Japanese Literature Online Translations - Part Three

Amalgamating some older posts with some newer links, (apologies - in no particular order!)  -


Spirit Summoning by Sakumi Tayama tranlsted by Mark Gibeau at Words Without Borders, for more.
Tonight, in All the Bars by Ramo Nakajima translated by Sayuri Okamoto and Sim Yee Chiang at Asymptote Journal
Samsa in Love by Haruki Murakami translated by Ted Goosen at The New Yorker
A Walk to Kobe by Haruki Murakami at Granta Online
Waiting by Dazai Osamu translated by Angus Turvill at web.archive.org
Heading For Moscow by Nakano Shigeharu translated by Annika A. Culver winner of William F.Sibley Memorial Prize
Skin of the Pike Conger Eel by Kamizukasa Shoken translated by Andrew Murakami-Smith winner William F.Sibley Prize
Celan Reads Japanese by Yoko Tawada translated by Susan Bernofsky at The White Review
Soul Flight by Yoko Tawada, translated by Sim Yee Chiang at Asymptote Journal

two older novels over at archive.org

The Reluctant Bachelor by Kuni Sasaki, translated by Kuni Sasaki and Jiro C. Araki at Archive.Org
Human Bullets - A Soldier's Story of Port Arthur by Tadayoshi Sakurai, translated by Masujiro Honda and Alice M. Bacon - Archive

links to -

Part One

Part Two

Gold Pollen and Other Stories by Seiichi Hayashi



Recently published by Picture Box, is this selection translated and edited by Ryan Holmberg, previously Drawn and Quarterly had published Hayashi's Red Colored Elegy, so this makes a much appreciated addition to Hayashi's appearance in translation. Collecting four stories these are also accompanied by an essay by Hayashi - Azami Light: Childhood Remembrances, from 1972, and also an essay by the translator Ryan Holmberg. At a first reading the stories have a fragmented feel to them, Hayashi's style mixes traditional Japanese art with a mixture of Western influences, from pop art to DC comics, looking at the lines of some his female characters you wouldn't be far off if you were reminded of the Taisho era artist Yumeji Takehisa, but many other influences intercede with this style. The first story Dwelling in Flowers, from 1972 tells the story of an artist trying to escape a past love and at the same time telling the strained relationship with his mother. Stylistically this is one of my favourites in the collection, the pace of how the story unfolds joins perfectly with the slightly enigmatic feeling that the story is unresolved, this feeling can be felt to differing degrees throughout the collection.  In Dwelling in Flowers there's the appearance of the origami paper cranes which feature in Hayashi's work. Without first reading Holmberg's essay Red Dragonfly from 1968 feels that it is dipping heavily into elements of the autobiographical, following again a mother/son relationship, not too distant is the passing away of the father whose portrait looks over them as they eat. It's a tale set in the austere post war years, where the mother has to rely on the generosity of a male visitor who comes to the house, but this comes at an emotional, (and physical), price for both mother and child, Red Dragonfly, I think is the shortest in the collection but has a deep emotional dimension to it. The last two stories, Yamanba Lullaby, from 1968 and the title story Gold Pollen from 1972, are laced with layered allegorical meanings, which Holmberg's essay fully elucidates on their meaning and definition.

The inclusion of Holmberg's essay Momoko and Manga: Seiichi Hayashi's Maternal Roots, (Momoko was Seiichi Hayashi's mother), and also Azami Light, the essay from Hayashi himself makes this book a fantastic document, in Momoko and Manga, Holmberg traces Hayashi's childhood and his first contact with children's literature through a neighbourhood friend, whom Hayashi nick named Uncle Pipe who would later be instrumental for Hayashi to move into the world of having his art published. Holmberg traces Hayashi's involvement with Garo and his work post Garo, provided within Azami Light is some examples of Hayashi's art from his self published magazines from the late 50's and early 60's. Holmberg's essay goes on to explore Hayashi's influences, notable those of classical Japanese art which can be seen referenced in some of the stories here, also Holmberg's essay fills in many of the biographical details which can be detected throughout the stories, giving the fuller picture to the more allegorical and hidden meanings within them.

