'In a grove' - 藪の中 - by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

In ‘In a Grove’ Ryūnosuke presents a genre that revolutionized Japanese culture, it was called modernism. It restores to Japanese history, its origins. The book begins with a thrill and crime, namely, a samurai had been killed, stabbed in the chest, the wood cutter found him and reported a crime. The crime leads to useless speech of what is and what is not an objective outlook of crime. The truth is subjective, why and who killed the samurai – remains and open question … what is known is the fact that the samurai must have fought, unfortunately, there is no weapon, his horse is missing and there are a blood pool all around. So goes the gossip, some people saw a couple with a sword and a palomino horse, shortly after the samurai died they disappeared. The young woman who has been travelling with a man is a missing 19-years old Massago – a wife of a samurai – Kanazawa. The old woman who testified, cries for her finding, she claims to be her mother. The man she is with is Takehiro also a samurai. The man that must be caught is Tajomaru. Tajomaru is a criminal, he made an ambush, he tied Takehiro to a three and raped young Massago. After the rape young woman planned a double suicide, but, was not brave enough, it was simply a futile effort. She is having a guilty consciousness, she feels dirty and overwhelming shame. She blames Takehiro that he did nothing to prevent it, that he was not brave enough to fight for her but he was tied up, immobilized… it made her shame much more bigger, she cannot stand the thought that he saw the rape, she wished she could have defended herself. Takehiro dies in a duel but his spirit or ghost is transcend, he wants revenge, he wants the truth and the answer for the question … why …. The crime and the death are equal in this short story, the equality is measured by its brutality and ruthlessness, the rape is the death to Massago, it is her emotional death, her personal tragedy, she will always be barren and ashamed. Emotionally empty. In Japan the suicide after being disgraced is the only way to cleanse the soul, to  preserve a hint of dignity and pride, it was sometimes essential, the way to be forgiven, in contrary, in European culture it was always perceived as a sin. So we may understand the young Massago wanted to purify her soul and spirit, sadly for her (luckily for her mother) she wasn't courageous. The novel tries to describe the consequences of lying, that no matter how mischievous the lie becomes … it will always be discovered, revealed and punished,  in Japan lie was a crime, a crime severely punished. A lie is a symbol of dark forces, it a symbol of a rotten human personality, a devil’s side. The contradictions of the statements given, the twist and turn of words, hidden meanings between the lines made the reader to find out himself what happened and if it really happened to draw a conclusion. Eventually the truth is always in the middle of nowhere. The wood cutter says one thing, the priest another (how not to believe in the priest’s words …), finally the policeman  found Tajomaru’s belongings which resembles the priest’s description; palomino horse, sword, arrows. The criminal must be caught and in the end he is; he raped a girl and he is allegedly accused of two other murders of two women. The mother of Massago (reader tends to believe it is Massago’s mother) is looking for explanation, for the truth and for her daughter, dead or alive … for the old woman it is irrelevant, she just wants to find her.  The reader might be confused, Ryūnosuke perplexes the plot, he forces the reader to think, to solve the puzzle, unfortunately, the puzzle will remind unsolved, there are lots of understatements, contradictions which presents satire, farce and comedy at the same time, the irony of the whole situation. Ryūnosuke tells us that there is no universal truth, yet, the perfect lie lies beneath. The truth is a matter of perception, the point of view of the particular character; sometimes it is of what one wants to hear; verbatim.