Chosen passage: p.g. 50 ‘I made her die.’ – End of page.

Death is a central, but abstract theme in ‘Thousand Cranes’; the characters’ perception of it is constantly shifting, and, by the end of the novel, no character holds it in the same regard. Kikuji, the protagonist of the novel, experiences several turning points in his personal relationship with death, one of which takes place at the climax of Part I of Figured Shino, upon his discussion of Mrs Ota’s suicide with her daughter Fumiko.

After evading the subject of blame all evening, Kikuji proclaims that ‘(He) made her die’,  a short, simple, declarative statement that acts as a clear admission of his guilt, an admission that opens up a conversation with Fumiko that allows their shared, muddled feelings to flow. The boldness of such emotional vulnerability stands in stark contrast to both traditional Japanese culture, which values conformity and emotional suppression in promotion of better relationships, and Kikuji and Fumiko’s interactions in the novel up to this point. Even when first informing Kikuji of her mother’s suicide, Fumiko did so entirely through euphemism, allowing the subtext to convey the gravity of the situation, and she only did so because she needed his help in covering the situation up, in order to preserve her and her mother’s honour. The verb ‘made’ connotes force, as well as an active effort, implying that Kikuji feels his role in her death was decisive, and had he not interfered with her affairs she would undoubtedly still be alive; he is the sole cause, and it was no accident.

However, Fumiko counters this thought by explaining that to blame anyone would be to make ‘her death seem dirty’. Describing the death with such an adjective, ‘dirty’, could reflect how suicide was considered as morally reprehensible in post-WWII Japanese society, a sinful act, or, it could connote impurity, and therefore suggest that Mrs Ota’s death was a pure act, one of sacrifice that is more reminiscent of the ancient Japanese tradition of seppuku, a ritual suicide preformed to protect one’s honour; to tie blame or guilt to her death would be to taint it with the same negativity that she was trying to vanquish.

After Fumiko goes onto explain that forgiveness is enough for the dead, and as he reflects on this, ‘a curtain in Kikuji’s mind (seems) to disappear.’ He comes to the revelation that ‘The dead did not press moral considerations upon the living’, and thus realises that Fumiko was right: to apportion guilt to himself would be to taint the nobility of Mrs Ota’s death, reinforcing my earlier point. The nouns ‘living’ and ‘dead’ act as classifiers, which denote a clear separation in Kukuji’s head; Mrs Ota is no longer a ghost, an apparition somewhere between the world of the living and the dead that can haunt him, but distinctly dead, thus implying that he is free of the unprocessed emotions he was left with after her passing. Kikuji recognising the threat of guilt to the legacy of Mrs Ota also implies that he has empathy for the dead, something he has not yet displayed towards his father, whose death often crosses his mind, highlighting Kikuji’s growth and development as a character as a result of his evolving perception of death and loss.