Topographies of Japanese Modernism by Lippit Seiji M

Author:Lippit, Seiji M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LIT008000, Literary Criticism/Asian/General, LIT000000, Literary Criticism/General
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2002-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Beyond Asakusa

In 1934, Kawabata announced that he would be writing a continuation of Scarlet Gang of Asakusa, noting that his novel had received a great deal of attention at the time of its publication. By the time that he decided to write its sequel, however, there were significant changes both in Kawabata’s own writing and in the general political and cultural environment. Kawabata added in his announcement that he had not reread the original work since it was published and now found himself “nauseated” at its style. (This is also why he decided to give the continuation a different title.) Asakusa itself had changed considerably as well. The transformation is indicated by a statement by the chairman of the Asakusa Festival Preparation Committee, published in the Tōkyō Nichinichi shinbun and quoted by Kawabata: “Asakusa is no longer the Asakusa of the past. There are no more lumpen or delinquents. It is a happy Asakusa, where you can play at ease, without anxiety. So enjoy once more the old, nostalgic Asakusa.”83

Kawabata also cited a letter that he had received from a reader of Scarlet Gang of Asakusa, who told him: “I wonder if simply through a historical investigation of ancient matters, or the detailed description of the phenomena of Asakusa, that you can represent the true picture of Asakusa.”84 Of course, what attracted Kawabata’s attention in Scarlet Gang of Asakusa was precisely the cultural phenomena of Asakusa. In the age of expanding economic recession and increased government control over matters of culture deemed subversive to the social fabric, however, these elements of vitality in Asakusa had begun to disappear, and thus the “happy” Asakusa had, for Kawabata, lost its appeal. He writes that the “purification” of Asakusa Park had led to the restriction of restaurants and cafés, and street vendors, performers, and even beggars had to carry licenses issued by the police: “Just as people say, Asakusa Park has lost its soul, its shadows are vanished, the depths are shriveled up.”85

A number of characters from Scarlet Gang of Asakusa appear in Asakusa Festival, including Haruko and, briefly, Yumiko. Here too, though, there have been significant changes. Haruko is now called Oharu and runs a machiai—a restaurant and assignation house—in the back alleyways of Asakusa. Her machiai is struggling financially, in part because the new, stricter police regulations will not allow waitresses to pour saké for the customers. The food on the menu is actually ordered from other restaurants and brought in through the back entrance. Oharu’s matronly appearance is quite different from that when she was a member of the Scarlet Gang—she comes clattering after the narrator in clogs, dressed in what looks like undergarments, exposing her arms from the shoulder. Whereas in the earlier work she was described as a paragon of femininity (in contrast to Yumiko), here she speaks in a masculine voice. She asks the narrator to advertise her store in his novel and offers to sell information about Asakusa to him. Later, he catches a brief glimpse of Yumiko, performing on the traditional koto.

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