Of Devotion and Pilgrimage

One of the richest and most influential literatures in the world, without a doubt, is Japanese literature. In terms of diversity, quality, and quantity, it easily ranks as one of the most prolific and most prominent. It is a vast literary umbrella under which different forms of literature exist and thrive, such as diaries, travel accounts, and books of random thoughts. With a history that spans nearly two millennia, it has left its indelible stamp in the world of literature, with its influences transcending time and physical boundaries. Perhaps its most prominent contribution is the haiku, the shortest poetic form. Some germane literary movements that shaped and defined the landscape of modern literature also trace their provenance to the Land of the Rising Sun. One such movement is the watakushi shōsetsu or shishōsetsu. To English readers, we call it the I-novel, a form of confessional literature borrowing elements from the writer’s life.

Japanese literature also produced one of the most widely recognized first-published novels, Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s Genji Monogatari (源氏物語), The Tales of Genji. Lady Murasaki is one of a long line of prominent writers originating from Japan. The torch of Japanese literature was carried on by some of the most influential writers in the contemporary. The works of Haruki Murakami, Shūsaku Endō, Yukio Mishima, Yōko Ogawa, Yōko Tawada, Mieko Kawakami, Sawako Ariyoshi, Osamu Dazai, and Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, among others, were instrumental in elevating Japanese literature to global prominence, particularly in the twentieth century. Underscoring Japanese literature’s rise to global prominence was the recognition given by the Swedish Academy to three Japanese writers. Yasunari Kawabata (1968), Kenzaburō Ōe (1994). 2017, and Kazuo Ishiguro (2017) has achieved what many consider the pinnacle of literature: the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In such a diverse and rich literary universe, one might conclude that it is a challenge to stand out. As history has proven, this is not the case as there is always room for a stellar writer. Nevertheless, among these stellar ranks, Shūsaku Endō and his oeuvre surely stand out. He was even considered for the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature but was edged out by his countryman Ōe. He can be called a rarity as he belongs to a select group of writers who probed into the history and the influences of Roman Catholicism in Japan. This is a stark dichotomy in a society deeply entrenched with and closely associated with the teachings and philosophies of Buddha and Shintoism. Of his literary ensemble, 沈黙 (Chinmoku), published in 1966, stands tall, recognized internationally as one of the germane works in the post-war Japanese literature. It was first translated into English in 1969, carrying the ubiquitous title of Silence and has since then been adapted into films, including one directed by famed Hollywood director Martin Scorsese.

The river, as always, silently flowed by.  The river cared nothing about the corpses that would eventually be burned and scattered into itself, or about the unmoving male mourners who appeared to cradle their heads in their arms.  It was evident here that death was simply a part of nature.

Shūsaku Endō, Deep River

Without a doubt, Silence is the first novel a non-Japanese writer associates with Endō but, with a career that spans decades, has also produced several prominent and thought-provoking books. Among them is 深い河. Originally published in 1993, it is considered his last novel; Endō succumbed to the complications of hepatitis three years later. Through an English translation by Van C. Gessel, the novel was made available to Anglophone readers as Deep River. In Deep River converged an eclectic set of characters whose paths had not crossed. However, their lives were dominated by an overwhelming sense. of loneliness, isolation, and even guilt. In a serendipitous encounter, their individual lives and stories crossed paths during a pilgrimage tour of sacred Buddhist sites in India in 1984. They agreed that the journey would help them cope with their losses and grief.

The novel commences with the story of Osamu Isobe. At the start of the novel, he learns that his wife Keiko is terminally ill with cancer and that she has a couple of months to live. While he did not disclose to her the diagnosis, his wife immediately knew because of the palpable weakening of her body. She spent the remaining months of her life wasting away in the hospital. Upon her demise, Isobe was forced to confront a life of loneliness after thirty-five years of marriage. However, this was just a scratch on the surface as he slowly found himself completely lost without her. He has always been dependent on her and he took her for granted. Before she passed away, his wife told Isobee: her final words haunt him: “I . . . I know for sure . . . I’ll be reborn somewhere in this world. Look for me . . . find me . . . promise . . . promise!” These words haunted him and despite his ambivalence about reincarnation, he sincerely tried to fulfill her wishes, even corresponding with academics.