Probably the only slight gripe is that I wished there was more of the stories to this volume, but the inclusion of the essays makes for a great addition in contextualizing Hayashi and his art within the alternative scene of the late 1960's, rather tantalizingly Gold Pollen and Other Stories is listed as Volume One in Picture Box Inc's, Masters of Alternative Manga Series, another name that is mentioned a number of times is Tsuge Yoshiharu, so here's to future volumes.

Gold Pollen and Other Stories at Picture Box Inc 

                   

The Iceland - Sakutaro Hagiwara

 

 

Another title forthcoming, due in July as part of their Poetry Pamphlets Series, New Directions are publishing The Iceland by poet Sakutarō Hagiwara, 1886-1942, in a translation from Hiroaki Sato.

 

at amazon



Confessions by Kanae Minato

In a translation from Stephen Snyder Mullholland Books are set to publish Confessions by Kanae Minato in August 2014, very much looking forward to reading a copy of this.

more at Mullholland Books

at amazon

film adaption by Tetsuya Nakashima at Third Window Films

Tales From A Mountain Cave by Inoue Hisashi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

This year has seen Thames River Press publish two titles by Inoue Hisashi, Tokyo Seven Roses, (in two volumes translated by Jeffrey Hunter), and also Tales From A Mountain Cave, translated by Angus Turvill, which is a modern take on the classic collection of folktales from Iwate Prefecture - Tono Monogatari assembled by Kunio Yanagita that first appeared in 1912. These folktales come to us from an unnamed narrator who like Inoue Hisashi was living in Kamaishi, Iwate, in the 1950's, the narrator, a student, relocates there to work in a sanatorium set in the mountains as a clerk. Whilst out on a break he walks in the mountains and hears the sound of a trumpet being played which leads him to meeting Takichi Inubuse who is the real teller of these tales. Through personal traits of both Inubuse and the narrator we are informed that no part of the narratives are to be relied upon, but an aspect that begins to emerge in them is that of their multifarious lines of narrative that slowly begin to gain clarity from story to story, the background and everyday life of the narrator, and also very much entwined with the tales themselves, is that of the story of the enigmatic cave dweller Takichi Inubuse, from tale to tale the picture of Inubuse's life is expanded upon and given detail.

There's something about folktales that have an immediacy about them which is at times unlike that of official history, it's probably to be found in their word of mouth nature, we feel that they convey events that have happened, if not to ourselves then to people not too distant to us, and being unofficial they call into question what might be collectively regarded as the actual, officialdom begins to blur. Tales From A Mountain Cave is built up of nine tales located around the Kamaishi area, Tono figures in them at times, the tales also feature much from the history of the area, its mining industry serves as the setting for the tale entitled Lake in which Inubuse recalls being coerced to work in a mine after falling into destitution after the death of his wife, (a story which is given in full in a previous tale), he mentions the similarity to the mines of Sado Island, of their harsh conditions, many of those working there are of Korean origin or from the criminal fraternity. Amongst the miners there's a shared story of a miner who managed to escape and when a mine caves in the workers take the opportunity for a bid for freedom. Inubuse finds himself pursued by Sawamatsu, one of the mines most merciless and pitiless guards, fortune turns when Inubuse notices a hut by the side of a lake whose owner figures from Sawamatsu's past and a vengeance waiting to be served is at long last dealt.

Within many of these stories appearances are not to be taken at all for granted, and in many instances in them the line between the human and the animal merges on different levels and by varying degrees, here it is with the spiritual as well as the physical, (aside from the original, Horse must be one of the only short story's that describes a love suicide between a young woman and a horse), identities morph, in House Up The River which features the arrival of a family of Kappa's whose son starts at Inubuse's school, there are some evocative descriptions of their abilities to adopt human features, despite the tell tale clues: red faces, wide eyes, but also their ability to shrink in size - 'a thousand kappa could hide in the puddle of a horse's hoof print', it's another story that sees the presence of the harshness of the local mining industry, the father's of a couple of the families featured spend their days searching and combing the mountains for signs of iron deposits. Beneath the main of the narratives there are some interlinking clues that bind these stories together, in one we're reminded of the similarity between Kappa and monkeys, and returning to the initial story, In the Pot Inubuse is lost in the mountains, coming upon a lone house in the middle of the forest he lifts the lid on a pot cooking on the fire and discovers something resembling a child inside, but the wife of the household reassures him that it's a monkey, so later we are left with an enigma spanning across two stories, was it a Kappa that they were cooking in the pot?, the narratives combine and intertwine to leave the impression of the multi-layered nature behind these highly evocative tales. Incredible as the stories are they are also given an extended dimension as in, House Up the River where other superstitions and traditions are described and hinted at, and as Inubuse tells his tales, the narrator echoes our suspicions of what is unravelling in the stories and of their culminations, often Inubuse relates the stories to the narrator in the locality of where they are said to have occurred, being placed in their vicinity takes us a step closer to them. A stunning collection that if you've not done so already also inspires seeking out Yanagita's original.  


