Republic of the Philippines

SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Teacher Education
ACCESS Campus, EJC Montilla, Tacurong City
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A Partial Requirement
IN
Survey of Afro-Asia Literature

Written Report on Topic

‘’In a Grove’’ by Akutagawa Ryunosuki

Submitted by:

Suan, Richel L.

BSED 3 English

Submitted to:

Prof. Jenevieve T. Lumbu-an

Subject Professor

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PRE-DISCUSSION

 Who is Akutagawa Ryunosuke?

 What is ‘‘In a Grove’’ all about?
 What is the underlying theme of the story?
 What symbolism, allegory and motifs used by the author in the story?
 What literary style and elements employed in the story?

WHAT TO EXPECT?

 Discuss the content of the short story ‘’In a Grove’’;

 Describe the style and form of the short story by Akutagawa Ryunosuke; and
 Formulate a concluding statement that will support the objectivity of the story.

LESSON OUTLINE

Who is Akutagawa Ryunosuke?

• Akutagawa Ryunosuke is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story"

and the Akutagawa Prize—Japan's premier literary award—is named after him.
At thirty-five, he committed suicide through an overdose of barbital.

• He used a pseudonym Chōkōdō Shujin or Gaki.

• Akutagawa was born on March 1, 1892-July 24, 1927 in Tokyo, Japan.

• Prolific Japanese writer known especially for his stories based on events in the
Japanese past and for his stylistic virtuosity.

• His famous literary pieces are: In a Grove, Rashomon, The Spider’s Thread, The
Nose, Hell Screen

What is In a Grove all about?

• Young samurai killed in mysterious circumstances.

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• Pieced together from contradictory testimonies and confessions, the story

ultimately delivers no conclusion about who is responsible for the crime, thereby
rejecting the possibility of objective truth.

Characters

The Woodcutter

• The first character to give testimony to the magistrate

• Found Takehiro's body in the bamboo grove.

Kanazawa no Takehiro

• Twenty-six-year-old samurai whose body is found in the bamboo grove after he

dies of a chest wound.

The Magistrate

• The magistrate is a figure of police and judicial authority in Kyoto.

Masago

• Masago is Takehiro's nineteen-year-old bride. She is described by many

characters as beautiful, and by her mother as having a man's boldness.

Traveling Priest

• The second character to give testimony, the traveling priest confirms that he saw
Takehiro and Masago before they entered the grove the day before.

Policeman

• The third character to give testimony, the policeman—captures Tajōmaru and

tells the magistrate of the bandit's infamy as a rapist.

Tajōmaru

• A notorious bandit and rapist who roams the area around Kyoto,

Old Woman (Masago's Mother)

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• The fourth character to give testimony to the magistrate, Masago's mother details
Masago and Takehiro's personalities and grieves over her son-in-law's death.
Before breaking down in grief, she urges the magistrate to find Masago.

Spiritual Medium

• Takehiro's spirit gives his account of events through a nameless, undescribed

medium.

In a Grove Summary and Analysis 

 Testimonies to the Magistrate

 Tajōmaru’s Confession
 Masago’s Confession and Takehiro’s Testimony

1. The story begins with the verbal testimonies of four people being questioned
by a magistrate.

2. The first testimony is spoken by a woodcutter. He confirms that he is the

person who found the body earlier, on the same morning he is giving testimony.

3. The second testimony is delivered to the magistrate by a traveling priest. The

priest says he spotted the man the day before near Checkpoint Hill, on the way to
Yamashina.

4. The third testimony comes from a policeman, translated in some versions of

the story as a bounty hunter. The policeman confirms that, the night before at “first
watch” (8:00 PM), he captured the famous bandit Tajōmaru after Tajōmaru fell off his
horse on a stone bridge at Awataguchi.

5. The fourth testimony is given by an old woman who confirms that her daughter
was married to the dead man. She says that the man was not in fact from Kyoto.

