In A Grove

Akutagawa
Ryūnosuke
Akutagawa Ryūnosuke
.

1 March 1892 – 24 July 1927

 a Japanese writer
He is regarded as the “father of
the Japanese short story”
Kumo no Ito – The Spider’s Thread
Jigokuhen – Hell Screen
Torokko – A Lorry
Kappa - Kappa
Yabu no naka – In a Grove
.

Japanese short story

 first published in 1922.
.

Yabu no naka was translated by

Takashi Kojima as In a Grove for the
1952 English language edition
published by C.E. Tuttle Company.
 James O’Brien - Within a Grove (1988)
Jay Rubin – In a Bamboo Grove (2007)
.
Introduction
 The story centers on the violent death
of young samurai Kanazawa no
Takehiro, whose body has been found
in a bamboo forest near Kyoto.
 his wife has disappeared, and a
notorious robber has been arrested.
 The story proceeds by assembling
diverse testimonies to the events that
are given in answer to the questions
of the high police commissioner.
Characters
Kanazawa no Takehiro (26) samurai
Masago (19) Takehiro’s wife
Tajomaru - notorious bandit and rapist
A High Police Commissioner
A woodcutter
A Buddhist Priest
A Policeman
An old woman – Masago’s mother
 The Testimony of a woodcutter

A woodcutter – went to cut his

daily quota of cedars
He found the corpse of a
samurai in a grove
location – 150 meters from the
Yamashina stage road.
 The Testimony of a woodcutter

The samurai’s body was lying

flat on its back
 wore a bluish silk kimono
His breast was pierced by a
single sword stroke
The blood was dried up
There was a rope at the root
of a cedar tree
Woodcutter found a comb
The Testimony of a woodcutter

The area was trampled

The grass and fallen bamboo-
blades had been trampled
down all around – a battle
before he was murdered
the woodcutter denies seeing
a blade (knife) or a horse.
The Testimony of a Buddhist Priest

Next, a traveling Buddhist

priest describes the samurai
and his wife, whom he met the
day before noon on the road
from sekiyama to Yamashina
They walk towards sekiyama
The Testimony of a Buddhist Priest

The wife was veiled – a lilac colored

suit and rode a sorrel horse
Height – four feet five inches
 the man carried both a sword and a
bow and arrow.
 he pities the evanescence of human
life, as morning dew or a lightning flash.
 The Testimony of a Policeman
The Policeman reveals that he
arrested the notorious thief and
rapist Tajomaru the previous
evening.
a fine Mane had thrown him which
caused a slight injury.
Tajomaru stole from the dead man’s
wife – a sorrel horse
The Testimony of a Policeman

Tajomaru was armed with a

sword and a bow and arrow,
which the police officer now
concludes he must have
stolen from the samurai after
murdering him.
The Testimony of a Policeman

Of all robbers around kyoto,

Tajomaru has a reputation for
cruelty to women, having been
suspected of murdering a woman
and girl near the Toribe temple.
Samurai murdered – Tajomaru
The Testimony of an Old Woman

The Old Woman is Kanazawa no Takehiko’s

mother-in-law and Masago’s mother.
She reveals that Kanazawa no Takehiko was
a 26-year-old samurai who lived in Kokufu
and that her daughter Masago was only 19.
 The Old Woman fears for her daughter’s life
and breaks down in tears.
Tajomaru’s Confession

He casually confesses to having

killed Takehiro but not Masago
At noon the previous day,
Tajomaru met Kanazawa no
Takehiko and Masago at Yamashina
stage road was immediately
enthralled by Masago’s beauty.
Tajomaru’s Confession

She looked like a Bodhisattva

He decided to kill the samurai
and take his wife.
Tajomaru recalls that he
befriended Kanazawa no
Takehiko and Masago and
traveled with them.
Tajomaru’s Confession

He lied to them about a cache of

swords and mirrors buried off in a
grove behind the mountain and said
that he would sell them at a low price.
 Tajomaru says that Kanazawa no
Takehiko was taken over by greed and
agreed to see the goods.
Tajomaru’s Confession

Masago stayed behind with the horse.

