occupied name of Shinkyō), Kizaki started writing in 1979 at the age of 40 and had previously lived in France and also in the U.S.A for a number of years, nations which feature in the lives of some of the characters in theses stories as well as being the locations of some of their settings. The first story Barefoot sees the narrator, Seiko, returning to Tokyo to live in a house of her Uncle's after having lived in France for some years. As she prepares a meal she hears the names and shouts of politicians canvassing for votes through the window as they drive pass the house, one in particular Narashima Yumiko the communist candidate stands out to her. As Seiko's observations progress she realizes the extent of how she has slipped out of being Japanese, comparing udon with spaghetti, and later when her Uncle visits she forgets that its her place to dote on him, in routine things like preparing a washcloth for him to wipe his hands, on her return, still in a stage of transience she observes that all Japanese faces appear the same to her. The story also sees Seiko recall her relationship with Henri a man she had met in Paris, a hypersensitive man who had come from a rural area who had an inert fear of the city, Henri as well as being an albino was an alcoholic who suffered from epilepsy. A common theme in these stories is that the narrator has been orphaned and has been taken care of or adopted by relatives, the title story has it's main narrator, Mitsue raised by her Aunt, the narratives are often explorations into unknown family histories, in Barefoot Seiko relates how her Uncle's son, Kuniaki, had used her to vent his lusts for a number of years before being married, another of the stories themes is that of the shallowness of appearances, from the smiles on the politicians posters, she imagines them running through the town barefoot or without make up Narashima she visualises as an Esmeralda running barefoot and dishevelled begging for votes with fabricated urgency. Through Seiko's musings she returns to her relationship with Henri and his eventual spiral into suicide and cross examines her feelings of guilt at her involvement with him.

The second story, Flame Trees, is remarkable for the slightness and originality of it's setting, the Hata's - Makiko and her husband, Motoo, have travelled from France to Pasadena, Motoo is a Professor of Plant Physiology, before setting up in their own apartment they stay at the Ide's, a family of second generation Japanese Americans who Motoo had previously stayed with. The story opens with an international meeting of other Professors, two wives of which feature prominently in Makiko's perceptions of the small non American community, Lyudmilla, and Helga, whom like Makiko is pregnant. Flame Trees also sees narratives delving into the past lives of it's protagonists, the Ide's history of being interned during the war and their managing to build a living through building up their farming business is depicted, whilst watching the coverage of the assassination of Kennedy the time period of the story's setting begins to take shape. Through Makiko's observations life in America is slightly disorientating her, slowly the story of her past becomes revealed provoked by observations of the Flame Trees growing in the area, memories of the evacuation of Manchuria at the end of the war, watching her mother die, earlier there is a discussion on the definition of life, of 'it' - 'something like a crimson flame blazing up', this image is subtly juxtaposed in the narrative with the flames and smoke of her mother's cremation rising up. Another aspect to Kizaki's narratives sees her characters trying to fill in the missing portraits of family members from their pasts, these are scenes provoked from everyday observations, her father's disappearance in broad daylight, taken away by the Russian troops, here one minute gone the next, Makiko visualizes the possibility of him being still alive somewhere in a Serbian prison camp, another as the time draws nearer to her giving birth provokes the memory of seeing a foetus as a child in a neighbours home in Manchuria, which leads to her evacuation with her nanny Neiya, and the fear of eligibility of returning to Japan under the one adult one child policy.

Although the shortest story in the collection, being a little close to amounting to twenty pages the third story Mei Hua Lei displays Kizaki's brilliant subtleness at being able to synthesize imagery and metaphor in depicting the predicament of her characters  caught between past, present and potential futures. Ueda is another character whose past is linked to the evacuation of Manchuria at the end of the war, but in Mei Hua Lei sees him returning to the country some years later and has a guide in Mr Feng and translator Xiao - hong. During his trip he picks out souvenirs for his wife and daughter, among these, a scarf, a dried deer's heart, that is valued for it's medicinal properties and also some silverware which Kizaki imbues with metaphor that resonates across the story, along with the deer's heart which later on is visualized by Ueda's daughter as still beating with life. Purchasing the silverware unlocks Ueda's own memories of the evacuation and of his mother, and the seller tells him that it was taken from the Japanese by advancing Russian troops, the seller adds, 'They come and go don't they?. Who knows, maybe this coaster will return to China sometime', with the inclusion of this silverware comes the awareness that it's presence is relating to something much larger, perhaps the nature of the relationship between the two nations and of each of their prosperity. Ueda keeps the silverware hidden in a draw away from Mari and Yasuko, his wife and daughter, the narrative observing of him that - 'he didn't want to expose these things to the eyes of people who didn't know the land of Manchuria'.

