Higuchi Ichiyō's (樋口 一葉 ) “Nigorie” - “Troubled Waters”(にごり江 )

“Nigorie” - “Troubled Waters” – portrays a dramatic and passionate  life of a geisha, full of torment and disappointments within the Red District. The reader does not know where exactly the plot is going on – the place is unspecified, however it centers the most popular geisha – Oriki.   Higuchi Ichiyō was an outsider – poor, unmarried, who wrote beautifully, however, never, became a part of a literary world she loved so much. At the end of her fragile and sorrowful life she was noticed, appalled and respected as a profound writer. The Meji Era and the women place in Japanese society shows great injustice done to them, the problem of that matter is vividly described, the position of women is very disadvantaged, unprivileged. The characters she writes about are alienated, aside of the reality surrounding them, they are lost and confused. Their being is marked by kichigai (madness/ insanity). The mood, its dark and impenetrable nature builds the story, tension, describes human nature. The novel is metaphorical, madness/ insanity is a theme of the novel which describes characters by sets of words creating images – so-called metaphorical imaginative description. “Nigorie” is full of metaphorical images, the bridge, for instance, is a symbol, imaginative and real, reflects moods, a desire to meet someone one loves, it stands for sadness, loneliness and desolation. The bridge over the Hotosani river  may also be perceived as a witness of happiness, tragedy, pain. It has to symbolize one thing – love. In the song Oriki sings it is love, actually. The bridge will always be present as if it had been for centuries. It reflects people lives, the way they left the place in search for a better future, it may stands for escapism, it is a “tool” one may use to escape from a place, life one wishes no longer to live in. Oriki sees no way out from her life which is a close circle of misfortune. She is trapped in this unfortunate, vicious circle for good. Susuke determines her life and future. Oriki dreams of a better life, she wants to escape but she doesn’t know how … to achieve a perpetual peace is an impossible task, she is condemned for insanity, madness, the life without sorrows, pain is out of there, out of her. That thought makes her more and more depressed. The only way to break free is death. The death symbolizes future. Oriki is unconventional, she is an outcast, she breaks the rules, she doesn’t follow the ethical code other does. She is completely alienated. Oriki doesn’t believe in a better future, she doesn’t believe in destiny, in fate. She knows she is “cursed”. Her life symbolizes the fall. The stability – is what Oriki is so afraid of, the descent life is unfamiliar to her, strange and even hostile in notion. It is an unknown she is afraid of. She rejects marriage and all the privileges it stands for because she is afraid of consequences, responsibilities. She suffers because she cannot find her place in the society, she doesn’t belong to anyone, she  is reclusive, desolation causes madness. Madness is a tool – an insulation from people, from the world, from the happiness – unknown light feeling of being frivolous and merry. The glass ceiling Oriko cannot shake off, an impossibility of gaining a social promotion makes Oriko so special – the pain and helplessness symbolizes her strength, dignity and pride. Oriko lives in her imaginative, sophisticated world which is closed from others, it may also explain why she rejects marriage, she wants coherence, and marriage distracts the order she created, “an insane order”.  The characters of Higuchi Ichiyō  are stuck, motionless, “wax figures” of Meji era, a total opposite of upcoming dynamic enlightenment they will all have to face with.