The literary master who loved Japan

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The literary master who loved Japan

There was famous writer in Meiji period in Japan, whose name was Ogai Mori.
Mori’s the literary master who represents Japan along with Soseki Natume etc. I readhis work, “Maihime (Dancing girl),” and became interested in him very much. So, I
decided to read “Gan (Goose),” which is as famous as “Maimihe.” “Gan” was written
later in his life. “Gan” was serialized in the magazine “Subaru” since 1911. “Gan” isespecially great in the late trilogy and is said to be the most novelistic novel of hisworks. It has the feeling and nature of story. The biggest attraction of this work isMori’s criticism on modernization of Japan through describing original attitude ofJapanese. I read “Gan” and felt homesick.

The Origin of the Title, “Gan”
First, I will write about why the title is “Gan.” It’s very interesting that thereader can’t understand the meaning of title until he reads to the end. In the scene thatthe main character Okada throws a stone to a goose in the Sinobazunoike, the reader
finally comes to know the meaning. In this scene, though I will refer to it later, Okada
doesn’t intend to kill the goose but to set that free and throws a stone. But a goose has
been dead. But here, we have to bring out the reason why Mori named this work2

“ Gan.” There is Mori’s mourning for one age. Goose is the migrant coming flying toJapan from autumn to winter. Sung in poem in both of Manyosyu and Kokinwakasyu,
Goose is the bird loved by Japanese. Also in Meiji Period, a lot of goose would fly
above Tokyo and was the thing autumn of Tokyo. But, from Taisyo period to Syowa
period goose disappeared from the sky of Tokyo. That is, goose is the symbol of thething old Japanese till Meiji period.
There is the reason why Mori named this novel “Gan” in this background. While“ Gan” was written in 1911, the stage of the novel is in 1880. This is no less than 30years before. This gap shows Mori’s nostalgia for good old days. Meiji is the period thatnew things and thoughts from the West flowed into Japan and Japan changed suddenly.
Mori is one person who had doubt about the modernization which had to be said onlythe making Japan the Western. In these sudden streams, Mori must have chosen goose
as representation with nostalgia for old Japan.

The Background of “Gan”
Next, I will refer to the background. Mori made “ Gan” public in the begging of
Taisyo period when women conflicted for self liberation. But the stage of “Gan,” Meiji
period is the age women couldn’t live freely. There is necessity to think the reason why3

Mori chose Meiji period. He stated, “The beginning of Meiji period is the age whencivilization matured” (Kobori, 1979, p.332). In that age, though people weren’t free orrich, they live in the reserve and well-ordered life. But for women, it’s natural to chose
Taisyo period. Here is also Mori’s ideal. For Mori, Making women free isn’t very
important. Even if women weren’t free, Mori preferred the old women who werereserve. But, it isn’t appropriate to think Mori was male chauvinism because he wasdescent from the samurai. To see his early works such as “ Maihime,” it’s obvious thatsexual equality was in his mind. That is, women’s liberation forwarded by Taisyo period
wasn’t real liberation for him. That seemed to be just copy of overseas for him.
Therefore he was tired of the gap between his ideal and reality of Japan, and probably
by resignation to reality he turned his eyes to the past.
Mori turned the literary style to historical novel after having finished writing thelate trilogy which contains “ Gan.” It is said the trigger was Nogi general’s martyrdom.
For Mori who had samurai spirit, martyrdom was special. Martyrdom was the extreme
means to live for ideal for samurai. It also can be said that is the Japanese way to exist
since ancient times. He stated, “Mori found the key to know Japanese there. Mori
criticized the seeming modernization by drawing the original figure of Japanese. The
person who is often compared to Mori is Natume. In contrast to Mori, Natume criticized4

modernization by using the contemporary person. That is the difference between twoliterary masters” (Nakamura, 1954, p.179). To return to the subject, “ Gan” was writtenby the new means of criticism.

About the Heroine, Otama
Now, I will refer to the content of the novel. First, I will pick up the heroine
Otama. She is tragic woman who was broken her love and real way to live by something.
The something is the destiny, which the power of human can’t approach. This novel’s
theme is the vague grudge against vanity of the destiny. In “Gan,” a very importantfactor is the chance. Destiny is born from lap of many chances. Otama is at the mercy oftrick of chance. The first chance is Otama’s encounter with Okada. The student Okada
pass by mistress house by chance and he find Otama. And the second chance is “redsparrow” which Suezo bought for Otama. Suezo is master of Otama. This became
agency which made Otama and Okada approach each other. Okada helped a sparrowalmost gulped by a sneak. By this accident, Okada and Otama have been more close
relation. As opposed to “red sparrow” having made them close, the chance which breaks
their relation will come in the end of the story. This is called “a piece of nail.” One day
Suezo will go out one night. It’s chance for Otama to approach to Okada. But Otama’s5dream was broken.

