Free Essay On Japanese Literature

Death is one of the most fascinating and complex issues facing humanity, and each culture has their own perspective on it – its role in Japanese literature, in particular, showcases the pervasiveness and normalcy with which death is treated in Japanese culture. Death plays a significant role in Tsuruya Nanboku's Yotsuya Ghost Stories and The Straw Sandal; both plays show a world that is plagued by death, where people kill without remorse, where death haunts people in the form of spirits, and no matter what you do, you cannot escape it.
Death is something that is normal according to Nanboku; throughout the play, death is a normal and common part of life. The main character, Tamiya Iemon, is a ronin seeking to reinstate himself by marrying Oiwa for her family connections. Her father opposes the match, leading Iemon to murder him. Iemon then tricks Oiwa into marriage by promising that he will find the killer and take his revenge. From this point onwards, the audience is introduced to a story of betrayal, hate and revenge, with death looming over the characters like a specter.
With all the characters in Yotsuya Ghost Stories, death appears to be the solution to all of life’s problems. Death eliminates people from existence in the living world, and keeps people from interacting with the living, making it a quick and easy way to get rid of someone who interferes with your plans in life. It is a tool for those who are blinded by the ambition to get what they want, such as in the case of Iemon, Oiwa’s father and Kohei.
Characters in the play kill without conscience; Iemon slayed Oiwa’s father because he became aware of Iemon’s evil past. Here, the motive to kill was to get rid of Oiwa’s father, stopping him from interfering with his relationship with Oiwa. To Iemon, death is a necessary evil to get what you want; he is not concerned about the morality of killing, as it is something that happens to achieve one’s ends. Iemon looks at death as a Godsend; he feels he holds the power of life and death in his hands. Iemon believed that his father in law deserved death, and felt entitled to be the one to administer that death.
Kohei’s death also brings up the same ambiguity in morality; however, a problem arises when Kohei finds out about Oiwa’s murder. Iemon did not want anyone to know what he had committed, and needed to find an explanation for his wife’s death. Desperate to find someone to take the blame, Kohei’s death seemed to be a plausible solution to the problem. Here, we notice how the plot to kill comes easy to Iemon, as he does it with no remorse – in fact, his primary motive is accuse the dead Kohei of murdering his wife. Death appeared to have desensitized Iemon, as he had no problem killing Kohei at all, especially given that it was his second time. Each time Iemon kills, the urge to kill becomes easier and easier to handle. He has Kohei and Oiwa’s bodies crucified on two sides of a wooden door, which he throws into a nearby river. From this point on, Iemon is fascinated with death – it is not a difficult thing to do, and it solves all of his problems.
- Yotsuya Ghost Stories is, at its core, a multi-layered and captivating tale of revenge. The story is centered around Oiwa’s ghostly revenge on her husband; the abuse and betrayal she endures at his hands transforms her into a vicious demon at her death. Here, death is not given the finality it is normally, but is more of a spiritual transition into a force for revenge.
- The drive behind Oiwa’s vengeful spirits following her death started from Iemon’s cruel abuse toward her. From the start, Iemon lives a life as a humble, lowly oil paper umbrella maker so as to support his new child and wife; because of this humiliating position, he resents Oiwa for forcing him into this life. Iemon is then lured into an arrangement to marry the beautiful granddaughter of a wealthy neighbor, Oume , who is infatuated with Iemon. To ensure that Iemon would be convinced by this immoral idea, her grandfather, Kihei Itto, sends Oiwa medicine, claiming it to be good for her postnatal condition. However, the medicine is actually a poison intended to destroy her face so that Iemon will divorce her. After having heard of the plan and , Iemon was eventually (if reluctantly) persuaded to leave Oiwa, paving the way for his new marriage to someone younger, more attractive and better for him. As a consolation, Iemon decided to set Oiwa up with his servant, but this chain of events simply leads to her death.
