Kusamakura · Chapter
VIII explained
The narrator attends a tea party hosted by Nami's father, Squire Shiota, with the priest Daitetsu and the young Kyuichi.
What happens
The narrator attends a tea party hosted by Nami's father, Squire Shiota, with the priest Daitetsu and the young Kyuichi. The conversation touches on art, calligraphy, and the impending war, revealing that Kyuichi is being called to serve in Manchuria. The narrator reflects on the contrast between the peaceful mountain setting and the intrusion of the outside world.
Themes in this chapter
The Role of the Artist
The narrator, an oil painter, is contrasted with Kyuichi, a young amateur; the priest questions the suitability of Western oil painting on traditional fusuma.
Modernity vs. Tradition
The tea party discussion includes Chinese antiques and Japanese calligraphy, while the war and Western painting represent modern intrusions.
Escape and Detachment
The narrator reflects on the peaceful mountain setting as a 'dreamy land of poetry' disrupted by the reality of war.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Participates in the tea party, muses on art and the intrusion of war into the peaceful mountain retreat.
- Nami
Mentioned as being out on a solitary walk; the priest recounts an encounter with her near Sugatami bridge.
- Daitetsu
The priest and abbot of Kaikanji temple, a guest at the tea party, discusses art and invites the narrator to visit.
- Kyuichi
A young lay-youth and nephew of Squire Shiota, an aspiring painter called to serve in the war in Manchuria.
- Squire Shiota
Nami's father and host of the tea party, shows an ink-stone once owned by Rai Sanyo.
Key passages
“Japan produces her art goods with the attitude of a pickpocket; and the West is large in scale and fine in execution, but inalterably worldly and practical.”
The narrator contrasts Japanese art's subtle, almost sneaky charm with Western art's grand but materialistic nature.
Reflects the narrator's ongoing meditation on art and cultural differences.
“Alas, the living world had come crossing the sea and mountain and oozing into this home of a forgotten tribe, and the time may come when a small fraction of blood making a crimson sea of bleak Manchuria may flow from this youth's arteries.”
The narrator laments that the war has intruded upon this peaceful retreat, and that Kyuichi may soon shed blood in Manchuria.
Highlights the theme of escape and detachment being shattered by reality.