XI explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• The Role of the Artist

  The narrator and Daitetsu discuss the artist's need for inner purity and detachment from societal noise, contrasting artistic freedom with the constraints of Tokyo life.

• Escape and Detachment

  The narrator's flight from Tokyo and his retreat to the mountains embody a desire to escape police surveillance and urban pressures, seeking solace in nature and art.

Characters to notice

• The Narrator

  Visits Daitetsu at Kaikanji temple, discusses his aversion to Tokyo and police surveillance, and reveals his artistic restlessness.

• Daitetsu

  Receives the narrator warmly, shares his view on art and culture, and recounts Nami's spiritual training after her divorce.

• Nami

  Mentioned by Daitetsu as a woman who sought his help after her divorce and is now mastering herself through holy teaching.

• Taian

  Mentioned by Daitetsu as a former disciple whom Nami saved from straying, now on the path to high priesthood.

Key passages

• “You can rise to that height as soon as you shall have become a true artist.”

  You will achieve that level of spiritual clarity once you become a genuine artist.

  Daitetsu suggests that true artistry is linked to moral and spiritual transparency.

• “Look at that Nami-san of the hot spring hotel. She was tormented by all kinds of worrying thoughts on coming home to her father after being divorced from her husband, until she at last came to me, asking me, to free her from her mental anguish.”

  Consider Nami from the hot spring hotel: she was deeply troubled after returning to her father following her divorce, and she sought my help to relieve her suffering.

  Daitetsu uses Nami's example to illustrate the transformative power of spiritual guidance.