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As the opening of this solemn parade, death is seen as life representation which can be seen in the two short stories written by Kawabata used in this study
entitled “Makeup”.
A. Life Representation
In this section, the first portrait of death which can be found in one of Kawabata’s selected English version short stories entitled “Makeup” is going to
be discussed further. This story is told in the first point of view in which a man talks about his daily view of a funeral home which is located next to his house.
Through a monologue-style narration, Kawabata decorates the story with the natural ornaments of life itself that play the readers’ point of view and flowing
imagination in reading the story. Hermeneutically speaking, the use of the monologue-style narration is related to the aim in evoking the readers’ experience
in dealing with Kawabata’s writings.
134
Besides, the use of first point of view character is able to make the experience more vivid for the readers which make
them feel as if they jumped into the story itself. It is aligned with the aim of hermeneutics in providing the sense of openness to experience the life experience
through the reflection of imaginative universe found in literary works, particularly in Kawabata’s writings.
135
Moreover, the use of natural elements such as insects, flowers, birds and also human beings in the story do remind the readers of the
literary tradition of the classic Heian-period monogatari.
136
Those natural
134
Lawn and Niall Keane 51.
135
Gadamer 301.
136
Pollack 116.
58
elements are later used to create a beautiful natural frame of life with all their natural transformations when death came by. Further, those elements are gathered
in order to create a life representation through the presence of death in its gloomy shade. The use of the loud cry of the autumn insects, the colorful flower petals
and their powerful fragrance are able to create a beautiful life representation which can be seen behind the dark mist of death. Later, Kawabata uses the life
representation to emphasize the natural process of acceptance in which death shows its great power in bringing back things into nothingness as the loud cry of
insects silenced, the beautiful petals withered and the powerful fragrance vanished as time goes by. As it can be found in the quotation that is taken from the short
story named “Makeup” below:
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. I put my hand on my wife’s
shoulder and led her and her younger sister down the hallway to show them something. It was night. As I opened the door of the bathroom at the end of the hall, the powerful
fragrance of chrysanthemums struck us. ...
Finally, in the light of day, the white flowers seemed all the whiter and the silver paper began to glow.
137
However, Kawabata also suggests the importance of death presence as something that can relieve the tired soul which finally brings the freshness of life
itself. This portrait of death is described by Kawabata in a beautiful way through the male character’s point of view that sees death as the remedy for his tiredness
which can recharge his life spirit. This notion can be found in the quotation below that is taken from another part of the same short story entitled “Makeup”:
I turned on the light. The silver wrapping paper of the wreaths sparkled. While I was working that night, time and again I caught the scent of chrysanthemums when I
went to the bathroom, and, each time, I felt the weariness of working all night vanish in the fragrance. Finally, in the light of day, the white flowers seemed all the whiter and the
137
Kawabata, Palm of the Hand Stories 142.
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silver paper began to glow. As I tended to my business, I noticed a canary perched on the flowers. It was probably a bird released at yesterday’s funeral ceremony that had gotten
tired and had forgotten to return to the bird shop.
138
Further, Kawabata describes various kinds of human beings’ attitudes toward death which are quite unique through the male character’s point of view.
Once again, this male character’s point of view is able to present particular experience in dealing with different type of people. In addition, the detailed
descriptions about different type of people that are narrated by the character in the story is able to give another rich experience for the readers in dealing with
particular tradition and rites in Japanese funeral as parts of the horizon in locating the interpretation.
139
As it is found in the story that the character depicts the women who come to the funeral house as the dark witches who feed themselves with corpses.
Though those women tend to hide their true forms behind the thickness of their makeup, the man still can sense their sinful bodies and the evil deeds that they
committed. These notions can be found in the quotation below taken from the story “Makeup”:
I also have to look at human beings in the window of the funeral hall rest room. There are a lot of young women. Few men seem to go into the rest room, and the longer
the old women stay there the less they look like women. Most of the young women stand there for a moment, and then do their makeup. When I see these women in mourning
clothes doing their faces in the rest room, putting on dark lipstick, I shudder and flinch as if I’ve seen the bloody lips of one who has licked a corpse. All of them are calm and
collected. Their bodies exhibit a sense of sin, as though they were committing some evil deed while they hide themselves.
I do not want to see such horrible makeup, but the windows face each other all year long, so such disgusting incidents are not at all rare. I always hurriedly look away. I
think I may send letters to the women I like, telling them not to go into the rest room at the Yanaka Funeral Hall, even if they should come for a funeral-in order to keep them
away from those witches.