The translator fees and proceeds of Tales From a Mountain Cave are being donated to post Tsunami projects in the area.


Tales From A Mountain Cave at Thames River Press



 

Lou-lan and Other Stories by Inoue Yasushi

Lou-lan and Other Stories is a collection of six stories by Inoue Yasushi, translated in an almost tag team kind of fashion by James T. Araki and Edward Seidensticker, published by Kodansha International, three stories are situated in ancient China and three have Japan as their setting. The first, the title story, Lou-lan, (translated by Seidensticker), traces the history of a remote town in a distant north western province of China beginning around 130 years BC, caught between many local warring factions and in addition the area is under threat by the expanding Han who send various emissaries and generals to the area intending to expand the empire. Throughout the story the name of Tun-Huang is mentioned on a number of occasions and incidences, but how the events of this story might overlap with those of the novel of the same name I'm not at all sure, but there are similarities in that Inoue expands the history of Lou-lan bringing it up to date with the re-discovery of it by the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, as in Tun-Huang which also brings the story into the beginning of the twentieth century with the expeditions of Sir Aurel Stein. Lou-lan tells of the displacement of the people of Lou-lan and the suicide of a monarch discovered centuries later. Whilst reading the descriptions of Lou-lan another story came to mind that also has a remote Chinese settlement landscape at its centre, Takeshi Kaiko's Ruboki/Runaway first published in 1958 two years before Lo-lan appeared, Inoue's story has a broader historical panorama than Kaiko's, Inoue's stories have a subtle moral twist to them, as in the story Princess Yung-t'ai's Necklace, (translated by Seidensticker), another set in ancient China, which follows a group of grave robbers attempting to raid a tomb but are disturbed during the act, a subplot is that the ringleader's wife is having an affair with his brother, both of whom are keeping watch outside, as they hear the advancing troops the ringleader rushes back to grab the necklace, but the brother closes the tomb on him by rolling back a large stone doorway, this story also leaps forward in time by some centuries to the discovery of the skeletal remains with the necklace in its grasp. The second of the stories set in ancient China is The Sage, (translated by Araki), which also has the tone of being a morality tale, where an old blind sage who acts as an attendant to a holy spring is toppled by a young councillor who wants to change the old ways, but the changes bring about catastrophic events for the community, their moral tone resembles the stories of Nakajima Atsushi, many of which are also set in ancient China.

 

The first of the stories set in Japan is one centred around archaeology in, The Opaline Cup, (translated by Araki), whose narrator witnesses the bringing together for the first time in fourteen hundred years two ancient cups, the story has a subplot at the beginning which retraces the premature death of the narrator's sister, who the narrator was trying to organise her marriage to one of his friends. The second story The Rhododendrons, (translated by Seidensticker), is narrated by a slightly cantankerous elderly scholar, Shuntaro Miike, who runs away to the shore of Lake Biwa overlooking Mt.Hira. As he returns to his favourite inn, (the Reihokan), his past encounters and visits with the place are recalled. The initial object of his spleen venting is his immediate family who he sees as being too disrespectful although he notes they are quick to bask in the glory of his awards and achievements as a scholar, his major work is in the field of anthropology and anatomy, his magnum opus which he suspects he won't live to complete is The Arterial System of the Japanese, which he is writing in German - Anterin System der Japaneur, his two passions are research and liquor. The narrative again is one that retrospectively looks back at various episodes in his life, the relationship between a fellow student who vows to leave him his body for research in the event of his death, he talks about an angel of death being near him in his youth and recalls the case of Fujimura Masao, (featured also in Soseki's, Kusamakura). Another major incident that brought him to the inn at Lake Biwa is the suicide of his son, Keisuke, who had an affair resulting in the woman becoming pregnant, rather than obeying his father in forbidding him to see the woman again the pair kill themselves by drowning, the suicide of his son seems to act as a dichotomy between the narrator and his son.