The Phoenix Tree is a novella in size, the narrative comes from Mitsue who receives a call from her cousin Shiro announcing that Oba-san is unwell and that she is returning home to the dilapidated wing of the family estate where Mistue lives with her brother Kohei and his wife, Kazumi. Another story that features an extended family which is split between Mitsue and Kohei who were adopted by Oba-san when they were young and Oba-san's natural siblings, Shiro and his sister Haruko, who remains largely absent in the story until nearing the end, who is living in America raising a family. Shiro explains that Oba-san wants the fact of her return to the ancestral home and her illness to be kept secret from the local villagers and that a doctor shouldn't be consulted, Mitsue is awed by Oba-san's courage in facing death unassisted, and slightly fortuitously for Shiro offers to help to nurse her, he returns to Tokyo sooner than expected. Mitsue is described as a bit of a recluse not having ever lived outside of the village, remaining unmarried, she also carries an unsightly scar across her face from a childhood accident. Although she refuses to see a doctor and hasn't had an official diagnosis Oba-san's illness is breast cancer which is in an advanced state. As she struggles to look after Oba-san Mitsue recalls the days of her childhood, of Oba-san struggling with the burden of raising additional children, and also imagining her relationship with her Uncle who had died prematurely through TB, Mitsue envisions rather romantically that her aunt's return is her wanting to die in the same place as that of her husband. In these stories which are informed by the autobiographical, Kizaki has a great ability in creating complex family scenarios where her characters are left to fill in the blanks of the histories of characters now passed, another incident that remains unclear is the circumstance of Mitsue getting her scar, Kohei tells Mitsue that he witnessed Oba-san amidst an accident of spilling hot oil push Haruko clear leaving the oil to spill and scald Mitsue instead, the revelation of the episode leads Mitsue to readdress her feelings towards Oba-san after it was believed that a maid had been to blame. The situation is compounded when it becomes known that it's Oba-san's desire for Mitsue to have plastic surgery to remove the scar, she wants to see Mitsue as she was before the accident, but is it to assuage her guilt?, it remains unclear. The story is full of incidences offering insights into the complex family relationships to one another, there's constant reappraisal of the relationship between Shiro and Haruko vs.  Mitsue and Kohei who have stayed behind remaining in the village as opposed to Shiro and Haruko having successful lives away. Another facet to this is that Mitsue is secretly attracted to Shiro, but these feelings through the events of the story undergo a transformation. The Phoenix Tree of the story's title refers to a sapling planted by Oba-san in ground opposite the house's veranda years before, as the estate is falling further into dilapidation it's possibly the only thing that'll remain, at the end of the story the family wonder what to do with it, a suggestion made is to transplant the tree or perhaps that Kohei will move in and look after it. Perhaps the kanji in the title of the story is different, the reader can't ignore the possibility that Kizaki is using the title with a slight play on words, as giri in Japanese is a term also meaning 'obligation' or the 'burden of obligation', finishing the story the impression left is that this is what is being passed on by Oba-san, or maybe the Phoenix tree or the wakagiri left behind is a symbol of an obligation or duty served. Overall a fascinating collection.

