While walking along the Vitava River, in the Lesser
Town, we came across the Franz Kafka Museum. The museum's facade is simple, with
a few doors and windows, with only a large black letter K in front of it.
Uniquely, there is a statue of two
people urinating into a pond in front of the museum. This controversial bronze
sculpture, called Proudy, made by artist David Cerny, robotically moves their
penises as if to spell out something with their urine.
The figures are made of bronze and look as if
they were made from stacked jagged metal slices. Each figure is holding its
penis and urinating, pouring it in a random pattern. They are urinating on a basin
shaped like a map of Czechoslovakia, so they are essentially urinating on
Czechoslovakia. How provocative.
The museum's rooms are dark, as dark as Kafka's
writings. The first section of this immersion into Kafka's world, titled
Existential Space, shows how Prague shaped the writer's life, the imprint it
left on him, and how that transformative force influenced him. His diaries and
extensive correspondence with family members, friends, lovers, and publishers
bear witness to this influence. The challenge for the viewer is to try and
grasp the central conflict in Franz Kafka's life, guided by the writer's
perspective.
The second section, titled Imaginary
Topography, shows Kafka describing his city without naming the places where his
stories take place, with only a few exceptions.
The reader may guess, for example, that the
anonymous cathedral in The Trial is none other than St. Vitus Cathedral; that
the road Joseph K. walks along in the final chapter of the same book leads from
the Old Town, across Charles Bridge towards the outer limits of the Lesser
Town. It is also said that the view from Bendemann's window in The Judgment
shows the embankment, the Vltava River, and its opposite bank in the same way
as it can be seen from Mikulášská Street (now Pařížská Street), where the Kafka
family lived in 1912. This is to prove that the topography of Prague as Kafka
wrote about is historical, even though no place names are mentioned.
However, for Kafka, this is irrelevant. His
writing transforms Prague into an imaginary topography. The city takes a step
backward, and is no longer recognizable by its buildings, bridges, and
monuments. It is no longer important to identify specific offices, primary or
secondary schools, universities, churches, prisons, or castles, as these
structures serve as metaphors and allegorical places.
Before
the interview with Natsume, I took the time to visit Matsuyama city. This city
is the setting for Natsume's novel 'Botchan'. He was once assigned as a teacher
in Matsuyama, and it must have been that experience that inspired him to write the
novel that tells the story of a middle school mathematics teacher assigned to
teach in Matsuyama. The teacher's name is Botchan, which means ‘Young Master’,
in Japanese. Botchan has an unusual character for a teacher, as he has a
sarcastic mouth. His words are sharp without being polished, and without
hesitation he talked that way to his students and other fellow teachers. He
cursed at his students who were often behaving impishly and mischievously
towards him. He also spoke aggressively and sharply to other teachers he didn't
like. He gave nicknames to teachers who behaved strangely. The fresh and comic
narrative makes this novel very popular in Japan and has become a mandatory
reading in schools. Maybe, every student in Japan has read this novel.
The
city Matsuyama is actually not as outdated as Botchan said. Of course, this
city cannot be compared with Tokyo, the big city where Botchan lived before
moving to Matsuyama. Here, I also looked for and found the hot springs that
Botchan often visited, where he escaped every afternoon after teaching at
school. The name of this hot spring bathing place is Dogo Onsen, a fairly large
and famous public bath. The building has three floors, made of wood, arranged
beautifully and magnificently. The hot water in the bathing pool comes from the
earth and contains many minerals. It's really relaxing to soak in this hot
water pool, soothes sore muscles and joints. I can imagine how Botchan enjoyed
the warm water and felt refreshed after soaking for just a few moments.
So,
when I met Natsume at his house in Waseda-Minamicho, Tokyo, I started the
conversation with this Dogo Onsen.
I
said:
"Natsume-san, I visited Matsuyama before
I came here, just to get to know this city which is the city where Bochan
teaches. Although the name of the city is not mentioned in the novel, some
readers may have guessed that, because you yourself once taught in Matsuyama.
In this city I found Dogo onsen and tried soaking in the hot spring water of
this bath. People said that Dogo Onsen is the bathhouse that Botchan often
visits in his free time, because the depiction of the bathhouse in this novel
corresponds to this Dogo onsen building. Is it true that Dogo onsen is where
Botchan bathes every day?"