The narrative switches to Tajōmaru's voice as he casually confesses to having

killed Takehiro. He details how Masago's beauty led him to execute a plan: first leading
Takehiro into a bamboo grove under the pretense that he would sell him treasure stolen

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from an aristocrat's burial mound, Tajōmaru then tied Takehiro up and raped Masago.
To his surprise, she asked him to kill either himself or her husband, saying she would be
with the one who lived.

The next account comes from Masago herself, delivered as a confession in the
Kiyomizu Temple. In her version of events, Masago details the contempt that she saw in
Takehiro's eyes after Tajōmaru raped her.

The final testimony is delivered by Takehiro's spirit, as told through a medium.

Takehiro's version contradicts Masago's and Tajōmaru's accounts by claiming that
Masago asked the bandit to kill her husband. United in their shock at Masago's betrayal,
the men discussed whether Tajōmaru should kill her; this show of respect makes
Takehiro forgive Tajōmaru for his crimes.

In a Grove Quotes and analysis

"Ah, what is the life of a human being—a drop of dew, a flash of lightning?"

- The Traveling Priest

"Again a rush of blood filled my mouth, but then I sank once and for all into the
darkness between lives."

-Takehiro

"Of all the bandits prowling around Kyoto, this Tajōmaru is known as a fellow who likes
the women."

-The Policeman

"You gentlemen kill with your power, with your money, and sometimes just with your
words: you tell them you're doing them a favor. True, no blood flows, the man is still
alive, but you've killed him all the same. I don't know whose sin is greater—yours or
mine."

-Tajōmaru

"I am prepared to die here and now. But you—yes, I want you to die as well. You
witnessed my shame. I cannot leave you behind with that knowledge."
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-Masago

"For this if for nothing else, I am ready to forgive the bandit his crimes."

-Takehiro

"Then stealthy footsteps came up to me. I tried to see who it was, but the
darkness had closed in all around us. Someone—that someone gently pulled the
dagger from my chest with an invisible hand."

-Takehiro

In a Grove Themes

Subjectivity

• The theme of subjectivity is most notably expressed through the story's

unconventional structure. In place of an objective third-person authorial
presence, Akutagawa chooses to convey the events of "In a Grove" through
individual testimonies and confessions, each of which are inherently limited by
subjective perspectives.

Contradiction

• A thematic insistence on contradiction is perhaps the most pervasive and

perplexing element of "In a Grove."

Honor

• Though Akutagawa does not explicitly mention honor in "In a Grove," the three
major characters convey through their decisions and attitudes that there are
particular codes of honor they abide by.

Death and Rebirth

• The cycle of death and rebirth is a theme first touched on when the priest
compares Takehiro's life to a drop of dew and a flash of lightning—natural
phenomena that existent only for an instant, but are guaranteed to reemerge

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again in another form. At the end of the story, Takehiro's spirit has sunk into "the
darkness that exists between lives,"

In a Grove Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Testimony and Confession (Motif)

• “In A Grove” is told entirely through first-person testimonies and confessions

delivered.

Masago’s Beauty (Motif)

• First described by the priest as veiled, Masago’s beauty is a recurring subject in

the story, touched on by her mother and Tajōmaru. When the breeze lifts her veil
and the bandit catches sight of her face, he is driven wild with the desire to rape
her. 

Objective Truth (Allegory)

• The entire story can be viewed as an extended metaphor for the impossibility of
an objective account of reality. The varying accounts of the murder at the heart of
“In a Grove” serve to illustrate the manner in which humans are perhaps unable
or unwilling to reach an entirely factual and unbiased consensus on life itself.

Bamboo Grove (Symbol)

• The deserted bamboo grove from which the story takes its name is rich with
symbolic meaning. As a plant capable of providing nutrition and shelter, known
for both strength and pliability, bamboo has long been considered sacred. 

In a Grove Metaphors and Similes

A drop of dew, a flash of lightning (Metaphor)

• At the end of his testimony, the traveling priest compares the life of a human
being to a drop of dew and a flash of lightning—metaphors for the fleetingness of
existence. 

