In Japanese culture, samurai culture is one of its spiritual symbols, a bit like martial arts in Chinese culture, which is a national attribute that can be clearly identified as soon as the type of character image appears. So, today we're going to read Japanese samurai novels. Instead of going to see the majesty of the samurai heroes, you will see the portrait of the fallen but magnificent samurai group written by the Japanese "era novel" writer Shuhei Fujisawa. "Dusk Kiyobei" is a collection of short stories well known to Fujisawa Shuhei, and it is also an introductory reading for Reading Fujisawa Shuhei, 8 short stories, 8 ordinary and extraordinary samurai, martial arts are superior but are involved in life, reading makes people sad, stunning, and admirable. After reading it, I sighed: The samurai class has come to an end, but it has produced a sense of beauty like blood.
Novel "Dusk Qingbing Guard"
In Japan, it is usually the ordinary working class who reads Shuhei Fujisawa's novels, in the shuttle subway, one hand supporting the body, the other hand holding the page, quietly reading, arriving at the destination, collecting the book, and going straight to the company or home.
The reason is that The samurai written by Shuhei Fujisawa are all some, who maintain good interpersonal relations in the unit, still have to wash and cook at home, and sometimes even invite a few ridicules. It is not like the classic samurai image you imagine, the martial arts are high, the sword qi spans 30,000 miles, and the sword light is cold and nineteen states. As long as they make a move, the whole history will have a turn, and the light can be shown in the crisis.
Typical samurai image
The samurai in "Twilight Guards" are more like you and me in life, but they are appendages in trivial life, and the most glamorous characters are involved in a political storm, and after the storm is calm, they still silently return to life, so the charm of his novel can most arouse the empathy of the secular public.
The first article in the novel series, "Dusk Kiyobei", tells of a middle-aged samurai named Inoguchi Kiyobei, who always has no energy at work during the day, loves to doze off, and returns to normal when he leaves work in the evening, and even has some energy. Back at home to cook, wash dishes, clean, and take care of your wife. This contrast made people give him the nickname "Dusk Guard" and ridicule the absurdity of his spirit at dusk.
Illustration of the novel "Twilight Guards"
In fact, Qingbingwei's wife was seriously ill, and he had to go home every night to take care of her, but he was a famous samurai when he was young, and he had great skills. Now he is just a small clerk in the finance department, using a meager salary to find a doctor for his wife, while supporting the expenses of the whole family.
At this time, the Qingbing Guards were undergoing a coup d'état in the town of Seki, and the center of the struggle was a heavy minister named Sugiyama in the town. Sugiyama had always wanted to find a master to get rid of his courtiers who were trying to rebel. He overheard rumors from Qingbingwei's youth, so he asked him to carry out a well-planned assassination plan. But Qingbingwei said that he would take care of his wife and did not have time. In the end, Sugiyama thought that his wife had asked a famous doctor, which made Kiyobei agree.
Hiroyuki Sanada plays Kiyobei Iguchi
On the day of the assassination, he still let Sugiyama pinch a cold sweat, the assassination time was almost up, the Qingbing guard still did not appear, it turned out that he still went home as always to clean, cook, take care of his wife, and then go out with the sword after everything was done. Just when everyone thought that the plan was going to fail, the Qingbing guards appeared with a pinch and completed the task cleanly. Shuhei Fujisawa hints to the reader that Kiyobei will be able to complete the task, which is the dignity of being a samurai.
This story made me read the pleasure of heavy rain in the heat, originally seeing a samurai who can cook and take care of his wife, I have a depressed knot in my heart, this person is also too ordinary; but the assassination moment comes, the Qingbing guards have aroused my blood, "pinch the time" to carry out the task, what is this operation? How confident do people have to be in their abilities to be able to do so?
Samurai image
Although the flesh is silent in life, the heroic skills at that time have not faded with time. The author opens a hole in ordinary life, giving this repressed life breathing space.