In the grove Tajomaru took Kanazawa
no Takehiko by surprise and tied him
up to the root of a cedar.
 He then stuffed bamboo leaves in the
samurai’s mouth so Masago could not
hear his screams.
Tajomaru’s Confession

Tajomaru went back to Masago

and said that her husband had
fallen ill. Masago followed him
into the bamboo grove.
After seeing her husband tied
up, she attacked Tajomaru with
a small sword.
Tajomaru’s Confession

He disarmed Masago and then

raped her. Masago was ashamed
and proclaimed that one of the
men had to die.
Tajomaru recounts, “She gasped
out that she wanted to be the
wife of whichever survived.”
Tajomaru’s Confession

Tajomaru untied Kanazawa no

Takehiko.
Tajomaru describes a fierce
battle in which he eventually
defeats the samurai with the
23rd stroke of his sword.
 However, Masago had fled.
Tajomaru’s Confession

Tajomaru fled the forest with

Takehiro’s sword, bow and arrow,
and rode Masago’s horse until he was
bucked off and subsequently caught
Tajomaru will be executed for the
crimes, and all is resolved, save that
the woman is still missing.
The Confession of a Woman Who Has
Come to the Shimizu Temple

The day after her husband’s

death, Masago arrives at the
Shimizu Temple in Kyoto and
confesses to her husband’s
murder to a Buddhist priest.
The Confession of a Woman Who Has
Come to the Shimizu Temple

 Tajomaru raped her

She fell unconscious
When she become conscious
Tajomaru was gone.
The Confession of a Woman Who Has
Come to the Shimizu Temple

She went to her husband who

is roped to the root of cedar.
Her husband’s eyes had
nothing but loathing for her.
Shame, grief, and anger for her.
The Confession of a Woman Who Has
Come to the Shimizu Temple

She told him that they must die together, for

it was the only way to preserve her honor.
She used her small sword to stab him in the
chest and then fainted immediately.
Her husband was dead when she woke up.
The Confession of a Woman Who Has
Come to the Shimizu Temple

She then tries to kill herself by various

means, stabbed her throat with the
small sword, drowning herself into a
pond at the foot of the mountain.
She survives every attempt and runs
off to the temple.
“I killed my own husband. I was
violated by the robber.” – sob
The Story of the Murdered Man as
Told Through a Medium

A spiritual Medium provides

Kanazawa no Takehiko’s
testimony which begins after
Tajomaru raped his wife.
The Story of the Murdered Man as
Told Through a Medium

Tajomaru tried to comfort

Masago after the rape and make
her think that she would be
better off with him.
Masago believed Tajomaru and
asked him to take her with him.
The Story of the Murdered Man as
Told Through a Medium

She repeatedly screams at the bandit kill

her husband.
 Tajomaru is disgusted by the woman’s
request and kicks her hard.
Tajomaru then offers Takehiko the
choice of killing or pardoning Masago.
The Story of the Murdered Man as
Told Through a Medium

The samurai respects this action

enough to pardon Tajomaru of his
crime.
 Masago flees in shame
Tajomaru cuts Takehiko free
left with sword, bow and arrows.
The Story of the Murdered Man as
Told Through a Medium

Kanazawa no Takehiko found

his wife’s short sword.
He stabbed himself in the chest
without hesitation.
He heard someone approach as
he bled to death.
The Story of the Murdered Man as
Told Through a Medium

He could not see the person’s face

but felt the sword leave his chest.
The extraction caused a final gush
of blood to enter his mouth, and
then he died.
Conclusion

The three testimonies have no unifying

narrative to conclude the investigation.
The reader is left without a clear idea
of how Takehiro died, only
possibilities.
 The readers are challenged to question
their assumptions and judgements.
 Themes

An Unknowable Truth

Confessions
mystery
Societal Pressure
Contradiction
Honor
Sense of justice and morality
 Death and Rebirth.