- Oiwa’s death is far from an accident, as she was poisoned. The poison disfigures her, causing all of her hair to fall out and left her with a lazy eye, disfiguring her tragically. In one of the more remarkable scenes in the play, the living Oiwa sits before a mirror and starts combing her hair, which starts to fall out because of the poison. The hair piles up to marvelous heights, a highly theatrical effect accomplished by a stage hand under the stage who pushes ever more hair up through the bottom of the stagewhile Oiwa is combing (Suwa). Because of the poison, Oiwa is near death; although she had walked into the blade that was stuck through the wall herself, her misery at her scar and the recognition of her husband's betrayal were important cause of her death. The lies, mistreatments and betrayals are unforgiveable to her; to Oiwa, the only way out is a revenge in life after death. For the Japanese, the spirits of the dead are believed to cross over to the other side, an afterlife that keeps the souls captive, never to return. However, this is not the case with Oiwa, as she still has unfinished business in the human world; the vengeful spirit of Oiwa comes back from the other side of death to kill Iemon. Her strong passion for revenge is what really allows her to bridge the gap back to Earth in order to fulfill her agenda. Death has turned into a mission from beyond the grave, and becomes a means to allow injustices to be corrected. The play itself becomes, in essence, a ghost story.
- With her spiritual plan in place, Oiwa sets out to get revenge on Iemon, who has completely ruined her life and deserves a similar fate. Unaware that Oiwa’s vengeful spirit is after him, Iemon believes his troubles are over, moving forward to planning his marriage. On the day of his wedding, however, as he lifts his new bride’s veil, he sees Oiwa’s disfigured face. He does not react well to this, choosing to try and kill her again: “Iemon picks up a sword from nearby, draws it, and strikes her, immediately”. Soon, Iemon has her promptly beheaded, only to discover that he has killed his new bride as an accident: “Oh no,no,no. That was really Oume, I acted too quickly”. Dismayed, he escapes to his new father-in-law’s house to confess what has happened; here, he is confronted by Kohei’s ghost: “Oh no, you’re Kohei and now you’re killing the baby”. Iemon starts slashing at the ghost, only to learn he also has killed his new father in law. Here, Oiwa succeeds in her revenge, as Iemon was not able to get away with his murders and advance his own life at her expense. However, the audience discover that the devious spirit of Oiwa will not stop her revenge until Iemon receive his death penalty. Here, Death and revenge go hand in hand, and revenge is not finished until the target is just as dead as the spirit who wishes to avenge itself upon him.
- In the play, Death takes the form of a ghostly spirit of those who have been killed unjustly; Death itself cannot be destroyed. Everywhere Iemon goes, he sees Oiwa’s disfigured face, even in an overhead lamp. Looking for an escape, Lemon departs to the mountains in order to go fishing. In place of fish, he hooks the board with the bodies of Kohei and Oiwa. She even looks more like death than she did before. Oiwa’s appearance follows the typical traits of this manner of Japanese ghost, the yurei, counting the white dress on behalf of the entombment kimono that she would have been able to wear, the long, ragged hair and indigo/white face that illustrates the ghost in Kabuki Theater (Suwa, 2010). At this point, death stares Iemon straight in the face as a supernatural form. Iemon then decides to get away to a cabin in Hebiyama; he now has a strong fear of Death because of the torments it can unleash on him in life. The vines and ropes of the cabin appear to transform into snakes, and the smoke from the fire turns into Oiwa's hair. Escaping the cabin, he runs into his brother-in -law, who kills Iemon and avenges every one of the murders he had committed. .
- The Straw Sandal
- Death is a leading theme in The Straw Sandal; much like Yotsuya Ghost Stories, it starts off with a complicated and fascinating tale of revenge and jealousy. In this story death is also used as a means to end things regardless of the cost. Death is a tool that appears to be something that is easy and the answer to all the problems.
- One of the underlying theme in The Straw Sandal is jealousy; characters are resentful and angry, which leads them to kill.. Death is a tool for those who are blinded by jealousy to take revenge, as evidenced in the case of Katusra-no-suke and Banzemon. The main character Katsura-no-suke finds himself jealous of Fujinami, after discovering that Banzemon had started sending Fujinami letters, which made Katsura-no-suke jealous and vengeful. Katsura-no-suke was so committed to his love for Fujinami he would do anything to keep her, even going so far as killing her: “In all of these love letters that you have written to Fujinami in order to try and seduce her into immorality you have committed a serious offence. Consider yourself dismissed by me.” (Kyoden, p. 152) Banzemon had caused resentment and pain to Katsura-no-suke, and could not bear the fact that Banzemon even looked at Fujinami.