Most of the samurai in the novel are similar to Inoguchi Kiyobei, who have a nine-to-five job, there is a survival problem at home, and the great achievements of youth are hidden with the embarrassment of life, and the samurai are forbearance and bitterness for the sake of the family, which is an elegy of the samurai era, high and sad.
Compared with the ordinary and flawed life of the samurai, they have extraordinary skills and martial arts, and can give amazing performances at the end of each story. Shuhei Fujisawa wrote not about samurai, but about a group of hermits. They have great skills, but they are trapped by reality and can only bear it.
Ghost-faced samurai
These so-called stunts are only revealed when the family is in danger, and when the expression of fear of the relatives appears, the tear in the corner of the eye reflects the highlight of the samurai's use of martial arts, and the must-kill blow is only to maintain the peace of their own lives, they do not change anything, and when the task is completed, they continue to return to a calm and bitter life.
In "The Sixteen Who Loves to Forget Things", it is written that an old samurai who is nearly sixty years old, in his twilight years, he has a problem with forgetfulness, because forgetfulness leads to major omissions in work and loss of face. Sometimes I can't even remember my daughter-in-law. After that, he was ridiculed, his family was very worried about him, and at this juncture, his daughter-in-law was blackmailed by the evil people. In the face of his family's danger, although Wan Liu doubted his own ability, this seemingly nested old man finally took his sword out of the house one afternoon.
Shuhei Fujisawa wrote: "A real man will not die for the honor of a hero, but for a loved one."
The ordinary life of a samurai
More classic is also the third story "Horse Ass Jing Evenuchi", the protagonist is named Chuan bo Shi nei, it was originally a tough personality, and it is a person with a dashing style, which can be said to be the same person as Li Xunhuan in Gu Long's "Amorous Swordsman Ruthless Sword". Because the uncle was involved in a political storm, the income was cut, and the family's face and life were affected.
Li Xunhuan
As a pillar of support, in order to return life to normalcy, he began to constantly snub and flatter his own leadership under the advice of his friends.
There is a classic description in the novel that shows Chuan Bo Even pat the horse's ass: With a superfluous smile on his face, he greeted his superiors in a deafening voice.
Such a description is Thatozawa Shuhei uses humorous language to dissolve the helplessness in the life of a samurai. At the end of the novel, the author borrows the mouth of his predecessors to say the underlying logic of the pat on the ass: the pat on the back that has been talked about is not only not smart, but also proves that the person concerned is very simple, and the real flattering person will not make a rumor.
Shuhei Fujisawa's observations of life are both nuanced and tender. His samurai have such a personality, and even do something that people are very disgusted with, but who can say that they are exempt from vulgarity? Flattery is something that happens between you and me every day, but who would think about why I want to slap my ass? This should have been the most thought-provoking.
Shuhei Fujisawa once said of Kiyobei: Some people say that he is a, but he has loved others, and he has experienced being loved by others, and his life is happy.
This is the reality of life, and the samurai needs to be driven by "love" to compromise his extraordinary life to ordinary life, so as to establish a life he trusts.
Samurai also want to return to life
Let's sum up, unlike the contemporaries of the novel writers Sima Liaotaro and Ikeba Shotaro, Fujisawa Shuhei does not write about the samurai of the Haojie class, and the samurai in his writing are usually very aggrieved, like a tiger who has lost his soul, who does not miss the scenery of the past, and does not want to show sharp fangs, but only endures the ordinary life, is silent, and finally achieves an ordinary sense of sublimity.
Reading Shuhei Fujisawa's text is like taking a hot bath, reading it cleanly, and refreshing.
bibliography:
[1] Dusk Qingbingwei[m]. Nova Press, (Japanese) Shuhei Fujisawa, 2010
[2] Chrysanthemum and knife[m]. Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, (US) Benedict, 2007
[3] Bushido[m]. Qunyan Publishing House, (Japanese) By Nitodo Inazō, 2006
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