 

The last story, Passage to Fudaraku, (translated by Araki), is set in the middle of the last millennium set around an ancient religious practice in the Kumano area, in particular the Fudarakusan-ji. The story follows the Abbot of the temple who is next in line to carry out the tradition of taking the journey to Fudaraku Island - in other words setting sail for the Pure Land to serve Kannon. Through the Abbot, Konko, we are told of the departures of the previous Abbots who have taken the trip, some first hand from his own memory, others from anecdote, the rule being that it's expected that the Abbot make the journey by the time he reaches age of 61, the Abbot travels alone in the vessel escorted as far as Tsunakiri Island and then set adrift out into the deeper sea. At the start of the story there is much anticipation as to when Konko will announce the date of his departure. Out of the previous Abbots there were stories that only one managed to return with extensive knowledge of the Pure Land, another before departing has visions of Fudaraku, observing that - 'these people don't age as they serve the Buddha', although with deepening trepidation Konko observes that the journey will only spell certain death. Konko's apprehension mounts as the day of his departure draws closer, he falls into an almost catatonic state, remaining silent when people visit him wanting him to pass messages on to the Buddha. If you're a Japanese reader you can read more about this tradition on the Japanese entry on the Fudaraku jinja, which gives more information on this religious practice, boats were leaden with stones representing sins, and as in the story the chamber that the Abbot or Priest occupied on the boat had no doors and was nailed to the boat. Also the boat was fitted with four Torii, (seen here), representing the four gates of the Pure Land. These stories open vistas into the past that trickle back into the modern world.

                    

books for the reading diary for 2014

As 2013 begins to fade into the rear view thought I'd take a moment to list some translations forthcoming for next year, some delayed and carried over from 2013. I've not managed to fathom too many new translations at the moment, which is slightly disheartening, but hopefully this list will be added upon as time goes on, another addition will be the translation of the latest offering from Murakami which I think is due in the first half of the year, any further suggestions are indeed welcome.

January -
Oh, Tama!, by Kanai Mieko, translated by Tomoko Aoyama and Paul McCarthy, Kurodahan Press   

February -
The Guest Cat, by Hiraide Takashi, translated by Eric Selland, New Directions

March -
Cage on the Sea - Kaoru Ohno - translated by Giles Murphy - Bento Books
Parade - by Yoshida Shuichi - Harvill Secker/Vintage
Kutze, Stepp'n on Wheat, by Shinji Ishii, translated by David Karashima, Thames River Press
Punk Samurai Slash Down, by Machida Kou, translated by Wayne P. Lammers - Thames River Press
Kingdom of the Wind, by Hiroyuki Itsuki, translated by Meredith McKinney - Thames River Press
The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction - Anthology edited by Jim Hinks, Comma Press

April -
Gan - by Mori Ogai, new translation by Glenn Anderson - One Peace Books
Granta 127: Japan, edited by Igarashi Yuka. published in conjunction with Tokyo International Literary Festival, 2014.
The Hunting Gun by Inoue Yasushi Inoue - a new translation by Michael Emmerich - Pushkin Press
Literature for Revolution: An Anthology of Japanese Proletarian Writings, edited by Norma Field and Heather Bowen-Struyk, UCP

May -
Triangle by Matsuura Hisaki, translated by David Karashima, Dalkey Archive Press
I Want to Kick You in the Back - Risa Wataya, translated by Julianne Neville, One Peace Books

June -
The Iceland - by Sakutarō Hagiwara, translated by Hiroaki Sato, New Directions
Silver Wings of the Campanula - Yuka Nakazoto, translated by Matt Treyvaud - Bento Books

July-
The Diner - Yumeaki Hirayama, Exhibit A Books

August
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Year of Pilgrimage - by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel, Secker Harvill
Curious Cadaver in the Dissectorium of Daniel Burton - Hiroko Minagawa, translated Alexander O. Smith - Bento Books
Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder - Mullholland Books
Life of a Counterfeiter by Inoue Yasushi - Pushkin Press

October -
Last Winter We Parted - Fuminori Nakamura - Soho Press
Cogwheels and Other Stories - Akutagawa Ryunosuke, translated by Howard Norman, Mosaic Press
The Anniversary of the Salad - Machi Tawara, Pushkin Press
Malice - Keigo Higashino, translated by Alexander O. Smith, Little Brown

