The Riddles The Intentions

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D. The Riddles

Considering the background, the focus of the study and the urgency that are mentioned above, this study will discuss some problems. Those problems can be formulated as follows: 1. How is death portrayed in Yasunari Kawabata’s selected short stories? 2. How do those portraits of death generate seeds of wisdom in life as seen in the works under study?

E. The Intentions

This study is conducted to reveal the different portraits of death and the seeds of wisdom which generate in life found in Yasunari Kawabata’s short stories. These various portraits of death can be regarded as Nō masks that can bring different impressions for those who see them in the drama performance. 32 Yet, this drama is quite desolate just like Kawabata’s writings that are known for the presence of poetry that can be felt through the power and beauty of their quiet, meditative and poetic language which speak clearly of a spiritful victory and a joyful life than any explicitly louder statement could do. 33 For Kawabata’s readers, the quality of his writings brings a mysterious nuance which creates a deep impression. In addition to it, reading his writings is just like spreading some bread crumbs into a quiet peaceful pond and suddenly a school of Koi appears and replaces the nature’s tranquility with the splashing sound of water. It offers the 32 Nō drama is a Japanese folk entertainment in which the performers wear decorated costumes and masks that symbolize their emotions. In doing the performance, the lines of prose and poetry are chanted rather than spoken. The performers dance in a slow highly ritual steps on a small square stage. 33 Starrs, Soundings in Time: The Fictive Art of Kawabata Yasunari 7. 16 impression of natural freshness which creates a long lasting effect in mind just like Kawabata’s writings. Through his writings, Kawabata wants to awake the readers’ awareness that everything does not always look as it seemed. Even death which is often regarded as a dreadful ugly thing has many different faces which cause different impressions for those who see them. Yet, people usually relate the existence of death with sorrow, grief and misery. It is because death is interrelated with unbearable loss. Getting in touch with the cold hands of death even can freeze tears with its coldness which can be the ultimate pain that people hardly bear. Yet, knowing the different portraits of death may alter people’s perception in seeing the death itself. The portraits of death that are wrapped by Zen Buddhism teachings may offer a consolation since death is regarded as a natural process that has to be happened in order to create a beautiful life. As a result, the presence of death can be seen as a beautiful thing rather than a dreadful one. However, it depends on the spectacles that are used and the angles that are taken in seeing the death itself. Hopefully, the result of this study will bring a positive impact to increase people’s awareness in finding the seeds of wisdom which generate from the presence of death. It is hoped that those seeds of wisdom will be able to help people in creating a beautiful life for themselves and others.

F. The Stepping Stones