140 138
ibid., p. 142-143.
139
Gadamer 301.
140
Kawabata, Palm of the Hand Stories 143.
60
Through the quotation above, Kawabata wants to use the makeup itself to reveal the ugliness of human being’s heart rather than conceal it. Further,
Kawabata wants to emphasize the selfishness and hypocrisy of human beings in fulfilling their own interests by deceiving others behind ‘the makeup’ which they
put on. Besides, he wants to present people’s nature who tend to transform themselves into selfish predators who want to claim and possess others’ people
properties, including the dead person’s heritage. In this story, the women’s attitude in putting on their makeup after crying is seen as unnatural act due to their
hard efforts in concealing their nature of selfishness and hypocrisy. They are not aware that worldly things do not last forever since everything undergoes a natural
process of ‘vanishing’ into the Realm of Emptiness.
141
Finally, everything has to go back into their nature of nothingness in which the notions of ‘losing’ and
‘having’ are parts of each other as well as the notions of death and life. As it is well said by a 14
th
century Zen monk named Kozan Ichigo in the quotation below:
Empty handed I entered the world Barefoot I leave it
My coming, my going. Two simple happenings
That got entangled.
142
In the section, Kawabata portrays death as the representation of life itself which can also be found in one of his selected English version short stories used in this
study entitled “Makeup” below:
Although this was a beautiful sight, from my bathroom window I also have to look at the funeral flowers on the other days as they rot away. Even now at the beginning
141
Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture 37.
142
Sushila Blackman, ed., Graceful Exits_How Great Beings Die: Death Stories of Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist and Zen Masters. Boston: Shambala Publication, Inc., 2005 35.
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of March, as I write this, I have been waiting 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.
143
In the quotation above, Kawabata suggests death as the representation of life through the form of the dying-withered flowers which encourages the readers
to imagine those flowers as living plants with their refreshing odors and beautiful smooth colorful petals. In giving the suggestion, Kawabata invites his readers to
use their all senses to experience the story personally as if they jumped into his story and inhale its pure genuine spirit. This notion is aligned with Kawabata’s
Neo-Sensualist writing style which provides vivid experiences for the readers by using their various senses.
144
The experience presented through Kawabata’s story entitled “Makeup” has helped his readers in locating their interpretation which
later is able in defining the presence of death in the story as life representation.
145
Through a beautiful narration, Kawabata is able to depict the vivid color, the peculiar smell, the crystal clear voice, the texture of emotion or even the dense
atmosphere that are involved in the story precisely. Hence, the readers are able to dip and dissolve themselves into the magical realm of Kawabata‘s fiction which
reflects a dream-like reality since they blend themselves with the character’s feeling and emotion found in the story. This notion is aligned with the aim of
hermeneutics in having the sense of openness to experience the life experience through the reflection of imaginative universe found in literary works.
146
143
Kawabata, Palm of the Hand Stories 142.
144
Starrs, Modernism and Japanese Culture 153.
145
Kinsella 3.
146
Gadamer 301.
62
Since Zen Buddhism becomes the essence of Japanese soul which also influences the way they express and see things in life, it cannot be denied that
Kawabata also sees everything in one whole union.
147
Consequently, Kawabata regards death as a part of a natural process that has to be happened in order to
maintain the life itself. This notion is aligned with the Zen Buddhism teachings about the inseparable union of death and life in the Realm of Emptiness.
148
Since in this realm, everything is part of another and so do death and life. They are not
merely understood as the matters of leaving and staying. Moreover, they are seen as parts of each other in which death arises from life itself and vice versa.
149
It is just like the analogy of sakura’s blooming and falling periods in which each
period is existed for the sake of each other. Hence, death and life are seen as things that play important roles in the
unification process with the whole universe. This process involves the union of parting and meeting in order to unite in a beautiful harmony with all beings in the
universe. As it is well said by a Zen master called Shōten in the quotation below:
Leaving, where to go? Staying, where?
Which to choose? I stand aloof. To whom to speak my parting words?
The galaxy, white, immense. A crescent moon.
150
147
Sansom 336.
148
Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture 37.
149
Blackman 85.
150
ibid., p. 108.
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Next, another portrait of death which portrays death as life preservation will be discussed further in the next section by using other works of Kawabata
that are used in this study entitled “Immortality” and “Tabi”.
B. Life Preservation