November
Selected Poems - Sakutaro Hagiwara, translated by Hiroaki Sato, NYRB/Poets

December -
Genocide of One - Kazuaki Takano, translated by Philip Gabriel, Mulholland Books

The Funeral of A Giraffe - Seven Stories by Tomioka Taeko

The Funeral of A Giraffe is a collection that would be difficult to improve upon, coming with a thorough introduction covering Tomioka Taeko's career as a writer who made the transition from poetry to prose, she also wrote film scripts for Masahiro Shinoda, along with this an author interview continues to explore some of the themes that Tomioka's writings are concerned with. After finishing these stories a good place to turn to could be See You Soon - Poems of Taeko Tomioka, translated by Hiroaki Sato, or perhaps the more recently published novel Building Waves translated by Louise Heal Kawai. Most of these stories are set or centred around the Kansai area, Tomioka was born in Osaka, and some reflect Tomioka's interest in rakugo, a number of the stories open with referencing passages taken from rakugo and in another, a fragment from The Tales of Tono sets the scene, it's interesting to read how Tomioka works these into these narratives which are predominately concerned about the lives of their female protagonists. It's startling to contemplate that these stories first appeared in 1976, they are still imbued with a notable contemporary tone, what with the latest interest at the state of relationships and the sex lives of young Japanese these stories show that perhaps this isn't such a new phenomenon or dilemma as we might be led to believe, in the last story Timetable, the narrative follows a young woman caught between the lives of various men as she endeavours to come to terms with her own feelings and search for her place in the scheme of things. The story reads like a minor epic of contemporary life, initially the narrator stays with, S, a male friend in Paris whose wife is in hospital with T.B, she meets with another expat, an artist friend of S. The narrator learns of the suicide of, R, a friend from the past, and in a similar  structural style to some of the other stories here, the narrator looks back at the events and nature of their relationship. Another man at the centre of this story is Q, who is married with children but is seeing the narrator on and off, both parties seem to be quite non-committal to the affair. The tone of Tomioka's narratives feel very non-judgemental, where empathy falls is pretty much left up to the reader, although in Timetable when Q confesses and questions the narrator, 'Why do I work so hard?, I'm sick and tired of my wife and children', it's a statement that inspires feelings of both slight repulsion and empathy, in Timetable there's a lot of space to make us consider cause and effect. nearing the end of the story the suicidal figure of R surfaces again, and we learn further details of his suicide which hovers somewhere between the forefront and in the distance of this story to remind us of the potential of the end result.

As well as being centred around the emerging lives of young women, a couple of the stories have at their centres elderly women, Happy Birthday follows an unnamed woman who has sold her home and is waiting out her last years in a home for the elderly, the narrative pans out in studying her relationship with the rest of her immediate family, her elderly sister and younger niece, Yoko, who comes to visit. Days of Dear Death is set in a three gen household, beginning with a segment from The Tales of Tono which resembles Ubasute, although instead of waiting on the mountain for death the elderly return to the community and take up work again. Similar to Happy Birthday, Days of Dear Death through examining the family's relationship with Granny there is a subtle examination of the perceptions of the elderly in society at large. Granny swaddles herself in layers of clothes like Jūnihitoe worn by Heian era ladies of court, this is a subtle portrait of the isolation of the elderly, although at times it feels a little like a self imposed withdrawal, but Tomioka's prose works it way between the lines of straightforward appearances and assumptions.

