Sanshirō's ways

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Sanshirō Pond, 1885
35 ° 42 ′ 44 ″  N , 139 ° 45 ′ 43.6 ″  E

Sanshirōs ways ( Japanese 三四郎 , Sanshirō) is a novel by the Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916). It first appeared from August to December 1908 as a sequel to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and was published as a book by the Shunyōdō publishing house the following year. The book, which is divided into 13 chapters, is about the provincial Sanshirō Osawa, who suddenly lives in three worlds, in his homeland, in the city of Tōkyō and in the world of pleasure and relationships with women.

content

Sanshirō Osawa, 23 years old, graduated from college in Kumamoto , in the very south of Japan, and is taking the train to study at Tōkyō University. On his third and final day of travel, he gets into conversation with an older man who casually explains that Japan is heading for its own destruction. The man also warns him of stinginess and the hidden dangers that lurked beneath the smooth surfaces of society.

Arrived in Tōkyō, Sanshirō experienced the noisy city. At the university he visits a physicist named Nonomiya, whom his mother had pointed out. He makes experiments to measure the radiation pressure of light. On the way through the university campus, Sanshirō passes a deep pond surrounded by trees and sees two young women, one elegantly dressed with a fan, the other plainly in white, obviously a nurse.

It's the beginning of the semester, and Sanshirō is trying to find his way around the university, listening to his first lectures. He meets a young student named Yojirō, who already knows his way around. Sanshirō visits the university library, wondering that even difficult books are actually read, including a book by an Aphra Behn . Yojirō introduces Sanshirō to his landlord named Hirota. “We know each other from the train,” he says. - Hirota is moving, Sanshirō wants to help, waiting at the new house. The elegant young woman from the pond, who calls herself Mineko, appears. They both clean the house and get closer in the process. The move is coming, bringing books upon books, including Aphra Behn, an illustrated book with a photo of a mermaid.

In the garden of Nonomiya Sanshirō meets his sister Yoshiko, the woman in white from the pond. Sanshirō thinks she is pretty. You arrange to meet for the chrysanthemum show. Scenes from Japanese history are recreated with chrysanthemums. They meet, he leaves the show with Mineko. On the way people are looking for a child, and Mineko asks: “Do you know how to call a lost child in English?” And, with a Christian education, adds: “stray sheep” The next day Sanshirō only notes stray sheep during the lecture . Yojirō comes and shows him his contribution to a magazine with which he advertises Hirota with the title "The Great Dark One". At home Sanshirō finds a map from Mineko, on which she has drawn two stray sheep and in the background the devil.

At home with Hirota, he explains to the Sanshirō: “In my youth everything was done for the emperor, for the parents and for the fatherland. With the English one finds selfishness and altruism in balance. They have no Nietzsche, no Ibsen for that. ”The painter Haraguchi explains that in today's Tokyo you cannot paint in a relaxed manner, perhaps Mineko with a fan over his forehead. Mineko mocks Haraguchi for having adapted to the West so quickly in Paris. Yojirō had lost money on loan from Nonomiya while betting. Sanshirō lends him money but does not get it back. That leads to a long history of borrowing and lending money.

Yojirō had asked to come to a meeting at the Seiyōken. Hirota is there, also Nonomiya, Haraguchi. Hirota says physicists are not naturalists. As humans, we cannot imagine anything non-human. Haraguchi thinks the bronze statue in front of the shrine is bad. Hirota brings the book "Hydriotaphia"

Yojirō makes the rounds in the university and sells tickets for the "Literary Society". However, the advertisement for Hirota went wrong. Yojirō says the first day was a success, Sanshirō should pick up Hirota. Hirota refuses at first, but then comes along and talks about forms of theater, Japanese kagura outdoors, as well as Greek theater. The presentation of the Literary Society begins with a Japanese piece " Soga no Iruka ". Then follows the second play of Shakespeare's Hamlet . Sanshirō remembers having seen a photograph of a famous European Hamlet actor at Hirota's, finds the piece too strange for Japan. In the next few days, Sanshirō and Yojirō go to a church, Sanshirō “stray sheep” coming to mind. When Mineko comes out, Sanshirō gives her the money back.

Haraguchi's picture is finished and calls it "Woman in the Forest". The artist society exhibits it in a prominent place. Mineko come with her husband, think the picture is good. Hirota and Nonomiya arrive later. Yoshiko and Sanshirō. He doesn't like the title of the picture. When asked how he should make that loud, he mumbles stray sheep , stray sheep .

Hints

  1. ↑ The university campus included the former, spacious residence of the wealthy Maeda in Tōkyō. This pond was part of the changing garden, which belonged to the inner area of ​​the residence. The official name is "Ikutokuen shinji-ike" (育 徳 園 心 字 池), "心 -shaped pond in the park of education for virtue", but is usually called "Sanshirō pond" (三四郎 池) after the novel discussed here.
  2. ^ Mermaid of Copenhagen.
  3. ↑ See parable of the lost sheep .
  4. ↑ Seiyōken (精 養 軒) in the Ueno district was the first western restaurant in Tōkyō.
  5. ↑ It is the first bronze statue in Japan. It stands in front of the Yasukuni shrine and represents the samurai Ōmura Masujirō . It was created in 1893 by the sculptor Ōkuma Ujihiro (大熊 氏 廣; 1856-1934).
  6. ↑ "Hydriotaphia and the Gardens of Cyrus" (1658) is a book of the philosopher and poet Thomas Browne (1605-1682).

annotation

The book was published in the "Japan Edition" of be.bra Verlag. Nevertheless, "Gingko" is incorrectly used instead of "Ginkgo" correctly.

Appreciation

  • The translator Langemann sees the relationship between Sanshirō and Mineko as the main plot of the novel, but thinks that a relationship with the second young woman, Yoshiko, may have been more promising. He also points out the color symbolism, the representation of the season.
  • Kōjin Karatani writes in his epilogue to the edition in Shinchō Bunko that Sanshirō, overwhelmed by the capital, should actually spend his life in the province.
  • Yoshida Seiichi comments in the Chikuma Bunko edition that the story shows particularly clearly Natsume's way of writing. He used the figure Hirota to formulate his knowledge of the Western world and his cultural criticism.

Book editions