Becoming a monk and his disciples

Author: (Japanese) Katsuhiko Kurata
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-03-01
Features: Preface by the Translator: The Monk and His Disciple is a renowned play that has influenced the Japanese and even the world literary scene. It was first published in the magazine Life's River, which was launched in 1917. This play was written by the author Katsuhiko Kurata at the age of 26, when he was suffering from a severe illness and confined to his bed. He had contracted tuberculosis at the age of 22 and was forced to drop out of school. Even by the age of 40, he was still unable to shake off his bedridden life. As a result, almost all of Kurata's literary works were products of his struggle against illness. For someone constantly threatened by death, his understanding of life was profound. The experiences he endured on his sickbed were not just physical suffering but also the cruel weight of spiritual torment. The torment of his soul drove Kurata into a religious experience, while his own genius-like artistic sensibilities left him near. He cried out: "Fate tramples on hope" (Act 5, Scene 2); he comforted himself: "Prayer calls to fate" (same scene). The Monk and His Disciple is a tragic epic of youth. After the book was published as a standalone volume by Iwanami Shoten in 1918, it sparked a strong response in Japanese society. It was reprinted again and again until today, with Iwanami Shoten alone having reprinted it over 86 times. Other major publishers such as Shinchosha and K?dansha have also issued standalone volumes of the play, with many reprints exceeding 100 times. A single play spanning the entire 20th century having such a vast readership is rare in Japanese literature, especially after the Meiji Restoration. French literary giant Romain Rolland was deeply moved after reading the English translation of the play and wrote a letter to Katsuhiko Kurata. German philosopher Martin Heidegger also highly praised the play, and the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima was so captivated by it that it is said he was still rereading this epic of youth shortly before his seppuku. Katsuhiko Kurata was a young man filled with melancholy yet also one who embraced youth with passion. Unfortunately, illness had trapped his youthful life, sometimes leaving him heartbroken and other times inspiring him to lofty ambitions. For Kurata, who grew up in the Taisho era, issues such as literature, religion, communism, and bourgeois society, as well as love, sexuality, human nature, and morality, were all in a state of ambiguity. He was clear, confused, hopeful, and disappointed—all of these emotions were expressed fully and without reservation in The Monk and His Disciple. There was no pretense or sentimentality, and with fiery passion, he wrote: "O youth, live on with your youthful heart—you have no other choice! Face fate and brace your youth! Those who lack pure youth will not have a true old age!" (Act 3, Scene 2 of The Monk and His Disciple). Kurata proved this statement with his own works, as none of his later works were as mature as his debut. His later years were like the aging Monkan in the play, solitary and lost. In this sense, his literary life was short, but even this single work, The Monk and His Disciple, is enough to be remembered for generations. The Monk and His Disciple tells the story of a monk from the Jodo Shinshu sect of Japanese Buddhism and a courtesan. However, Katsuhiko Kurata himself was not a Buddhist. His other work, Traces of Youthful Breath, confirms his acceptance of Christianity. Therefore, in a certain sense, Kurata employed Christian sentiments to portray the Buddhist master Monkan in his writing. Monkan was a monk from the Kamakura period in Japan who rejected the aristocratic nature of Buddhism, spread its teachings to the common people, and founded the Jodo Shinshu sect within the Jodo sect of Buddhism. He believed that Buddha was not a figure above all but that everyone could become a Buddha, making it a religion for the people. Jodo Shinshu strongly emphasized the role of faith and was not bound by any forms, even allowing monks to marry and eat meat, bringing them closer to secular life. Monkan's recorded sayings, The Scroll of Lamenting the Strange (translated by the author as "Only in Marriage," published by Bunkyō Shuppan in 1994), is another masterpiece that greatly influenced Japanese society. The Monk and His Disciple can also be seen as a work of Kurata's emotional expression. Perhaps only Kurata himself, in the torment of his illness, could truly grasp the purity of love and the sanctity of faith. Kurata had his own sorrows and anxieties, and he laid bare the conflict between religion and love, refusing to shy away from the deep contradictions within his heart. This was precisely the artistic characteristic of Kurata's plays. Japanese literary critic Katsuyoshi Kameyama explained this as follows: "Art and religion are in an antagonistic relationship, just as the Virgin Mary and Venus can never reconcile." The Monk and His Disciple is divided into six acts and tells the story of a monk from the Jodo Shinshu sect of Japanese Buddhism and a courtesan.