The story is a pure fiction, the
perspective of perception of inner notions of a spiritual journey of Rohan, the
journey is made to reach the final destination Tokyo, along the way, the
protagonist enters smaller and bigger towns, in one of such towns he is advised
to go through the range of mountains, he does it and encounters adventures,
almost frozen to death he got help from a young woman, who nursed him till he
recovered. She is a hermit, she tells him the story of her life, shortly after
she finished, the house he was in disappeared; Rohan is left alone, again on the frozen land. The symbol of the woman
is a skull that is left next to him. The novel is packed with symbolism and
images, metaphorical notions. The life of Koda Rohan is very interesting, he
always wanted to have a good educational background, the works he wrote are
beautiful, the language and rhyme combined altogether are unique and
exceptional. His works reflect poetry, prose, not a regular novel the reader
might be familiar with. In his works he presents the essence of Asian culture with a [1]kanbun
style. The theme of his writing follows the spiritual ideas of “ku”- emptiness;
“michi”- way; “makoto”- pure spirit. The torrential chain of events and
simplicity of characters reflects the idea of “emaki” – the medieval notion of
flashbacks. He had a noble background both his parents’ origins were of shogun
one. He was brought up with a discipline
and honor equally matched with Edo castle code
– where all noble establishment made it decision in. The books he read, the
knowledge he gained is widely described in his works, it reflects it and makes
it much more richer in picturesque descriptions. His parents were versatile;
well educated, wit and well situated in the society alike all his siblings. It
was his grandmother who paid attention to his studying and health care, she was
very influential. Koda Rohan devoted his personal interests into Chinese
literature and Japanese studies of the language and history.
“Encounter with a Skull” is a very controversial and didactic novel, a hyperbole, it goes back into classical
sources of Greek tradition of Aristotle’s
“Poetics”. The skull of a mysterious woman represents eternity,
irreversible torrent of event one must accept and go on. The protagonist buries
the skull – yet he wants to know something more about the woman he met, he asks
about her, inquires a lot, in the final round he succeeds, the story is
grotesque, the mysterious woman stops being mysterious but pitiful;
“… the house and woman vanished
into the rising mist (…) I encountered at my feet, a bleached, white skull
…(…)”
Each of the chapter contains an
introduction, a parabola that gives an ironic and sometimes comic insight of the
protagonist’s journey. The first is “michi”- which was previously explained
– symbolizes the way, the journey. It also underlines the changes the
protagonist must undertake to become mature, to understand the twists and turns
of his fate, it all takes time. The novel
presents a sophisticated [2]Noh
drama. The title “Encounter with a Skull” is also having a meaning, namely, young protagonist “waki” is the focal point of
all the action and motion. His youth is matched with the transient world, the [3]transcendental
mind, the images, the people, the words, the settings – it all is transient, it will be
seen again with a different perspective, reflects “floating world”.
[1] These are old Chinese pieces of writing derived from the Chinese Dynasty Han.
The documents were shipped to Japan
[2] It is the oldest theater skill
preformed till nowadays. Its name derives from “skill” ‘talent”. Noh is based
on stories that represent traditional Japanese literature. The languages is
simple, it describes original, common people of medieval Japan
[3] It has its onset with the philosophy of Emmanuel Kant, the transcendental realism, so-called transcendentalism sees
the subject as a cognizant limitation of human mind’s capacity, an obstacle
that has to be fought out. So one adopts
the word, seeks things-in-themselves, to make the perception coherent, sublime.
The idealistic perception is almost romantic! But Knat himself was not. Therefore
he always asked Why? Questions, among which is my favorite one; “What is the Enlightenment
and when it began?”
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