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
In order to answer the research questions, there are two things that need to be discussed. They are the subjects of the study and the approach that is used in
the study.
17
As the subjects of the study, the mini-short stories written by Yasunari Kawabata are chosen. These short stories are taken from Kawabata’s compilation
of short stories entitled Palm of the Hand Stories, published in English by Lane Dunlop and J. Martin Holman in 1988. This book consists of seventy mini-short
stories written by Kawabata from 1922 until 1972. Further, there are only seven stories chosen as the subjects of the study. They are “Canaries”, “Love Suicide”,
“Mother”, “Makeup”, “Death Mask”, “Tabi” and “Immortality”. These short stories are chosen based on the presence of death which then draws the writer’s
attention to reveal different portraits of death which later generate the seeds of wisdom in life. Through Kawabata’s stories, the presence of death is seen more as
the eternal celebration of the transience of life itself which then invites the readers to realize and appreciate life as something that is beautiful due to its brevity.
Related to that, the analysis will focus on revealing different portraits of death and the seeds of wisdom which generate in life found in Kawabata’s selected short
stories used in this study. In answering the research questions, the study involves the exploration of
Yasunari Kawabata’s selected literary works found in his Palm of the Hand Stories 1988. Some data that are needed for the study are taken from the printed
books, e-books and other related data which deal with Yasunari Kawabata’s writings and background as Japanese writer, the Japanese literature, Zen
Buddhism teachings and the Japanese view on death. Further, the following procedure is taken in order to conduct the study systematically. The first step is
finding the subjects of study and the issues that can be taken as topic of the study. The next step is determining the scope of the study in order to give limitation of
18
the study. This limitation deals with methodology and the theories that need to be applied in the study. Then, answering the problem formulation by applying the
methodology and the theories in analyzing Kawabata’s selected short stories. This step is very crucial in finding the answers of the problems in this study. Last step
is drawing conclusions related to the findings of the study that deal with Yasunari Kawabata’s selected writings used in this study.
In order to answer the research questions, this study uses hermeneutics criticism. Generally, hermeneutics can be defined as the art or theory of
interpretation.
34
However, in this study, it is connected to literary field under the term of “literary hermeneutics”. It is a particular kind of hermeneutics which can
be simply defined as the interpretation theory of literary texts.
35
The aim of hermeneutics itself is about having experience rather than gaining a definite
knowledge. Hence, the readers need to equip themselves with relevant information to form the horizon of expectation which will evoke their sense of
openness in having particular experience of new things.
36
Related to its definition, hermeneutics has become a particular research method which facilitates an intense interaction between the readers as the active
producers of meaning in literary texts and the text that voices its meaning.
37
It means that in applying this research method, hermeneutical practice involves the
34
Robert Audi, ed. The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999 377.
35
Ming Dong Gu, Chinese Theories of Reading and Writing: A Route to Hermeneutics and Open Poetics. Albany: New York Press, 2005 1.
36
Chris Lawn and Niall Keane, The Gadamer Dictionary New York: Continuum, 2011 51.
37
Michael Marra, Essays on Japan: Between Aesthetics and Literature, Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2010 277.
19
equal use of the readers’ particular experience based on the horizon of expectation that is formed by relevant background information in order to make the text
‘voices’ its own meaning.
38
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.
Based on the previous discussion, some information which deals with Yasunari Kawabata’s writings and background as Japanese writer, the Japanese
literature, Zen Buddhism teachings and the Japanese view on death needs to be inserted in this process of interpretation. They are needed to form the horizon of
expectation which will be useful in creating the readers’ particular experience in dealing with Kawabata’s writings wrapped in Zen Buddhism teachings. Hence,
some writings about Zen Buddhism teachings and Japanese literature are needed in order to explore the different portraits of death and their seeds of wisdom in life
found in Kawabata’s selected short stories used in this study. Those writings which written by Daisetz T. Suzuki, Donald Keene and Michael Marra are used as
the ‘main’ references since those people are considered as the ‘experts’ in the related fields. Their competency in understanding the development of Japanese
literature including the influence of Zen Buddhism teachings in the notion of death preferred by the Japanese can be used to deepen the analysis of this study.
Finally, those background information will be useful in revealing different portraits of death and the seeds of wisdom that generate in life found in
Kawabata’s selected short stories taken from Palm of the Hand Stories 1988.
38
ibid., p. 277.
20
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