Carol A. Flath's translation of Rasuko and Aogiri won the Japan - U.S Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature.                                          

Bullfight by Inoue Yasushi

 

 

 

Recently published from Pushkin Press is Bullfight by Inoue Yasushi, translated by Michael Emmerich, the story won Inoue the Akutagawa Prize in 1949,  it can't be overstated enough to say how much Pushkin Press excel in the presentation of their books, Bullfight is no exception to the rule, this novella is indeed satisfying to own and to read, which obviously goes some way in tipping the balance in the paper versus digital argument, (if you're having one!). One of the first things that strikes the reader in this extraordinary allegorical novella is that it centres around the staging of a bullfight in Osaka in the immediate aftermath of the war, the book comes with an afterword from Inoue from an older French edition in which he discusses and reflects on the writing of his two early novellas; Bullfight, (his debut), and also The Hunting Gun, although the piece doesn't give any clues away as to his inspiration in choosing to use the staging of a bullfight in this novella, its unusualness lends the allegorical dimension of the novella a greater potency. Although brief the novella deals with some big themes; ambition, post-war opportunism, juxtaposed with the story of a love affair that is threatened to be destroyed in the process. Much of the events of the story are seen through Tsugami, the editor in chief for an Osaka newspaper that is persuaded to take the gamble in sponsoring the fight, initial dilemmas that arise include sourcing the funding to hold the event in the Hanshin Stadium, before it is staged the smell of opportunity spreads to a heavy drinking entrepreneur Okabe, who manages to wrangle shady black market deals with Tsugami's partner, Tashiro.

 

Pulling at Tsugami's commitments is his fragile relationship with Sakiko, who lost her husband during the war, the relationship becomes strained further as the date of the fight edges closer, which also at times begins to be referred to, in more of a Japanese manner, as 'bull sumo'. From the start it becomes known that Tsugami has a wife and children living away from the city where they were stationed to escape the bombing raids, the question arises of Tsugami's reliability which adds to the pressure of the games outcome having to be a success. Through the tautness of the plot there is some great characterization, in the telling of Okabe's rise into owning multiple companies that have achieved the degree of success that all he needs to do is to turn up and drink to find his inspiration, which conveys a message about the notion of material success, the novella may have been read as an insightful foretelling as to where unfettered opportunism may lead to, and carries a recognisable realism that dispenses with prediction. A potently allegorical novella which makes an essential addition not only to Inoue's presence in English but also to the landscape of post war Japanese literature. 

 

 

 

Bullfight at Pushkin Press

 

 

 

 

 

        

The Stones Cry Out

Although a brief novel the perspectives in The Stones Cry Out/Ishi no Raireki carry an extraordinary depth and resonance, Hikaru Okuizumi was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for it back in 1994 and translated into English by James Westerhoven. The events in this short novel are given to us from Manase a soldier in hiding  after fighting in the Battle of Leyte, the remaining soldiers find themselves regrouping in caves preparing to reorganise themselves for their final battle, many of the soldiers are suffering from malnutrition and malaria. Manase finds himself next to an emaciated Lance Corporeal who is near death, over and over the man talks of stones and Geology - Even the smallest stone in a riverbed has the entire history of the universe inscribed upon it - these are the book's opening lines they begin to take on the form of a mantra that echoes around the events in Manase's life and the novel. In command of the soldiers is a ruthless Captain, suffering from gangrene himself, he orders that all those near death kill themselves or be killed, after they refuse to carry out his orders he does it himself, Manase hears their pleas and these scenes as well of the Captain ordering them to kill reoccur throughout the novel as the events in the cave are revisited throughout the novel as Manase reflects back on them. The soldiers are malnourished and there is a suggestion as Manase suspects of cannibalism, Manase himself seems to show signs of malnutrition, his memories begin to blank out until he finds himself as a prisoner held in the Philippines.  

Following the events of the war, Manase returns home, his parents initially from Tokyo left the city for Chichibu, after his father's death Manase sells the family's books, this small second hand business eventually grows into being a fully fledged book store, all the while Manase's obsession with stones and Geology begins to blossom, although an amateur Manase travels into the mountains to complete his collection, he's assisted by a local Geology teacher who offers expert advice, whilst collecting and polishing his collection Manase reflects on the war, the events in the cave and the Lance Corporeal whose talk of stones inspired Manase to look into stones to unfathom the secret and history of what they may contain. The narrative works in a number of subtle ways, after he is married it begins to evolve to take on the form of a family drama, throughout this though it takes on a broader panorama after one of his sons, the estranged Takaaki, becomes involved in the student upheavals later in the novel, but Manase's experiences in the war are present in the background, at times within the narrative the impression that as Manase is trying to come to terms with the nihilism and horror of his past Takaaki is beginning to enter a deadly political world.