Through a professor at the University of Virginia who was doing research on people who claim to have experienced previous lives, Isolde learns of Ranjini Puniral, a young Indian woman living in a village near Varanasi. She claims to have been Japanese in a prior life. It was under this pretext that Isobe found himself joining a group tour to India. Happening to be part of the group tour was Mitsuko Naruse who Isolde immediately recognized as a hospital volunteer who looked after his wife in her last days. Mistuko has a different motivation for joining the tour. A divorcee, Mitsuko lived a loveless life, believing she was incapable of love. Before the journey, she learned that Ōtsu, her college flame, was working with the poor in India. Mitsuko once tried to draw Ōtsu away from God; he practiced the Christian faith while she was an atheist. Despite her marriage, Mitsuko maintained correspondence, albeit intermittently, with Ōtsu. In traveling to India, she hoped to understand life’s meaning.

Meanwhile, Kiguchi, a veteran of the Second World War, was haunted by the horrors of the war. He served the front lines in the jungles of Burma (present-day Myanmar). He endured hunger and contracted malaria. On his journey to India, he was hoping to have a memorial service for his comrades who died during the war. He was also on a personal mission to memorialize Tsukada, his army buddy who refused to abandon him and nursed him back to health after his malaria scare. Numada, the last of the four main characters, was a prominent writer of children’s books. Animals such as dogs and cats were integral in his story; he had a fondness for animals, a proclivity he developed while growing up in Manchuria. When he was hospitalized, his wife bought him a myna bird to keep him company at the hospital; she sensed that he needed an animal companion. However, the myna bird died while Numada was being operated on during which his heart had stopped. After his recovery, Numada reflected: I wonder if it died in place of me?

Sometimes in summer when cloudless days proceeded one after another without a break in this forest, parched branches wuold rub against one another and start a mountain fire, the smoke form which would sudge the widte disc of the sun. The occasional ramshackle huts in the forest were the spots where men who had come to hunt turtle-doves would spend the night.

Shūsaku Endō, Deep River

It was at this critical juncture in their lives that these characters’ individual paths crossed in a place they were not expecting to meet. Each had a cross to bear as their lives were riddled with losses, from loved ones to even hopes and desires. They had histories they were too embarrassed to share or secrets too sinister to disclose. It was palpable how the burden of memory hovers above the characters. Each was haunted by their past actions and inactions, several of which have irreversible consequences in the present. Their past was holding them back from moving forward, shackling them to the ground. It precludes them from coping with the present. In a way, each character was confronting their past experiences and making sense of the present. However, the pilgrimage to India, particularly to the sacrosanct River Ganges, opens a door of possibilities for finding what their heart yearns and desires.

Deep River is a character-driven story. The characters came from diverse backgrounds with varying pasts and experiences. They were niche representations of some members of contemporary Japanese society. Beyond their diversity, it is their shared universal emotions that make the story fascinating and riveting. Grief was a pervasive presence, haunting the characters in varying ways. Death was also laced into their stories. This was exacerbated by a sense of guilt that loomed above them. With the characters moving forward from the pains of their past, healing is a prevalent subject. A slow transformation occurs within them as they visit the sacred sites. This journey made them travel back to the past, laying the cornerstones of what would be an introspective literary journey. On top of healing, it was a journey toward finding inner peace. The shift in their perspectives and their understanding of their past were among the novel’s most riveting facets.

Isobe, for instance, started to slowly appreciate his wife who he took for granted for years. He loved her but his taciturn nature precluded him from expressing it. His realization underscores how love, a universal feeling, is subtly woven into the lush tapestry of the novel. Love comes in different forms. For Numada, it was love for animals. For Kiguchi, it was his unconditional love for his friend Tsukada. In a way, Tsukada was an extension of the story because he was also haunted by his past, prompting him to find healing in other forms. Tsukada also exhibited his love for his comrade by his refusal to abandon him in the middle of the battlefield. Otsu, on the other hand, loves his vocation. Otsu’s almost radical devotion to Jesus made him take on a personal crusade in India, a place so starkly contrasted with his native Japan. His is also a pilgrimage akin to the main characters.