Natsume:
“Yes,
according to Botchan, the building has three stories, the bathing pool is made
of granite, about 10 square meters in size. There are usually thirteen or
fourteen people in the pool, but sometimes there aren't any. If there is no
one, Bochan takes the opportunity to swim in this pool, even though the small
pool is not a swimming pool and there is a sign that says: "Swimming in
the pool is prohibited." The sign seemed to have been written specifically
for Botchan, who often sneakingly swam in the pool when it was quiet. According
to public practice, the pool is for soaking and enjoying the warm water, the
pool is too small for swimming."
I
said:
“It
seems that one of his students found out that Botchan often swims in the pool and
reported it. So, the next day Botchan was surprised when he entered the school
room, on the blackboard it was written: "Swimming in the pool is
prohibited." Ha... ha... ha.... I remember the old school days, the
students were sometimes so mischievous..."
Natsume,
also laughed:
"Yes, the students are behaving impishly because
Botchan is a young teacher who is new to teaching at the school. Imagine, when
Botchan goes to the bath, he always brings the same large towel, European size.
This towel is slightly red like the color of the hot water which contains
minerals in the Dogo onsen. He always held this towel in his hand when he went
to the bathhouse, both when walking and when taking the train there. Therefore,
the students nicknamed him “Red Towel”. Ha... ha... Looks like all the students
are conspiring to follow him everywhere to observe what this young teacher is
doing... Ha..ha..”.
I
laughed too:
"But
Botchan is no less mischievous, he confronts his students with sarcastic curses
and handles his annoying students fiercely. He gave appropriate punishment to
his students. Many teachers decried Botchan's actions on the students, these
actions were considered unfit for a teacher. Botchan didn't want to be outdone
and denied them with increasingly sarcastic expressions. He was even ready to
fight with the teachers who criticized him. He mocked the teachers with
nicknames according to the teacher's strange behavior..."
Natsume:
“Yes,
especially the “Red Shirt”, the hypocritical and manipulative head teacher, who
is Botchan’s biggest enemy. He was given that nickname because every day he
wore red furry clothes, and talked like a woman,... ha... ha..."
Yes,
the "Red Shirt" is a very annoying character. I wondered if there was
actually one of Natsume's fellow teachers at that school who behaved like Red
Shirt, which inspired Natsume to depict this character. Just like the city of
Matsuyama which became the setting of this novel, and the bathing place which
depiction was based on Dogo onsen, perhaps the characters in this story also were
depicted based on people whom Natsume encountered while teaching at that
school.
Matsuyama
City, apart from being the setting for "Botchan", is also the city
where Natsume reunites with Shiki Masaoka, his best friend since school. Shiki
Masaoka wrote a lot of Haiku since that time in school, and Natsuke was
influenced to write Haiku by him. Haiku is a short poem consisting of 3 lines
and 17 syllables, which is popular in Japan. This short haiku conveys the
impression experienced by the author in an instant, which was spontaneously
felt in an encounter. Haiku can be about simple things that are encountered
every day, things that are light and funny, but they can also have deep,
existential expressions, about love and death. Since thereon, Natsume, together
with Shiki, also wrote a lot of Haiku, both about trivial, funny and deep
encounters.
I
said:
“It
is said that in Matsuyama you met your close friend Shiki Masaoka, and together
you spent time writing Haiku there. How did you become friends with Shiki
Masaoka, who could be said to be one of the Haiku Masters in Japan?”
Natsume:
“
Shiki Masaoka was my best friend since school, and he wrote a lot of Haiku at
that time. He has collected his poems in one book which he entitled
"Nanakusashu", which also contains poems in Chinese writing styles and
Haiku. One day he passed the book around in class for his friends to comment
on. I added my comments at the end of the book and attached nine poems that I
addressed to him. “
I
said: "What kind of poetry did you write...?"
Natsume,
citing one of the poems in that book:
“Living
in nothingness is rather tasteful,
This
summer you decided to rent a room at the House of the Fragrant Moon on the bank
of the river.
Whilst
spending time composing poems featuring a rural landscape of green wheat and
yellow rape blossoms,
The
season has changed and autumn with the red flower of water pepper and white
flower of floating weed has arrived again.”
I
said: “How did Shiki respond...?”
