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presence of life itself. As it is found in the previous chapter, Kawabata has portrayed death in four different faces. They are life representation, life
preservation, final redemption and total liberation. Further, those portraits are able to emphasize the significance of death presence in life which generate some
precious seeds of wisdom to enrich the life itself. The seeds of wisdom themselves are related to genuine acceptance, eternal peacefulness, self purification and
personal wholeness in human life. In the next section, each seed will be discussed further.
A. Genuine Acceptance
In this section, the first seed of wisdom that is generated from the death presence will be discussed further. Since death is described in good way as life
representation, the presence of death itself has to be accompanied with the genuine acceptance of death presence as a natural event that has to be happened in
life. The notion can be seen in the story entitled “Makeup” which shows the
presence of death as part of a natural event. In the story, it is shown that death happens in order to present the life itself as it is quoted as follows:
The cry of the autumn insects had already grown loud in the graveyard of the funeral hall although it was only the middle of September...
.... Although this was a beautiful sight, from my bathroom window I also have to look at
the funeral flowers on other days as they rot away. Even now at the beginning of March, as I write this, I have been watching a wreath of bellflowers and red roses for four or five
days, wondering just how the colors will change as they wither. I wish the flowers were on living plants.
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Since death is seen in good way, the cry of the autumn insects which represent death is used to present the life itself through the joy of spring with its
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Kawabata, Palm of the Hand Stories 142.
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youthful spirit. On the contrary to the next quotation, the presence of flowers that is commonly associated with the lively atmosphere of spring is used to emphasize
the presence of death as they start rotting away. Kawabata keeps flipping through these death and life throughout the story as it can be seen in the above quotation.
Hermeneutically speaking, it is related to the core of Zen Buddhism teachings under the notion of emptiness which believe in the concept of oneness including
the presence of death and life.
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Through the above quotation, Kawabata wants to deliver the idea that everything in this world simply comes and goes as well as
death and life. They are part of constant changes which should be genuinely accepted as natural events that have to be happened in order to preserve the
harmony in life. Next, this seed of wisdom leads to the presence of another seed as eternal
peacefulness. This seed of wisdom generates from the presence of death as total liberation which can also be used to enrich the life itself. In the next section, the
seed of wisdom that is related to eternal peacefulness will be discussed further.
B. Eternal Peacefulness
