Annika Damstedt

Mr. Moore

IB Literature HL2 B4

20 November 2022

Haiku Conventions in Kafka on the Shore

In Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, there are two parallel narratives; one

narrative follows Kafka, while the other follows Nakata. These two main characters never meet,

but the events that occur in one narrative influence the meaning of the other narrative. This

reflects the conventions in Haiku, a form of literature introduced within the book through the

Komura Memorial Library. Haiku often deals with two images, and a kireji that colors the

meaning of both. Murakami uses Kafka and Nakata both passing out as a kireji to show the

supernatural connections between the death of Johnnie Walker and Koichi Tamura.

First, the two images being compared in the haiku format are the death of Johnnie Walker

and Koichi Tamura. The death of Johnnie Walker occurs in Chapter 16 when Nakata kills him.

Johnnie Walker is characterized as a supernatural character. Murakami writes, “I’m killing them

to collect their souls, which I use to create a special kind of flute” (140). Giving Johnnie Walker

supernatural abilities and intentions places the entire character within mystery, separate from the

real world. Additionally, because Nakata’s “...clothes had no blood on them at all…”, the reader

is left to wonder whether Nakata imagined the whole thing (164). In contrast, Kafka finds out

Koichi Tamura is dead from a newspaper in Chapter 21. The title of the article is “Sculptor

Koichi Tamura Stabbed to Death”, which sounds very official, with no elements of the

supernatural mentioned (Murakami 196). Murakami uses pastiche to ground Koichi Tamura’s
death in reality, whereas Johnnie Walker’s death is obscured by supernatural elements. Without

any kireji, these events appear unconnected, functioning as the two separate images within haiku.

The kireji that binds these two separate events together is both Kafka and Nakata passing

out. In Chapter 9, Kafka wakes up in an empty field. Murakami writes, “When I come to I’m in a

thick brush…” (69). This event is echoed in Nakata’s narrative, where Murakami writes, “Nakata

found himself face up in a clump of weeds” (163). Both Kafka and Nakata wake up in some

form of nature, with no clue how they got there. The similarities between how these events are

described connects them. This similar event colors the meaning of the previous two events. On

the same night both of the main characters lost consciousness, Johnnie Walker and Koichi

Tamura died. Additionally, while Nakata miraculously isn’t covered in blood, Kafka is for no

apparent reason. When Kafka wakes up in the field, his shirt has “darkish blood that’s seeped

into the fabric” (Murakami 71). The parallels in Kafka and Nakata passing out suggest that the

blood from Johnnie Walker ended up on Kafka. Additionally, it is later revealed that Nakata

killed Koichi Tamura when he killed Johnnie Walker, which Murakami explains on page 332. All

this together suggests that Johnnie Walker and Koichi Tamura were the same person, and that

Kafka and Nakata were both responsible for their deaths. Kafka and Nakata both passing out

clearly connect these events and support this interpretation. This kireji gives realism to Johnnie

Walker’s death, and supernaturalism to Koichi Tamura’s death. It changes the two events'

interpretation, creating a new, unique interpretation.

In conclusion, Murakami uses haiku convention within Kafka on the Shore to give

meaning to seemingly unrelated events. While the death of Johnnie Walker and Koichi Tamura

function as the two separate images, the similar passing out of Kafka and Nakata connects them

and implies Johnnie Walker and Koichi Tamura were the same person, and died at the hands of
Kafka and Nakata. Murakami commonly uses conventions of Japanese literature within his

writing, and understanding them allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of Kafka on

the Shore as a whole.