Natsume:
“He liked that poem..., it reminded him of his experience on summer vacation in
Mukojima. He rented a room to write the poetry collection
"Nanakusashu", and according to him this location was a meaningless
world, which was the place where he got inspiration for his writings.
But
later on, I thought the poems were childish... I felt really embarrassed and
asked him to tear up the poems..."
I
said: “I don't feel so...”
Natsume:
"Nevertheless, since then we have become close friends, my pen name
"Soseki" is actually one of Shiki's pen names, which he later gave to
me. And until now my name is Natsume Soseki..."
I
said: “Does Soseki mean anything...?”
Natsume:
"Soseki comes from an expression from "Shinjo" in the Tang
dynasty in China, which means 'to gargle with stones'...".
I
frowned: “Gargling with stones? How strange?"
Natsume:
"Yes, that's an analogy for someone who loses but doesn't want to admit
defeat, Bad Looser... ha...ha.."
I
laughed too: "Hmm... that's the pen name Shiki gave you, huh... So, that name makes fun of both of you,
huh..."
Natsume:
“We
became close friends and often shared Haiku and Chinese poetry writings in our
letters. Shiki was impressed by the Chinese poetry I wrote, and I was impressed
by the Haiku-Haiku he wrote, so we exchanged poems to express our thoughts and
feelings. While in Matsuyama, we wrote more and more Haiku together. At that
time, he actually came to this city to recover from the tuberculosis he was
suffering from, because this city was actually his hometown. There we devoted
our free time to Haiku, and also wrote poems at meetings with poets and our
students.”
I
said: "Hmm... you guys were very productive in writing poetry..."
Natsume:
"Yes, Shiki was very talented, but he admitted later that as a student, he
was not very diligent..."
I
said: "Yes, many prominent people don't study hard, their report cards at
school weren't impressive and many of them even fail at school..."
Natsume:
"Yes,
Shiki experienced many obstacles when studying at school, in the later days he
even intended to resign from Tokyo Imperial University because he failed the
final exam. I received a letter from him about his intentions, I became very worried
and immediately wrote back trying to calm his mind so he wouldn't go the wrong
way...at the end of the letter I added a Haiku to cool him down which read:
'Night cuckoo, if you cry, cry to the full moon...' ... for your information,
his name Shiki means cuckoo..."
I
said: "Then, did you succeed in changing his mind…?"
Natsume:
“Unfortunately…., a year later he actually withdrew from Tokyo Imperial
University….”
In
the middle of our conversation, Kyoko, Natsume's wife, came in carrying a tray
of snacks which she placed on the table in front of us who were sitting
cross-legged. I saw food with attractive colors, those were mochi cakes, a
typical Japanese cake made from sticky rice. There are three kinds of colors of
the cakes, white, orange and brown. The orange one has a citrus taste, a refreshing
one. Natsume immediately took the chocolate mochi cake and ate it with a gusto.
It seemed he was quite hungry that time. Kyoko said that Natsume had a severe
stomach acid disorder, so he was often hungry like that. Kyoko spoke while
smiling broadly in a friendly manner, but her teeth looked irregular and
yellow. Natsume himself once said about his wife 'her teeth are irregular and
yellow, but she doesn't care to hide it. I appreciate her openness'. I remember
it was Natsume's words noted by Kyoko herself.
Natsume
himself is tall, with a fairly bushy mustache, and his eyes are brownish gold.
There is a smallpox scar on the right side of his face, which is covered with
fine hair. In portraits this scar is never visible, perhaps because the
photographer respected him not to show that side of his face.
I
then tried the chocolate mochi, it turned out it tasted of red beans. Kyoko
then served a pot of green tea which is commonly drunk in Japan. The slightly
bitter taste of the tea goes well with the taste of this chocolate mochi. While
enjoying the warm mochi and tea, I looked at the interior of this house. This
house has walls and floors all made of wood, typical of traditional Japanese
houses. The floor is covered with tatami, thick mats made of straw. The walls
and ceilings are all wood. The room dividers are made of wooden frames and are
covered on both sides with white washi, a type of paper that is tough and
durable. The washi paper is translucent, making the room brighter, making
anyone feel at home sitting here. Even though I sat cross-legged for a long
time, I didn't feel tired.