One of the novel’s more interesting facets is its setting. India is a microcosm of the world. It houses several starkly contrasting cultures, traditions, ethnicities, and religious systems. This makes Otsu’s crusade even more valuable as it exemplifies what it means to truly love one’s neighbor. But it is also this stark dichotomy that sprouts cultural conflicts and some pivotal moments of realization, particularly when the characters decide to stay at the banks of the river Ganges instead of taking part in the rest of the tour. It provided them a glimpse of the “true” India. It was teeming with activities, including weddings and discourses on caste. In stark contrast, they saw filth and beggars. Historical events, particularly the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, complicated the characters’ journey. Despite these glaring dichotomies, some people fell in love with the place. Otsu was one. The tour guide Enami, a native Japanese, also fell in love with the place and everything it has to offer. Otsu and Enami were the antithesis of an insufferable newlywed couple on honeymoon who kept on harping about the place. Interestingly, they provided the novel’s comic relief. They were also the allegories for discrimination and racism.

Reflecting the rays of the afternoon sub, the broad river cut a gentle curve as it flowed by. The surface of the water was a muddy grey and the level of the water high, making it impossible to see to the bottom. Pilgrims and pedlars still stood on the ghats. The speed of the current was evident from the movement of a grey object floating on the surface in the distance. When the tiny-looking object drew closer, it turned out to be the bloated corpse of a grey dog. But no on eon the ghats paid it any attention. The holy river took not only humans, but all living i=things in tits embrace as it flowed away.

Shūsaku Endō, Deep River

The novel also found strength in its extensive exploration of our compulsion to establish human connections. Mitsuke was living a life bereft of human connections. She slept with many men but she did not feel any love for any of them. This prompted her to work as a volunteer at the hospital. However, she still was not able to find the connection she was hoping for. In a foreign country, she started to find this connection she had been yearning for. The other characters also yearned for connection. This connection was, in turn, the cornerstone for love. Isobe, for instance, was not able to complete his personal mission but, in its place, was a eureka moment. He finds connection and inner peace in his memories of his departed wife. Because this is Endō literary territory, it was no surprise that the novel extensively explored religious values, particularly anchored on Christianity. However, the story captures some of the facets of the other religions, the most palpable reference of which were reincarnation and the polytheist nature of the Hindu faith.

Fast-moving and, as the title suggests, deep, Deep River is a tender exploration of the waning human spirit. The characters were weighed down by their past experiences, haunted by memories and secrets they would rather bury or hide. They couldn’t be any more different but they were connected by universal experiences and senses of guilt, loss, grief, and death. They were lonely and isolated but in their journey in India, something within them was aroused. Confronting their past and a wide range of moral and spiritual dilemmas, their perspectives and understanding of the world started to change because of what they witnessed and experienced in India. This underscores the healing quality of pilgrimages. The novel advocated for spiritual inclusivity where anyone can spiritually redeem themselves, whether they are devoutly religious, lack faith, or are dismissive. The novel also explored love, the healing values of real human connection, redemption, and acceptance. One of two novels chosen to be placed inside Endō’s coffin, Deep River is a riveting and thought-provoking work from one of Japan’s most beloved writers.

There are many different religions, but they are merely various paths leading to the same place.  What difference does it make which of those separate paths we walk, so long as they all arrive at the identical destination?

Shūsaku Endō, Deep River
Book Specs

Author: Shūsaku Endō
Translator (from Japanese): Van C. Gessel
Publisher: New Directions
Publishing Date: 1994
No. of Pages: 216
Genre: Literary

Synopsis

Thirty years lie between the leading contemporary Japanese writer Shusaku Endo’s justly famed Silence and his powerful new novel Deep River, a book which is both a summation and a pinnacle of his work.

The river is the Ganges, where a group of Japanese tourists converge: Isobe, grieving the death of the wife he ignored in life; Kiguchi, haunted by wartime memories of the Highway of Death in Burma; Numanda, recovering from a critical illness; Mitsuko, a cynical woman struggling with inner emptiness; and butt of her cruel interest, Otsu, a failed seminarian for whom the figure on the cross is a god of many faces. Bringing these and other characters to vibrant life and evoking a teeming India so vividly that the reader is almost transported there, Endo reaches his ultimate religious vision, one that combines Christian faith with Buddhist acceptance.

About the Author

To know more about the highly-acclaimed Japanese writer Shūsaku Endō, click here.