The second story Yesteryear, also opens with a reference to a local rakugo story for its opening, although leaning towards being from the perspective of the wife it follows a family of the Kansai area not long after the war whose father, Junnosuke, turns to giving tea ceremony lessons in a makeshift outbuilding. He travels to Kyoto to buy the finest teas and utencils and to consult with a master, an observation by his wife captures his psychology - 'Junnosuke had not run away from something, as she saw it, but had entered into something'. Junnosuke seems to loose more money than he makes, his wife begins to give sewing lessons to supplement the family's income, Junnosuke appears oblivious to the family's financial predicament, and moves to a small rented building just outside of Kyoto. Tomioka goes for the option of presenting no single message in most of these stories, in Yesteryear there are a number of differing ideals on display, the Yesteryear of the title is the brand name of a particular tea, Junnosuke's behaviour looks like he is wanting to adopt or revert to a lifestyle that might be more in tune with traditional society, when the family is forced to move into Junnosuke's rented house the son observes the earthen floor in the kitchen contrasting it with the fact that most people are installing washing machines in their kitchens, Junnosuke seems to be heading in a contrary direction opposed to accepting the benefits of commercial materialism. A percentage of these stories appear to end quite abruptly, which may give the reader the impression that the story ends before being fully resolved, but these incongruities only reflect the lives of her characters more acutely, in the title story it ends with mother and daughter in the midst of a physical disagreement, in Yesteryear it ends with Junnosuke forcing himself on his wife, which gives the story a different slant, becoming the story of marital subservience and a reaffirmation of the patriarchal structure, as Junnosuke does this in full view of his son, this action seems to be him demonstrating that this is the way things are.

The presence of the patriarchal can be seen vaguely again in A Dog's Eye View when a distant relative re-enters into the life of Chizuko, now married, but Hisae begins to try re-ingratiate himself into her life untapping a landscape of inner turmoil, the narrative of this story looks back over their relationship from Chizuko's perspective, again in a slightly detached way, Hisae is unpleasant but whilst concentrating on Chizuko's feelings the panorama provided in Tomioka's prose allows space to contemplate or speculate as to what has made him the way he is, many of the male characters appear to have an assumed sense of superiority, although more often than not the female characters appear to be much more self assured. Yesterday's Girl is an at times fragile story of Ran-ko and her relationship with her friend Ritsuko, Ran-ko perhaps is the more introverted of the two, Ritsuko is a cabaret dancer, part time translator, who also goes off travelling the hippie trail around India and then to Europe. The lives of the two dispense with the conventional, Ran-ko recalls them kissing after Ritsuko visits with her slightly over the top friend Ruiko, which for Ritsuko we get the impression that it was a casual event, but for Ran-ko this provokes further and deeper thoughts and explorations of her feelings, she feels that their friendship transcends the genders, envisioning the relationship being one similar to a male to male one, these themes appear in Tomioka's poetry as in the poem - Let Me Tell You About Myself. Tomioka's prose has a great space for the speculative in the characters she creates, whose lives are lived parallel to the conventional. The stories are translated by Kyoko Selden and Noriko Mizuta, each chapter comes with numbered explanatory notes.

The Funeral of a Giraffe at M. E Sharpe
  
                              

Floating Clouds - Ukigumo

Sometime ago I borrowed a copy of Hayashi Fumiko's novel Floating Clouds/Ukigumo, (translated by Lane Dunlop), from the library but had to return it before being able to finish it, recently I managed to catch up with the story again through watching Naruse Mikio's 1955 adaption of it, another aspect of note of this exceptional film is that Kihachi Okamoto was the assistant director, it would be interesting to learn more about how the two directors approached sharing the direction of this adaption. Initially one difference between that of the novel and the film is that in the novel, as far as I can recall, more space is given to Yukiko's time in occupied Indo Chine, in the film the scenes flash back to this time through the first part of the film, which I had thought would continue throughout the film but stops not long after it begins, although this is a period that is obviously something which deeply pre-occupies Tomioka's thoughts, and indeed the formation of their relationship, we only see a glimpse, although it is also revisited again at the end. Another aspect to the story is the deep intelligence of the narrative, at times it could be said that it operates within certain stereotypes, but as the film progresses it dispenses with conventional characterization and develops into a deeper psychological study of the two main protagonists. Tomioka, unusually instead of sinking deeper into further self destructive abandon with feelings of despondency and despair, develops a redemptive strain as Yukiko's illness worsens, the compulsive love between them expands beyond breaking point into a realm that transcends convention. One poignant crunch point of the film is when in heated argument they discuss the reading of the hero of Maupassant's Bel-Ami, and Tomioka asks Yukiko 'Why don't you fool men?', this question seems to crush any pretence of character that Yukiko entertains and taps into her raw emotive being. After this it seems that things can only go one way with their planned escape to Yakushima - 屋久島, Yukiko going on in sharing the same fate as Tomioka's wife. With the film version it could be thought that perspectives of the narrative in the book could also come from Tomioka, although as far as I can recall the book is solely, or perhaps predominantly that of Yukiko's. Perhaps Okamoto's contribution can be seen in the slightly more documentary aspects/shots of the film, which maybe aren't so common in Naruse's other films, the dancing in Iba-san's The Temple of the Sun God and the earlier shots of the matsuri.