Suddenly
from behind the partition came a cat, which without further ado sat on
Natsume's lap. The cat is a type of medium-sized calico cat, with fur like a
Persian cat, yellowish gray with jet black spots. The cat sat cuddly, being
stroked by Natsume's hand. Immediately I recognized this cat as the cat in the
book "I am a Cat", written by Natsume. Yes, the narrator is this cat,
who often chatters and makes comments about his master, Mr. Sneaze, who is an
English teacher. Coincidentally or not, Natsume was also an English teacher.
The cat also told us that his master had a serious stomach acid problem....
I
then said:
"This
cat is very similar to the cat that plays a role in the book 'I am a Cat', I
would guess that there are many stories that the Cat told us are based on your
real experience..."
Natsume
just smiled….
I
said:
"That
the stomach acid disorder that the Cat talked about his master, Mr. Sneaze,
looks quite serious... I heard stories from people who suffered from the same
suffering that Mr. Sneaze experienced..."
Natsume:
"His
wife always told him to drink Taka-Diastase for his ailment, but Mr. Sneaze
didn't want to drink it anymore, because it wasn't effective. His wife kept encouraging
him to take the medicine, but Mr. Sneaze stubbornly refused, saying it was
useless. She then became upset because he used to take the drug every day and said
it works like a miracle. However, she kept saying to him that patience is
needed to cure the disease, if one doesn’t have the patience it won't heal.
Stomach acid disorder does take a long time to heal..., his wife said so while
looking at her servant, as if asking for her approval... and the servant, of
course she agreed with his wife's words...."
I
said:
“Readers
of this book may recognize the story style of ‘Rakugo’, which is a Japanese
monologue performance, told humorously. Like stand-up comedy in bars, the Cat speaks
like that…”
Natsume:
"Indeed, my stomach acid problem became
severe enough that I had to be hospitalized while writing 'The Gate'. Then I
took refuge in Shuzenji for healing. I stayed at the Kikuya ryokan on the banks
of the Katsuragawa River, nearby which also has an onsen, a hot spring bath. I
felt like coming home after a long journey. But my condition worsened, and I
vomited 800 grams of blood, I felt so close to death at that time.”
I
said:
"
I happened to have read ‘The Gate’, or 'Mon' as the original title, which you
wrote at that critical time, I was very impressed with that novel. It's very
interesting how you talk about the daily life of a person named 'Sosuke', which
also happens to be similar to your pen name 'Soseki'. In the story, Sosuke refuged
to a temple in Kamakura to seek peace in live by studying Zen and practicing
the meditation. And I heard that you have also studied Zen and meditation at
Enkaku-ji Temple in Kamakura."
Natsume:
"But
it turned out that a life full of meditation at the temple was not suitable for
Sosuke, he always woke up late for morning meditation, the long meditations
were too tiring for him and the vegetarian food provided was tasteless. After
ten days he returned home.”
I
said:
“The
Gate referred to in this novel seems to be the Gate of this temple, the Gate to
enlightenment that Sosuke wants to achieve...”
Nasume, citing ‘The Gate’:
“He
had come here expecting the gate to be opened for him. But when he knocked, the
gatekeeper, wherever he stood behind the high portals, had not so much as
showed his face. Only a disembodied voice could be heard: ‘It does no good to
knock. Open the gate for yourself and enter.’
But
how, he wondered, could he unbar the gate from the outside? Mentally he devised
a scheme involving various measures and steps. But when it came to it, he found
himself unable to summon the strength to put his scheme into effect. He was
standing in the very same place he had stood before even beginning to ponder
the problem. As before, he found himself stranded, without resources or
recourse, in front of the closed portals. He had been living from day to day in
accordance with his own capacity for reason. Now to his chagrin he could see
that this capacity had become a curse. At one extreme, he had come to envy the
obstinate single-mindedness of simpletons for whom the possibility of
discriminating among several options did not arise. At the other end of the
spectrum, he viewed with awe the advanced spiritual self-discipline of those
lay believers, both men and women, who abandoned conventional wisdom and did
away with the distractions of analytical thought. It appeared to Sōsuke that
from the moment of his birth it was his fate to remain standing indefinitely
outside the gate. This was an indisputable fact. Yet if it were true that, no
matter what, he was never meant to pass through this gate, there was something
quite absurd about his having approached it in the first place. He looked back.
