Thousand Cranes

Asian culture is very interesting and distant to me. I am aware at the differences in the sort of spiritualism that our culture has versus their culture. I find it calming and interesting to hear stories like this were people just get together to reminisce about ancient tea gatherings and tea masters. I love the way this book flows quickly and how it is fairly easy to read, it makes for a good change in how it is easy to follow.
At first I felt sad for the main character, Kikuji, because he seemed to be exposed to much more than he should have at such a young age regarding his father's unfaithfulness with his various mistresses. I was a little disturbed at the mention of the birth mark and its prevalence in the novel. I figured that pure, flawless skin was a rarity and beautiful custom in their Japanese culture and that was what made it stand out so prevalently. The woman who had it, Kurimoto, seemed to have a very unhappy and spiteful personality because of the mark. I did feel upset for her, but then I was more angry that she did not get over her imperfections and look for flaws in her personality or focus on positive things like health and her prominence in the tea culture.
I found it really sort of weird that everyone knew about this ancient tea Oribe, but yet, nobody said anything at the tea ceremony. It was a silent sort of battle to see who could use it next, it was weird. I found it sad and disgusting that Kikuji would be so confused as to first loathe Mrs. Ota, and then feel sorry for her, and then end up sleeping with her, let alone that it was disturbing that his father also was involved romantically with this woman. The two people were so messed up emotionally that they found some weird sad comfort in each other, which was apparently really wrong. Mrs. Ota's daughter was one that i really felt for. She was so lost from her father, then opened up to Kikuji's father which was really strange in how protective of him she was, and then lost them both and still tried to look after her mother. It was as if she is always trying to hold on to what she has, and trying to preserve and protect so that things do not get anymore complicated or tangled. Hopefully when Kikuji and she meet next to talk over their parents' history they both find some solace and comfort and begin to leave their weird past behind.
The conversations are seeming to become more sort of tangled and choppy in these next few chapters. I seem to have to keep rereading them and flip back through pages to figure out what is being discussed. This section started out really strange in how Kurimoto invited herself to Kikuji's home to cook and clean. However I guess she did have a more bold, forceful personality as well as being familiar with the home and cottage from being good friends with Kikuji's mother before she passed away. Though she did not even give a call of warning to Kikuji before showing up and inviting him and guests to his own house. He even thought that it was strange and wondered if her actions were premeditated instead of spontaneous as she had claimed because of her involving the Inamura girl. Also, he seems to be somewhat spiritual in that he is always relating things back to the beginning, for example, he regrets that Kurimoto had introduced him to the Inamura girl because she had negative symbolism in his mind relating back to his father and her relationship together. I do not like that Kurimoto is so forceful and presumptuous when invading Kikuji's life and privacy. Even after she had the two up on this unofficial tea ceremony date, she had invited herself into it saying, "I hope you won't mind if I join you." This is not posed as a question of real concern, it is merely her way of trying not to seem rude in front of the Inamura girl, which frankly I am surprised that she even shows that much concern.
When Mrs. Ota came to Kikuji's house in the rain and they talked in the cottage, I really didn't know what to think. It was strange that she was so enveloped around him, but I supposed that was her being upset and guilty for many reasons. I knew that she had regretted associating Kikuji with his father and seducing him and that she had been emotionally shattered before that had happened which I guess helped bring her to that low of a condition. I figured that she had probably not been mentally stable even before her husband had passed away, and once he had it had brought her to the beginning of her breaking point which took many years to finally occur. She looked for happiness and comfort in Kikuji's father, which she seemed to discover temporarily, and then in Kikuji himself. Her daughter was very thoughtful in trying to care for her mother and looking out for her. She was so concerned in her mother's overall well being that she went so far as to ask forgiveness for her. She was too young and just did not know what to do or how to help her mother, but she did what she thought was best. It would be really hard to take care of someone like her mother especially knowing that is all you have left to your family.
It was really depressing to know that nobody came to the memorial services of Mrs. Ota. Their ceremonies apparently last for several days in their own homes, and nobody except Kikuji on the seventh-day came. Mrs. Ota's daughter said she had expected that sort of outcome because that was how she and her mother had lived, usually with just the two of them. I could tell she was relieved in several ways to have gotten flowers from Kikuji and that he came to offer condolences. They seemed to help each other after a while when they were talking about their parents and their situations. Perhaps they saw themselves in one another when they realized they were both orphans that had had unusually tangled childhoods and parents. I thought that it would have been really awkward to have been Kikuji, though, visiting Mrs. Ota's daughter knowing that she knew they had had relations and that they were both confused in their lives.