Maybe the only slight, and usual gripe in the English presentation of the film is the nuances omitted in some of the subtitles.

3 disc boxset of Naruse at the BFI

above image from the film's wiki entry

The Kobe Hotel

 

   

Stuck somewhere between a desire to read either fiction or poetry The Kobe Hotel offers the opportunity to read both with the prose and haiku of Saitō Sanki, 西東三鬼, (1900-1962), who leaving his wife and child in Tokyo went to Kobe, the circumstances behind this course of action are revealed over the course of these stories. A dentist by profession on his arrival at the hotel on Tor Road in Kobe, which he describes as being an 'odd international hotel', he worked in a number of different occupations to get by, Sanki had previously lived in Singapore during the 1920's. The short prose sketches are full of his encounters and observations of the characters that drift through the hotel during his tenancy there, an interesting aspect to the tenants of the hotel is that of their metropolitan origins, especially as Sanki arrived in Kobe in 1942, at the height of the war, being too old he missed being drafted. The opening piece entitled The Story of the Strange Egyptian describes the character Maged Elba, one of only two Egyptians, he mentions, living in Japan at the time, although how Sanki is certain of this fact I'm not sure. Although described as stories they might pass as being labelled as chronicles, perhaps they are in actuality slightly embellished or polished tales of true events, the jacket also describes Sanki as a sexual adventurer and given his antipathy towards the military and authority, whilst reading these stories I was in places slightly reminded of Henry Miller, although they are devoid of Miller's fiery temper and perhaps the stories are told with a slightly more detached poetical eye. In the introduction Saito Masaya mentions that Sanki continued living his bohemian lifestyle in Kobe that he had begun in Singapore during the twenties. 

 

Originally published in periodicals, the stories evolve around certain fixed events of Sanki's life, his relocation to Kobe and meeting Namiko, a woman who becomes his partner, the eventual fire bombing of the hotel and of his renting and leasing a Western style Meiji era house set in the hills overlooking Kobe Bay. Another reoccurring presence throughout the stories is that of the German naval serviceman who due to increasing blockades are forced to anchor in the harbour, Sanki points out that due to the metropolitan nature of the city, the presence of spies and surveillance personnel were common in the city at the time, there is mention of the notorious spy Richard Sorge. Amongst these portraits and character histories, Sanki discusses his connections and involvement in creating various haiku groups, (Gendai Haiku), and poets from his past, who occasionally pay visit to him in Kobe, he was forbidden to write haiku for a number of years, only resuming again at the wars end. Among telling these stories he briefly describes his involvement in what he refers to as the Kyoto University Haiku incident of 1940 and laments the intellectual repression during the years of increased militarization. The stories continue up to a time period slightly after the war, observing Hiroshima and in the piece Like A Rolling Stone describes being commandeered in the building of a brothel for servicemen of the occupying forces. Eventually Sanki had to move on from his rented house after it was bought by a Chinese landlord, and he describes his re-entry into the world of poetry, struggling to get by editing various magazines and journals. Interestingly, in a slightly strange coincidence there's also a brief appearance here by a Mr Kotani who also features as a character in Inoue's Bullfight, in the character of Okabe.

Along with these autobiographical based pieces there is a varied selection of Sanki's haiku included, selected from the four collections of haiku he produced. Sanki's haikus are filled with scenes of the poverty and despair endured and experienced immediately after the war. Saito was born Keichoku Saito in Tsuyama in Okayama Prefecture, along with The Kobe Hotel he produced four collections of haiku - Flag, 1939, Peaches At Night, 1948, Today, 1952 and Metamorphosis in 1962. The incident in Kyoto that Sanki was involved in was also known as the Satoda Incident after which he was imprisoned, whilst in Kobe he remained under surveillance by the military police, until moving back to Tokyo in 1956. Sanki passed away in 1962 after suffering from stomach cancer, Tsuyama City created a prize in his name.


Let me store it
in myself, a mountainful
of cicadas screeching.

from - Kyo/Today


Translated by Saito Masaya published by Weatherhill, but now out of print.

Works at Aozora Bunko (Japanese Text)