He saw that he lacked the courage to retrace his steps. He looked ahead. The
way was forever blocked by firmly closed portals. He was someone destined
neither to pass through the gate nor to be satisfied with never having passed
through it. He was one of those unfortunate souls fated to stand in the gate’s
shadow, frozen in his tracks, until the day was done.
THE END
This is an imaginary interview in memory of Natsume Soseki.
From behind the window of the bus we were
riding in, we could see a stunning view of the mountains. It was just the start
of summer, the green leaves and grass look young and fresh, spreading across
the mountains. The tour guide said that in autumn the view is even more
beautiful, the leaves turn red and turn golden yellow before they fall,
providing a stunning panorama along the way. We can only imagine it, from the
photos we have seen, with the dream of one day being able to enjoy the original
view in autumn. Of course, autumn is the busiest season, tourists, domestic and
foreign, plan their trips here well in advance.
We were on our way from Tokyo to the Nikko
mountains. Nikko is a historical place with beautiful views of the mountains
north of Tokyo. The existence of historical places located on the slopes of the
mountains, complemented by their rural charm, has inspired the saying:
"Never say kekko until you see Nikko", meaning that if you go to
Japan, never be satisfied until you see Nikko.
Our first stop was Toshugu Shrine. Tosho is the
honorary name given to Tokugawa Ieyasu after his death, because this shrine is
the burial place of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was a Japanese samurai leader who led
and unified Japan in the 17th century. He founded the Tokugawa Shogunate which
ruled for more than 250 years, making him a prominent samurai figure in
Japanese history. Like other Japanese leaders, his spirit is considered sacred
and this shrine was built to house his spirit, according to Shinto beliefs. Therefore,
this temple is full of historical value and is very sacred because this temple
is the burial place and residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu's spirit.
From the entrance to the rear shrine, Toshogu
is connected by an uplhill street that is quite wide. At the end of the path,
there is a large Gate, called Torri (Ishidorii). The stone made Torri marks the
entrance to Toshogu Shrine, which according to Shinto beliefs represents the gate
to a holy place.
Usually, Shinto shrines are kept simple by
considering harmony with the natural surroundings, inviting visitors to offer
prayers and offerings at these shrines. Not so with Toshogu Shrine. This temple
is a combination of a Shinto Temple and a Buddhist Temple, giving this temple a
majestic dimension. Simplicity is not a consideration at all, the buildings are
instead rich with ornaments of various colors, including gold leaf decoration,
which can amaze visitors who observe them.
While wandering at
night in the Kabukicho, we saw a very unique restaurant. The name is Robot
Restaurant, which was hugely displayed at the top of the restaurant with
glittering light bulbs, so it could be seen from far. Anybody visiting this
area wouldn’t miss to notice this restaurant. We wondered what kind of
restaurant it was, were we going to be served by robots or something like that?
Actually, the place offered a spectacular Robot-themed cabaret show, and
calling it a restaurant was a bit misleading. It was more a show rather than a
restaurant. They did serve food there, but it was the kind of food to be eaten
while watching the show. The room arrangement was like an arena stage surrounded
by seats for the spectators, not like a normal dining tables arrangement in
restaurants.
The show was
astonishing, loud and full of energy from the beginning. Dancers, laser lights,
dazzling spot lights, mixed with dinosaurs and robots danced in rhythm with the
drum beats. It was spectacular. The movement seemed unchoreographed, but the
performance is actually a carefully planned routine that requires weeks of preparation.
The dancers must master everything from dancing to drumming, pole dancing and
robot riding for the performance. So did one of the dancers told us after the
show.
Though there seemed no
storyline in the 90 minutes show, it appeared to be a classic battle between robot
armies. The dancers ranged from the kawaii (cute) to the monstrous animals, the
goofy anime characters to the ancient Japanese fantasy characters. There was blaring
rock music in the room, with warrior princesses in bikinis fighting a 3 meter tall
transformer robots. They came to tease
you at every corner and in front of your seat. There were also a giant shark
attacking a robotic horse, a Kung-Fu panda wrestling on a Segway. They made us
smile.
For 90 minutes we
entered a different world, monsters and kawaii characters came in flesh, robot
toys became huge, it was a show as well as a wild party. It was one of the top tourist attractions in
Tokyo, located in the Shinjuku nightlife district. It earned a reputation not
long after it opened in 2012, but sadly it must close during the Covid 19 pandemic
and remained closed forever.
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