- Banzemon’s death was the only thing that would satisfy Katsura-no-suke for the perceived crimes he committed against him. When Banzemon was confronted with death, as Katsura-no-suke had drawn the sword on him and was about to cut his head off, he began begging for his life. With reinforcement by Sanzaburo, Katsura-no-suke began to reconsider killing him. This scene was very different from those in Yotsuya Ghost Stories, in which murder was constantly committed without remorse. Iemon was a very evil man who would not stop at anything to kill to get what he wants, unlike Katsura-no-suke, who has a change of heart despite his temper - he spares the life of Banzemon. Regardless of this eventual sparing of life, this shows how death is used as a tool to rectify the hurtful feelings and resentment caused by jealousy.
- Death in The Straw Sandal is a spiritual cleansing process. For example, Sampachiro did not like the idea that Katsura-no-suke had Fujinami as his concubine. He despised the whole thing and was convinced that Katsura-no-suke was bringing dishonor to his family. Sampachiro believes that Katsura-no-suke’s love for Fujinami polluted his honor; she was like a bad flu that needed to be taken care of. Like Iemon, Sampachiro looks at death as a Godsend, feeling that he held the power of life and death in his hands; “but it stands to reason that once the root is cut, the leaves will wither (Kyoden, p. 154). Sampachiro believes that killing Fujinami would bring back Katsura-no-suke’s honor, considering death to be a means of cleansing and purification of impurities caused by dishonor. Believing that what he was doing was right, he waited for Fujinami one night to leave Katsura-no-suke, trapping her in the midnight hours as the wind blew out her lantern. Sampachiro drew his sword and sliced at her until he drew blood. Sampachiro wasted no time in making sure that she was dead: “But Sampachiro anxious to put an end to her suffering stood directly above her and make sure that his sword went straight through her neck.” (Kyoden, p. 155). Although many aspects of death in both cases are similar, the motives behind the killing should be distinguished. Sampachiro was not just a downright killer like Iemon, whokilled Oiwa’s father and Kohei because of greed, anger and lust. Instead, Sampachiro killed Fujinami because of his loyalty to Katsura-no-suke’s family: “It may seem brutal to kill an innocent girl but I cannot forget the honor of my Lord’s family” (Kyoden, p. 152). To that end, death is meant to be a good thing that defends people’s honor by eliminating problems.
- For some people, suicide seems like the easiest way to deal with their conflicts. After Sampachiro killed Fujinami, he, his wife and two children fled into the night until they reached a wooded area. There, he met a girl standing in front of a tree attempting to commit suicide. Death was all around the fleeing family, but this time it was all supernatural: “There were certain trees that were known as the hanging trees” (Kyoden, p. 157). This forest was a forest of death; the phantom had hanged herself on one of these trees and was trying to get the girl to do the same. Feeling guilty because of the death of Fujinami, Sampachiro tries to stop her from hanging herself on the tree, asking her why wants to kill herself and offering help: “You must indeed be at a terrible pass if you decided to take your own life, he said, Just tell me the whole story now, If there’s anything I can do to help you, I will be glad to serve you in anyway I can.” Sampachiro felt guilty about Fujinami’s death, and wanted to commit a good deed as a way of purifying his soul. The girl reluctantly told him her story - her family money had been robbed by a thief on the way, and she could not bear facing that disgrace to her family, choosing death as her last option. In the end, Sampachiro managed to talk her out of suicide, but the treatment of death in the play remains that of a means of solving problems. Like in with Yotsuya Ghost Stories, characters appear to find themselves in a situation where death is answer to their varying issues.
- In conclusion, one of the most constant theme which play a significant role in both Yotsuya Ghost Stories and The Straw Sandal is death as solution to all problems. In Yotsuya Ghost Stories, death in the form of murder is a way of keeping people from interfering with those that are living. Iomen chooses to murder people he finds inconvenient to his plans to grow and prosper in his world; however, the vengeful nature of death as a supernatural force eventually leads to his downfall. In Straw Sandal, this comes in the form of suicide, which is treated as a permanent solution to a problem. Death is treated with a bit more reverence, as characters kill to preserve the dignity and honor of others, and many even spare the lives of others when they are sufficiently emotionally affected by their plights. Death is a pervasive force that is constant throughout both plays.