Witnessed my shame (Metaphor)

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• During her confession, Masago uses metaphoric and euphemistic language to

say that her husband witnessed her being raped by Tajōmaru. She is so
ashamed of the violation that she insists Takehiro must die, as she cannot bear
the thought of him living with what he had seen.

The darkness between lives (Metaphor)

• At the end of his testimony, Takehiro describes himself as sinking “once and for
all into the darkness between lives.” This darkness is a metaphor for death and
the spirit realm from which he narrates his testimony. 

In a Grove Irony

1. I always knew my head would end up hanging in the tree outside the prison
(Situational Irony)

2. Takehiro’s look of contempt (Situational Irony)

3. Masago’s betrayal (Situational Irony)

In a Grove Imagery

• Not a single bird came to sing

• Across his ashen face shone a streak of light from the setting sun

• Even the bandit went pale when he heard her

• In a Grove Literary Elements

Genre

• Modernist short story; mystery

Setting and Context

• The majority of the action takes place in a bamboo grove near Kyoto in pre-
modern times

Narrator and Point of View

• The story is composed of multiple first-person testimonies and confessions

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Tone and Mood

• While the tone is consistently mysterious and matter-of-fact, the mood shifts from
procedural to become increasingly dreamlike, mysterious, and unreliable

Protagonist and Antagonist

• Due to the contradictions of multiple perspectives, the roles of protagonist and

antagonist switch among Takehiro, Masago, and Tajōmaru depending on who is
speaking.

Major Conflict

• The story's central conflict concerns the difficulty of determining who murdered
Takehiro when varying accounts both corroborate and contradict other claims

Climax

• Since the story offers multiple perspectives on the events that lead to Takehiro's
death, there are several climaxes. In Tajōmaru's confession, the climax occurs
when he unties Takehiko and the men engage in a sword fight. In Masago's
confession, the climax occurs when she decides to kill Takehiro and herself. In
Takehiro's spirit's testimony, the climax takes place when Masago orders
Tajōmaru to kill Takehiro.

Foreshadowing

• The woodcutter mentions in his testimony trampled leaves, suggesting that

Takehiro must have put up a fight. This foreshadows Masago's rape and
Takehiro and Tajōmaru's sword fight.

Parallelism

• Each testimony or confession contains elements that parallel elements of other

accounts; however, these parallels merely provide a foundation from which
details may differ wildly, and thus the reader is denied the ability to knit together
a cohesive narrative.
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SUMMARY

The story begins with the verbal testimonies and confession by the woodcutter,
travelling priest, policeman, and the old woman. The next narrative shift to Tajomaro’s
voice which he confesses without remorse his murder with Takehiro. The story ended
leaving the reader of who really the culprit of Takehiro’s death in a grove.

ENRICHMENT

Answer the question being asked comprehensively.

1. What is the story all about?

2. Aside from love, do you think there is still another factor why Takehiro died?

ASSESSMENT

In a short bond paper, formulate your own conclusion of the story through a
reader-response approach. Justify your statements based on your evidences and make
sure it will deviate from the objectivity of truth as the witnesses of the story did.

Criteria of Rating

1. Objectivity of the statement/s 15%

2. Justification of the claim/s 15%
3. Reliability of evidence/s 10%
4. Creativity 5%
5. Originality 5%

Total 50%

REFERENCES

Snow, J., (n.d). In a grove. Retrieved from:

http://johnsnow.matrix.msu.edu/broadstpump/wp-content/uploads/InAGrove.pdf

In a grove, (n.d). Retrieved from:

https://www.gradesaver.com/in-a-grove/study-guide/summary

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"In a Grove (Yabo no Naka) by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, 1921 ." Reference Guide to

Short Fiction. . Retrieved January 12, 2021 from
Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/encyclopedias-almanacs-
transcripts-and-maps/grove-yabo-no-naka-ryunosuke-akutagawa-1921

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