I really do not like Kurimoto's character or personality, but at times I can empathize with her. She was extremely dissatisfied when she realized that he had visited Mrs. Ota's daughter and that she had given Kikuji the Shino. Perhaps she was still bitter and jealous that his father had moved on from their relationship so quickly to that of Mrs. Ota instead. She sounded extremely cruel when she stated, "You're too young to understand such people. For your sake, it was good of her to die. That's the truth." I was confused in whether or not she said this because she knew of Kikuji's relationship with her, or if she was referring to his father's involvement with Mrs. Ota. Either way though, it was a very rude thing to say just after her death, and under another person's roof. I figured that it had to pertain more to his father's relationship with the deceased woman, however, when she really displayed her resentment toward Mrs. Ota by saying that she had the devil in her and that she had planned to go and see Kikuji's father in death.
I was really confused at the why the presence of Mrs. Ota's lipstick on the shino was important until the last chapter. I figured at first that maybe it was sort of imagined by Fumiko to be the remnants of her mother's cosmetics because she had wanted something more of her mother to hold on to. But as I continued reading and realized that the shino piece was a match for Mr. Mitani's bowl it became more clear that it was just a husband/wife set, even though they were not made by the same artist, they fit together nicely.
It was strange how Kikuji was drawn to the middle-aged woman in the street. He seemed to be having some crazy out of mind, out of body experience because he did not seem to even know what he was doing. He thought he was "behaving like a criminal." I don't know about criminal actions, except for maybe if it is considered stalking or something, but I do think that he was on the verge of craziness. He never seemed to actually experience life. He said he did not see Mrs. Ota in the woman at all, but I don't think was he looking for Mrs. Ota, or maybe he was looking for the young Mrs. Ota (Fumiko). However, mostly I just think he was looking for an answer to all the strange things that had been set up in his path. He was always just going through the motions, and just was left to deal with whatever was thrown at him. He was a sad, confused, and lost character that even left me confused.
He was not the only strange character in this novella though. Fumiko was severely unusual herself. She was always depressed and seemed unsure of herself because she was always described as looking down or with her head lowered. When Fumiko and Kikuji talked they had weird conversations that seemed to be discussing nothing of direct importance. They talked about the rain and weather and stagnant topics such as that.
I was confused at why many of the characters in the novella could not differ between the parent and the child. Kurimoto could not get over the fact that she should stop meddling in Mr. Mitani's son's life. He was not that man that used her as a "bridge" like his father did. She also took out much of her anger and resentment on Fumiko when she was trying to get Mrs. Ota out of Kikuji's life. Fumiko was not her mother, and Kurimoto did not care to see that they were separate, yet related people. She was constantly making cruel jabs and sarcastic accusations toward Fumiko, who had nothing to do with her mother's actions except for the fact that she could not control them. Also, for the longest time, and I am not entirely sure it was ever definate, Kikuji could not separate Mrs. Ota from Fumiko, even after her death. I am not so sure he even wanted to find the distinction. He seemed to long for Mrs. Ota, and found her physical resemblance in Fumiko. Fumiko also seemed to find similarities in Kikuji from that of his father. Everyone in this story was just really confused and seemed to be self-centered and not concerned on anyone else's feelings or thoughts which was really strange. Even when Kurimoto was directing jabs at Fumiko and Kikuji did not like her harshness, he did not feel obliged to protect Fumiko in any way.
I also did not understand why Kurimoto would feel like she owed it to Kikuji's father to help him find a wife. She was not in Mr. Mitani's life for a very significant amount of time, yet she proved herself to be constantly interfering and interjecting. She never even seemed happy to be "helping" Kikuji out in finding a wife, she just thought of it as a duty, one which she was never officially assigned. She continued her attempt and all the while she was vindictive, manipulative, controlling, jealous, and spiteful. I could not come up with any other reason that she would interject in Kikuji's life other than that was what her goal in life was to do. She just always seemed to want to be the instigator and controller of the on-goings of Kikuji's life, which I assumed was because she could not get control of his father's actions.
I was not sure if Kurimoto's assumption that Mrs. Ota had died to interfere with Kikuji's marriage was a real possibility or not. It could have been, however, I do not think that Mrs. Ota possessed that sort of behind the scenes entrapment personality. She seemed too weak and frail to have contained any spitefulness even if her enemy had called to provoke her the day she ended up committing suicide. Mrs. Ota was just a sad and empty character. Her daughter also seemed to carry this trait unfortunately because she is assumed to have killed herself as well at the story's end. Also by the end, Kikuji had realized that Fumiko did not compare to anyone else and that she stood out because of who she was to him. He had finally separated Mrs. Ota from Fumiko but then Fumiko went to return to her mother in death. This was a really strange and depressing ending.