Manase has two sons, Hiroaki shares his father's fascination with stones and they take trips into the mountains collecting them together, Manase is astonished how quickly Hiroaki picks up on the subject when he quizzes him on verifying stone types, in many instances the prose dips into reading like poetical geological descriptions of the stone's history and formation , Manase becomes slightly concerned about his son's solitariness,  not playing together with other children, they spend an almost dreamlike summer together collecting when Hiroaki is discovered murdered at the entrance of a quarry, he has been stabbed. After the murder the family begins to fall apart, his wife starts to drink heavily and blames him for Hiroaki's death, she makes him promise to leave Takaaki alone, the deteriorating relationship arrives at breaking point when Manase tries to take his wife to hospital in an attempt to cure her of her alcoholism, but the attempt goes badly, Takaaki ends up being moved to Manase's sister in laws. After his wife's hospitalization they divorce, on his own Manase's finds himself talking to the shadow he sees of Hiroaki, in his feverish dreams he goes to the quarry where Hiroaki was murdered, looking in between the fence he can see a light inside, looking more closely he makes out a fire and a man sitting next to it, he begins to hear the Captain's voice making his demands to kill the dying men, he wakes in desperation. As the novel reaches it's end the convergence of the two narratives begin to increasingly merge in the quarry where Hiroaki was murdered with that of the cave in Leyte, to try and describe how Okuizumi links the two together would be to deny it of some of it's redemptive power, but it displays something of the miraculous in galvanising the past with the present, and reversely the present with the past, a novel well recommended to seek out.

 

Finishing the novel, through it's name I was reminded of Jim Crace's novel The Gift of Stones, which in turn made me think of Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain and the recent prize winning The Garden of Evening Mists, which I think I might head to in the near future.              

More on Hikaru Okuizumi at J'Lit 

Akutagawa Prize Winner announced

News of the  winners of the 146th Akutagwa Prize  -

EnJoe Toh for Dokeshi no cho (Clown's Butterfly), and Tanaka Shinya for Tomogui (Cannibalism) 


Naoki Prize winner -

Hamuro Rin for Higurashi no ki (Chronicle of Cicada)


Read more at Junbungaku.com and of course at bunshun.co.jp

144th Akutagawa Prize winner announced

The Daily Manichi reports today the announcement of the awarding of the 144th Akutagawa Prize,the prize was shared between Mariko Asabuki for her novel Kikotowa  and also Kenta Nishimura for his novel Kueki Ressha.The 144th Naoki Prize winner was also shared between two authors, Nobori Kiuchi for her novel Hyosa no uta and also Shusuke Michio for Tsuki to Kani.

Kikotawa centers around two women Kiko and Towako who reunite after 25, Nishimura's novel,Kueki Ressha, follows a young man employed as a manual worker who hardly makes his monthly rent payments,filled with rage the man develops self destructive feelings.

Nobori Kiuchi's novel Hyosa no uta,has a historical setting,set just before the Meiji restoration,following the exploits of a samurai who has fallen on hard times,and works trying to lure customers into a red light district in Tokyo.Shusuke Michio's novel,Tsuki to Kani,follows a young fifth grader as reality begins to kick into his imaginary world.

For the original Daily Manichi article.

143rd Akutagawa Prize Winner Announced

The winner of the 143rd Akutagawa Prize
is Akiko Akazome for her story,
'The Maiden's Betrayal', as announced on
Bunshun's webpage, the story appeared in
Shincho literary magazine along with another
story that was short listed for the prize I Am
Not in Khartoum by Shibazaki Yuka. The 143rd
Naoki Prize Winner has also been announced as
Nakashima Kiyoko's novel 'Little House/Home' ,
a novel set in early Showa period.