Monday, April 19, 2010
Lily
Who was your favorite Sailor Scout? I swear I'm going somewhere with this.
I think in the West, most people pick Jupiter because she's physically strong, or Mars because she's sassy and has a strong personality. In Japan, everyone prefers Mercury, even though she's the least favorite abroad. They like her because they admire how hard she works and how good she is at supporting others quietly, and putting up with a lot of other people's craziness. She's the quiet hero so to speak.
My favorite writings of the modern Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata were in his collection of his special short story form he dubbed "Palm-of-the-Hand Stories" (1-5 pages each).
"Yuriko"
Kawabata Yasunari, 1927
When she was in grade school, Yuriko thought to herself, "I feel so sorry for Umeko -- having to use a pencil smaller than her thumb and carrying around her big brother's old book satchel."
So that she would have the same things as her best-loved friend, she cut her long pencil into several smaller ones with the little saw attached to her penknife. Since she did not have a big brother, she tearfully begged her parents to buy her a boy's briefcase.
When she was in girl's school, Yuriko thought to herself, "Matsuko is so beautiful. When her earlobes and fingers get all red and chapped with frostbite, she's adorable."
So that she would be the same as her best-loved friend, she soaked her hands for a long time in the cold water of the washbasin. Moistening her ears, she set out for school in the cold morning wind.
When she graduated from girl's school and got married, it goes without saying that Yuriko loved her husband to distraction. So, emulating the best-loved person in her life, she cut her hair, wore thick spectacles, cultivated the down on her upper lip in the hope that it would become a mustache, smoked a seaman's pipe, said "Hey" to her husband, walked with a bouncy man's step, and tried to sign up for the army. Astonishingly enough, her husband forbade her each and every one of these things. He even complained about her wearing the same long underwear as himself. He grimaced when, like himself, she didn't put on any rouge or powder. And so her love for him was bound hand and foot. Like a plant whose buds have been snipped off, it went on slowly withering.
"What an unpleasant person," she thought. "Why doesn't he let me do the same as him? It's just too lonely when the person I love and I are different."
And so Yuriko fell in love with God. She prayed, "God, please show yourself to me. Somehow show yourself. I want to become the same as the God I love and do the same things."
The voice of God, fresh and clear, came echoing down from the sky,
"You shall become a lily, like the yuri in your name. Like the lily, you shall not love anything. Like the lily, you shall love everything."
"Yes."
Answering meekly, Yuriko turned into a lily.
*Trans. note: Umeko - plum child (spring), matsuko - pine child (winter), yuriko - lily child (summer),
-Yasunari Kawabata
from Palm-of-the-Hand Stories
Instead of turning her admiration into jealousy, Yuriko wants to reproduce what she loves and what is good, she wants to empathize with those she idealizes, whether or not it is actually a hardship. There is a lot to say about grinning an bearing things, things that are the burdens of others. There is a lot to say about wanting to be a part of helping those that you admire when you see some self-conscious chink in their armor. I love this story because it is light and beauty and the idea is fresh. To be like this lily, to grin and bear the burden of subordinance to what you know is beautiful and ideal, is in itself quite pleasurable in its virtue.
I feel like a lot of the jealousy from clothes, from popularity, status, etc. comes from this desire to see the good as separate from ourselves. Then it becomes a contest. You want to be the Mars, that brings herself up at the sake of others, with her individualism and put-downs. But when you put everything on yourself, when you sacrifice for the group, instead of using the faults in others to prop yourself up, it makes you one with the good and the bad: there is no longer a separation between you and the admired. There is no room for jealousy. ¶ 11:16 PM
I think in the West, most people pick Jupiter because she's physically strong, or Mars because she's sassy and has a strong personality. In Japan, everyone prefers Mercury, even though she's the least favorite abroad. They like her because they admire how hard she works and how good she is at supporting others quietly, and putting up with a lot of other people's craziness. She's the quiet hero so to speak.
My favorite writings of the modern Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata were in his collection of his special short story form he dubbed "Palm-of-the-Hand Stories" (1-5 pages each).
"Yuriko"
Kawabata Yasunari, 1927
When she was in grade school, Yuriko thought to herself, "I feel so sorry for Umeko -- having to use a pencil smaller than her thumb and carrying around her big brother's old book satchel."
So that she would have the same things as her best-loved friend, she cut her long pencil into several smaller ones with the little saw attached to her penknife. Since she did not have a big brother, she tearfully begged her parents to buy her a boy's briefcase.
When she was in girl's school, Yuriko thought to herself, "Matsuko is so beautiful. When her earlobes and fingers get all red and chapped with frostbite, she's adorable."
So that she would be the same as her best-loved friend, she soaked her hands for a long time in the cold water of the washbasin. Moistening her ears, she set out for school in the cold morning wind.
When she graduated from girl's school and got married, it goes without saying that Yuriko loved her husband to distraction. So, emulating the best-loved person in her life, she cut her hair, wore thick spectacles, cultivated the down on her upper lip in the hope that it would become a mustache, smoked a seaman's pipe, said "Hey" to her husband, walked with a bouncy man's step, and tried to sign up for the army. Astonishingly enough, her husband forbade her each and every one of these things. He even complained about her wearing the same long underwear as himself. He grimaced when, like himself, she didn't put on any rouge or powder. And so her love for him was bound hand and foot. Like a plant whose buds have been snipped off, it went on slowly withering.
"What an unpleasant person," she thought. "Why doesn't he let me do the same as him? It's just too lonely when the person I love and I are different."
And so Yuriko fell in love with God. She prayed, "God, please show yourself to me. Somehow show yourself. I want to become the same as the God I love and do the same things."
The voice of God, fresh and clear, came echoing down from the sky,
"You shall become a lily, like the yuri in your name. Like the lily, you shall not love anything. Like the lily, you shall love everything."
"Yes."
Answering meekly, Yuriko turned into a lily.
*Trans. note: Umeko - plum child (spring), matsuko - pine child (winter), yuriko - lily child (summer),
-Yasunari Kawabata
from Palm-of-the-Hand Stories
Instead of turning her admiration into jealousy, Yuriko wants to reproduce what she loves and what is good, she wants to empathize with those she idealizes, whether or not it is actually a hardship. There is a lot to say about grinning an bearing things, things that are the burdens of others. There is a lot to say about wanting to be a part of helping those that you admire when you see some self-conscious chink in their armor. I love this story because it is light and beauty and the idea is fresh. To be like this lily, to grin and bear the burden of subordinance to what you know is beautiful and ideal, is in itself quite pleasurable in its virtue.
I feel like a lot of the jealousy from clothes, from popularity, status, etc. comes from this desire to see the good as separate from ourselves. Then it becomes a contest. You want to be the Mars, that brings herself up at the sake of others, with her individualism and put-downs. But when you put everything on yourself, when you sacrifice for the group, instead of using the faults in others to prop yourself up, it makes you one with the good and the bad: there is no longer a separation between you and the admired. There is no room for jealousy. ¶ 11:16 PM
