Takasebune

Last updated February 26, 2019

"Takasebune"(高瀬舟, "The Boat on the Takase River") is a short story by the Japanese writer Mori Ōgai, who is considered along with Natsume Sōseki to be one of the most important figures in modern Japanese literature.^[1] It is one of the author's best-known works.^[2] The plot concerns a boat that carried criminals from Kyoto to Osaka during the Edo period.^[3]

Lieutenant-General Mori Rintarō, known by his pen name Mori Ōgai (森鴎外), was a Japanese Army Surgeon general officer, translator, novelist, poet and father of famed author Mari Mori. He obtained his medical license at a very young age and introduced translated German literary works to the Japanese public. Mori Ōgai also was considered the first to successfully express the art of western poetry into Japanese. He wrote many works and created many writing styles. The Wild Geese (1911–13) is considered his major work. After his death, he was considered one of the leading writers who modernized Japanese literature.

Natsume Sōseki, born Natsume Kin'nosuke, was a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, kanshi, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note. In Japan, he is often considered the greatest writer in modern Japanese history. He has had a profound effect on almost all important Japanese writers since.

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the separation of Buddhism in Japan. Eventually, Japanese literature developed into a separate style, although the influence of Chinese literature and Classical Chinese remained until the end of the Edo period. Since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th century, Western and Eastern literature have strongly affected each other and continue to do so.

Synopsis

One day, the police escort sent along to mind the prisoners as they journey along the Takase River is surprised to find that on this particular journey there will be only one prisoner, an unnervingly polite man named Kisuke who does not fit the stereotypical image of a criminal. The police escort is rattled but curious and asks why Kisuke seems so cheerful when the boat's usual passengers are sad. Kisuke replies that, unlike the majority of the boat's passengers, his previous life was so bad that he is sure that his life in exile will be an improvement. In addition, the money given him by the government to start a new life in exile is the largest sum of money he has ever had, and so he is quite content.

The Takase River is a canal in Kyoto, Japan. It rises from Nijō-Kiyamachi, going along Kiyamachi Street, and meets the Uji River at Fushimi port. The canal crosses with the Kamo River on the way. Today the south half is not connected with Kamo River.

To be in exile means to be away from one's home, while either being explicitly refused permission to return or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return.

Intrigued, the police escort asks about Kisuke's crime. Kisuke says that his parents died young, orphaning him and his little brother. The brothers lived and worked together into young adulthood, when Kisuke's brother became so ill that he could no longer work. Kisuke was forced to work for the both of them, incurring large debts. One day, he returned home to find that his brother had attempted to kill himself. Still alive, his brother begs for Kisuke to finish the job and put him out of his pain, explaining that he wanted to die so that he could no longer be a burden to his older brother.

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References

↑ "Ogai: Youth and Other Stories". University of Hawaii Press, 1994, p. IX
↑ Mori, Ōgai (1991). Dilworth, David; Rimer, J. Thomas, eds. The Historical Fiction of Mori Ōgai. University of Hawaii Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-8248-1366-6.
↑ Hagedorn, H. (1918) 'Latest Works of Fiction' The New York Times . July 7.

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[1] "Ogai: Youth and Other Stories". University of Hawaii Press, 1994, p. IX

[Mori1991-2] Mori, Ōgai (1991). Dilworth, David; Rimer, J. Thomas, eds. The Historical Fiction of Mori Ōgai. University of Hawaii Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-8248-1366-6.

[3] Hagedorn, H. (1918) 'Latest Works of Fiction' The New York Times . July 7.