In that night, Okada didn’t appear alone but with “I.” That’s

because the dinner of dormitory was the mackerel cooked in miso, which “I”
particularly dislike. “I” is the narrator in this novel and Okada’s best friend. So “I” got
out the dormitory to eat dinner outside with Okada. Otama was very surprised and she
couldn’t speak to Okada. That’s the end of her love. As opposed to the chance of “redsparrow” was good fortune, the chance of “a piece of nail” was ill luck for Otama.
Otama was deceived into being the mistress of Suezo. But she seems not to havethe grudge against that fact. Her feeling of chagrin isn’t toward people but toward herown destiny. Like this, the most important point is Otama’s awareness of destiny. Thereis a similarity between the thought of Otama and Mori’s himself resignation to reality.
Mori’s resignation is not toward people but toward inside himself. So this has the samecharacter as Otama’s feeling of destiny. It can be said that Mori used Otama as other selfand embodied of his ideal. But Mori didn’t embody completely. In the story, Otama said
like this, “I’m never going to be deceived by people.” It’s the proof that she has theanger and complaint against Suezo. It contradicts above explanation, but Otama is also
ordinary woman.
Now, I will arrange the character of Otama. It’s obvious that Otama has twofaces. One is the other self of Mori which he embodies his ideal, the other is ordinary

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woman who have very ordinary thought. The latter is the very Japanese woman itself
who has the most appropriate attitude and character, who is the symbol of old goodJapan Mori tried to represent. In brief, Mori left Otama both of the resignation to reality
and the intention to seize the truth from old Japan. It is said the figure of Japan woman
Mori lived continued to be drawn in his work after “ Gan.”

Comparing the character, “I” and Okada
Next, I will compare “I” and Okada. In the story, “I” stated Okada’s feelingabout woman. For him, woman is just beautiful and lovable thing, and even if she is inwhatever situation, woman should keep her beauty and sweetness.
Sasabuti (1984) found the following:This feeling about woman is originally Mori’s feeling. But he has not only thisaesthetic side but realistic side. In the two elements, He idealized aesthetic
element to Okada and realistic element to “I.” Then Mori used them as characterin novel. That is, “I” always watches event between Otama and Okada calmly
and objectively. The reason “Gan” was successful in literature is mainly the plot.
(p.64)
Lastly, here is the biggest question. In the end of story, the person who was7

asked to throw a stone to a goose was not “I” but regular Okada. First, the goose which
was killed by Okada is the symbol of destiny of Otama. If so, the person prevented
Okada and Otama from achieving in love should have been “I,” who was realisticelement. But actually Okada did, who was aesthetic element. That is to say, the element
which looked for beauty dismissed by itself. It shows the deep resignation of Mori andhis strict view of the old Japanese woman. To live freely and meaningfully is getting
married Okada for Otama. But Mori brought up the recognition of the difficulty to live
freely and meaningfully through the living in real society. Then he reached theconclusion that living so is impossible and drew the death of goose as an answer ofhimself. And as for his strict view of the old Japanese woman, Mori didn’t thinkinconvenience of old Japanese woman as unhappiness. He probably thought women’sliberation in Taisyo period as imitation and he didn’t need that liberation. Though they
were in strict law, which is class system, Japanese women was reserve and internallybeautiful. Mori loved such women so much and desired strongly this way to exist, so hedrew such a tragic ending.
But Okada didn’t throw a stone willingly, but threw to set a goose free. But a
goose was dead. This show Mori’s desire for woman to live freely and he himself not alittle wanted to live freely and meaningfully. That is, though Mori had matured he had8

still hope which he had had in his mind since youth. But regrettably, resignation
exceeded the hope to live freely. So it seems that Mori dared have chosen such an end.
“Gan” is the very work of Mori who tried to get the answer to how we live now
from the old Japanese figure and continued to write novel, whose message is “Truth ishere Japan.”

9Bibliography
Kobori, K (1979). 鴎外選集 [An Anthology of Ogai],3Nakamura, M (1954). 日本の近代小説 [A Modern Novel of Japan]
Sasabuti, T (1984) 森鴎外の断層撮影像 [Ogai Mori's tomogram image],62810