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possessions in this transient world. Since death is an inevitable episode in life, it means that every second in life counted and life needs to be appreciated by
adorning it with good deeds and gratitude. Moreover, death is also able to protect human beings from their own worldly desires which will grow deeper as they live
longer. This condition may devour their humanity senses and turn them into vicious greedy beasts. As an impact, slowly but sure, human beings may lost their
chance in enjoying the true beauty of life itself in the art of loving and sharing with others. This statement is described perfectly by Kenkō in the following:
If man were never fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power
to move us ...The longer man lives, the more shame he endures. ...His preoccupation with worldly desires grows ever deeper, and gradually he loses all sensitivity to the
beauty of things, a lamentable state of affairs.
116
The description above has shown Japanese way in viewing death which raises curiosity in revealing the different portraits of death in the works of a
Japanese famous writer named Yasunari Kawabata. Further, various portraits of death in Kawabata’s selected short stories will be analyzed in order to know how
they generate the seeds of wisdom in life. By knowing these theoretical concepts, misconceptions can be avoided in analyzing the research questions. Next, the
theoretical framework needs to be drawn in order to give limitation to the scope of the study.
C. Theoretical Framework
It is stated clearly that this study will discuss about the presence of death and its seeds of wisdom found in Yasunari Kawabata’s selected short stories. It is
done by analyzing the portraits of death and how they generate the seeds of
116
Yoshida Kenkō, Essays in Iddleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenkō , trans. Donald Keene. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967 7-8.
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wisdom to enrich human life. Hence, some terms are clarified in order to limit the scope of the study. The term literature here deals with the modern era of Japanese
literature after the Meiji Restoration that opens the door of opportunity towards Western influence. The term literature which is used in this study relates to the
subjects of study, Kawabata’s selected short stories that can be found in the book entitled Palm-of-the-Hand Stories 1988. Besides, the Japanese notion of death
wrapped in Zen Buddhism teachings is used in this study along with the use of hermeneutics as the approach to answer the research questions. In order to
understand the definition of hermeneutics and its use in this study, this approach will be discussed.
As mentioned earlier, hermeneutics is defined as the art or theory of interpretation.
117
Though hermeneutics is usually connected to the philosophical approach and literary theories in the early and mid-twentieth century, it is
particularly connected to literary field under the term of “literary hermeneutics” in this study.
118
It is a particular kind of hermeneutics which can be simply defined as the interpretation theory of literary texts which is aimed in having the sense of
openness to experience the life experience through the reflection of imaginative universe found in literary works rather than gaining a definite knowledge.
119
Further, it is said that hermeneutics has become a particular research method which facilitates an intense interaction between the readers as the active
117
Robert Audi, ed. The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999 377.
118
Ming Dong Gu, Chinese Theories of Reading and Writing: A Route to Hermeneutics and Open Poetics. Albany: New York Press, 2005 1.
119
Gadamer, Truth and Method, trans. J. Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall. New York: Continuum, 2004 301.
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producers of meaning in literary texts and the text that voices its meaning.
120
It means that in applying this research method, hermeneutical practice involves an
equal dialogic interaction between the readers’ particular experience based on the horizon of expectation which is formed by relevant background information and
the text in the process of interpretation.
121
The term horizon itself is defined as the way in describing the context of interpretation which involves a range of vision
and everything that can be seen from a particular point of view.
122
However, this horizon does not act as a strict boundary in the area of interpretation. Moreover, it
acts as a loyal companion which moves along with the readers during the interpretation process and encourages ones to experience the adventure offered by
the process.
123
Hence, it can be said that the readers’ horizon of expectation will always be opened and moveable along with the path of experience that is taken.
Since each reader has different past and present experience, the result of interpretation of each reader would be different and it cannot be denied that the
result of interpretation would be very subjective and personal between one and another.
124
Related to its definition as the art of interpretation which also can be applied in literature, hermeneutics is very suitable to be used in this study. It is
because hermeneutics facilitates the text ‘to voice’ itself.
125
Later, it can help the
120
Michael Marra, Essays on Japan: Between Aesthetics and Literature, Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2010 277.
121
ibid., p. 277.
122
Gadamer 301.
123
ibid., p. 238.
124
Lawn and Niall Keane 51.
125
Marra, Essays on Japan: Between Aesthetics and Literature 277.
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readers to reveal its meaning through the readers’ particular experience based on the horizon of expectation that is formed by relevant background information.
Besides, hermeneutics itself aims for understanding which is adjusted with the situated location of text interpretation rather than for explanation of the text
itself.
126
Moreover, its ability in creating an intense dialogic interaction between the readers and the text is also considered as one of its benefits in using
hermeneutics as the research method in this study. Due to its use as the research method, hermeneutics is very suitable in
revealing and understanding death presence and its seeds of wisdom in Yasunari Kawabata’s selected short stories found in the book entitled Palm of the Hand
Stories 1988. Moreover, its role as the facilitator in creating an intense dialogic interaction between the readers as the active producers of meaning interpretation
and the literary texts that also voices its meaning has made hermeneutics as a useful tool in revealing and understanding death and its seeds of wisdom in life
under the influence of Zen Buddhism teaching.
127
In applying hermeneutics in this study, Kawabata’s selected short stories and the relevant background information
about Japanese literature wrapped in Zen Buddhism package will be useful in forming the readers’ horizon of expectation. Later, it is hoped that the use of
hermeneutics in this study will be beneficial in gaining the satori or spiritual enlightenment as it is aimed by Kawabata through his writings. And once the
readers gain the satori, it will feel like enjoying the beautiful view of sakura blooming buds through the unforgettable scene of its falling petals.
126
Elizabeth Anne Kinsella, “Hermeneutics and Critical Hermeneutics: Exploring Possibilities Within the Art of Interpretation.” Forum Qualitative Socialforschung 7 2006: 3.
127
Marra, Essays on Japan: Between Aesthetics and Literature 277.
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CHAPTER 3 THE SOLEMN PARADE OF DEATH
In this chapter, the answer of the first riddle found in this study will be presented. How death is portrayed in Yasunari Kawabata’s seven selected short
stories entitled “Canaries”, “Love Suicides”, “Mother”, “Makeup”, “Death Mask”, and “Tabi” and “Immortality” taken from Palm of the Hand Stories 1988 will be
discussed further. There will be four sub-headings presented in this part of the thesis. They are life representation, life preservation, final redemption and total
liberation. Each section provides the analysis of the works under study by using hermeneutics criticism which involved an equal intense interaction between the
readers as the active producers of meaning and Kawabata’s selected writings that also voice their meaning.
128
Hence, each portrait of death is seen through the use of a particular experience based on the horizon of expectation that is formed by
the relevant background information which deals with Kawabata’s selected writings used in this study.
129
As a result, the texts voice their depictions of death which are seen through Japanese spectacles wrapped by the thick influence of Zen
Buddhism teachings. In Yasunari Kawabata’s writing, especially in his seven selected short
stories that are used in this study, death is seen from a particular experience based on the horizon of expectation that is formed by relevant background information.
The information deals with Yasunari Kawabata’s writings and background as
128
Marra, Essays on Japan: Between Aesthetics and Literature 277.
129
ibid., p. 277.
