Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata

First published:Sembazuru, 1949-1951, serial; 1952, book (English translation, 1958)

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Psychological realism

Time of plot: Mid-twentieth century

Locale: Tokyo and Kamakura, Japan

Principal characters

• Kikuji Mitani, a Tokyo office worker in his mid-twenties
• Kurimoto Chikako, a tea ceremony teacher and a former mistress of Kikuji’s father
• Mrs. Ota, the last mistress of Kikuji’s father
• Fumiko Ota, her daughter
• Yuriko Inamura, a young woman whom Chikako wants Kikuji to marry

The Story:

Kikuji Mitani is on his way to a tea ceremony that will be performed at the inner cottage of Engakuji Temple in Kamakura, Japan. When Kikuji received an invitation to this ceremony from Kurimoto Chikako, his deceased father’s former mistress, he initially thought it was being conducted in memory of his deceased father, but a postscript mentioned that she wanted him to meet Yuriko Inamura, her student. As he again reads the note, Kikuji remembers that, when he was taken by his father to visit Chikako, he accidentally viewed the large birthmark that covers half of her left breast. Kikuji has been haunted by this image since then.

After Kikuji enters the temple’s grounds, he spots two young women, one of whom is carrying a bundle wrapped with a kerchief with a beautiful thousand-crane pattern. When Kikuji arrives at the cottage, he notices that the girl with the kerchief is there as well. Chikako tells Kikuji that the girl’s father was a friend of his father. She then takes him aside and apologetically informs him that Mrs. Ota, his father’s last mistress, is also attending the ceremony, along with her daughter Fumiko. Kikuji is puzzled because he knows that Chikako hates Mrs. Ota. In order to show Yuriko off to Kikuji, Chikako has her perform the tea ceremony using a bowl that originally belonged to Mrs. Ota’s husband and that was later given to Kikuji’s father.

After the ceremony is completed, Kikuji leaves. He runs into Mrs. Ota, who tells him that the ring that Fumiko is wearing was given to her by his father as a reward for helping him in an air raid during the war. Kikuji begins to feel that Mrs. Ota is treating him as if he were his father. They have dinner and spend the night together. He talks to her about Chikako’s birthmark, and she is disgusted. Two weeks later, Fumiko visits Kikuji and apologizes for her mother’s behavior. He tells her that her mother is a good person.

Chikako calls Kikuji at his office, telling him that she has cleaned his tea cottage and will cook for him. She also says that she will invite Yuriko for dinner. He returns home and tells a surprised Yuriko how much he dislikes Chikako’s meddling ways. The next day, a very sick, tearful Mrs. Ota visits and discloses her overwhelming guilt over her past actions. Kikuji accuses her of thinking that he and his father are the same person. She asks for his forgiveness, declares that she does not understand herself and wants to die, and begs him to take care of Fumiko and quickly marry Yuriko. At 2:00 a.m. the next day, Fumiko calls to inform Kikuji that her mother has taken her own life.

Eight days after Mrs. Ota’s memorial service, Kikuji visits Fumiko. He notices that a fine, white, glazed Shino tea ceremony water jar is being used to hold flowers. He speculates about whether it was guilt or love that killed Mrs. Ota and says that he made her die. Fumiko retorts that she died because of herself and that perhaps she was asking for forgiveness. Fumiko serves tea using red and black Raku “man and wife” ceremonial bowls. Kikuji is surprised but believes Fumiko is not being malicious. They speak about death and the importance of taking care of the dead. She gives the water jar to Kikuji.

Kikuji starts to feel that he is in love with Mrs. Ota. He calls Fumiko and invites her to visit. She refuses and says she is going to sell her house. Meanwhile, Chikako visits him, announcing that she knows Mrs. Ota committed suicide and that it was good that she did so, for she was interfering with his plan to marry Yukio. Kikuji is shocked by her remarks, and suddenly an image of Fumiko comes to him. Later that day, he becomes very angry at his maid when she erroneously claims that gourds and morning glories are both vines. Several days later, Fumiko presents him with an old, small, white, cylindrical Shino tea bowl that has the faint red mark of Mrs. Ota’s lipstick on it. Chikako appears, makes tea, and insults Fumiko, who remains impassive. Kikuji fails to defend Fumiko.

Chikako falsely tells Kikuji that Fumiko and Yuriko have both married, but he does not believe her. She informs him that she has a buyer for his father’s tea-vessel collection. Fumiko drops in, and they make a deal: If the tea bowl in his father’s tea chest is of better quality than her mother’s white female Shino bowl, then she will break the Shino bowl. It turns out that Mr. Mitani’s bowl is a beautiful, undecorated, greenish Korean Karatsu bowl with a touch of carmine and saffron. They carefully compare the bowls and conclude that Mr. Mitani’s is the best. They then use the bowls, and Fumiko symbolically breaks the Shino. Later, she gives herself up to Kikuji and then disappears. He feels that she has brought him back to life and tries, unsuccessfully, to find her.

Bibliography

Cornyetz, Nina. The Ethics of Aesthetics in Japanese Cinema and Literature: Polygraphic Desire. New York: Routledge, 2007. Discusses the moral dimension of Kawabata’s poetics and the relationship between aesthetic strategies and morality generally.

Keene, David. Dawn of the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era. Vol. 1. New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1984. Written by the most famous American scholar of Japanese literature, this massive book includes a long chapter on Kawabata and presents a detailed introduction to modern Japanese literature.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Five Modern Japanese Novelists. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. Kawabata is one of the five novelists whom Keene knew personally that he profiles and discusses at length in this study that combines memoir with literary biography.

Petersen, Gwenn Boardmen. TheMoon in the Water: Understanding Tanizaki, Kawabata, and Mishima. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1979. An excellent overview of Kawabata’s writings. Discusses Thousand Cranes in detail.

Starrs, Roy. Soundings in Time: The Fictive Art of Yasunari Kawabata. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 1998. A book-length study devoted entirely to Kawabata’s writings. Accessible and interesting.

Ueda, Markoto. Japanese Writers and the Nature of Literature. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1976. Presents an insightful discussion of Kawabata’s writing style and themes.

Washburn, Dennis C. The Dilemma of the Modern in Japanese Fiction. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995. Includes an excellent chapter on the topic of Kawabata and the problem of cultural amnesia.