Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

Mrs. Shigeno enjoyed impulsive ideas, and she packed their dinners into the cardboard boxes with the logo the Church of the Flaming Green Tree used when they sold box lunches in the hotel in Matsuyama and the shops in the airport, the one Kizu had seen in the market. When Kizu and the others heard that Patron and Ms. Tachibana and her brother had received the same dinners packed the same way, they pretended that they were all on a picnic and settled down in the room next to the office, looking out over the moonlit lake. While they were waiting for their food to be brought over, Ikuo drove over to the general store and procured some cans of beer from the vending machine. Feeling he was on the same wavelength as the Fireflies now, Ikuo continued to be in a buoyant mood.

Gii had asked Ikuo whether he thought they were all free to choose their own fate. Ikuo agreed in principle, and Gii went on to tell him how he'd sur- veyed the people in Kame Village, before it merged into Maki Town, to find the different paths people had chosen in their lives. When they had their school festival in the second year of junior high, Gii had made a display presenta- tion of his findings in the social studies corner. Teachers and parents ignored it, but his display had turned out to be the impetus to forming the Fireflies.

Gii had taken a copy of his findings out of the back pocket of his jacket to give to show Ikuo, clearly having prepared in advance for their talk. His list read as follows: a. People who live in the village who have some role to play in the social system. Those who control and who are controlled. Each side views the other critically. b. People who live in the village but have fallen out of the social system.

People without any abilities: the elderly, those with severe handicaps, those who have committed crimes, children. c. People who live in the village who tried to create their own subsystem but failed. Leaders and followers in various movements. On the surface they have no influence, but behind the scenes it is a different story. a. ' People who've left the valley to live in urban areas and have found a role to play there. These people are greatly respected in the village society, but since they live in cities they have no role to play in the village. Even if they return to the village, they aren't given a role, either up front or behind the scenes. b. ' People who've left the village for urban areas and have fallen out of the social system there. Generally they've vanished, with no reports about them. Occasionally reports surface of some of them becoming criminals. c. ' People who have left the village to live in urban areas and are attempt- ing to create an independent subsystem. Though the possibility exists, no one has yet been victorious or been defeated in these endeavors. One example from the distant past of this would be Fujiwara Junyu from the lower reaches of the Maki River.

"Gii certainly has the ability to think abstractly," Ogi said, in innocent admiration, as he read Gii's notebook page. "If you took this to its logical conclusion, wouldn't there also be a classification in c and c' of people who were successful?"

"That's probably because there weren't any specific examples in c as there were in c'," Ikuo said. "When Gii was dividing these into groups, I under- stand he did have some examples in mind. It's kind of a typical junior high school way of doing things, but that doesn't mean he's incapable of abstract thought. In fact, as you say, it's quite the opposite. In this classification sys- tem, I think Gii himself wants to be a successful example of c. In other words, one of Ogi's missing pieces-someone who's created a successful subsystem.

That's why he founded the Fireflies. Pretty bold fellow, I'd say."

As Ikuo was bragging about them, Kizu thought that if it were up to him he would have called them nice kids-and he would have included Ikuo in this category.

"Gii knows that in this region there are examples in the c category who've failed. First of all there's the man said to be his father, Satchan's husband, the Brother Gii who made this lunch box." Ikuo showed them the lunch box rest- ing in his hand, the contents of which had been devoured, a box with trees painted on it with detailed green leaves. "There were still a lot of these lunch boxes left over at the farm. And Former Brother Gii, who led the so-called Base Movement. Also there are the leaders of the various insurrections and the legendary figures he's uncovered.

"Gii told me, with a laugh, that he's thoroughly investigated all these figures from the past in order not to follow their examples and has come up with his own idea: a plan-through his own subsystem of the Fireflies-to conquer this land. The children have pledged themselves to create this as their program for the future. This isn't to say that all the members of the Fireflies have to remain here. Most of them would go to be educated in cities. But they would never forget their pact and would return here as soon as they could.

Those unable to return would support the Fireflies from the outside. It's that sort of flexible pledge.

"What I find most intriguing is Gii's notion that this land is the cen- ter of the world, and that creating his own subsystem here is equivalent to creating a subsystem in category c' in the entire society. He grew up listen- ing to legends of this land from old people here, who in turn had learned them from their own grandparents, and that's where he came up with his worldview."

Ikuo leaned forward to pop open a can of beer, and Dancer took the opportunity to ask a question.

"Ogi and I first thought the incident we experienced was a bit of harassment on the part of adults opposed to the church taking over the chapel, but later we learned it wasn't the antichurch faction in Old Town at all but the work of these young boys. Do you get the sense that they have special feel- ings toward the Hollow?"

"As I mentioned," Ikuo said, "the Fireflies have gone around collecting the legends of this region, and as they've done so they've started to believe that the Base Movement and the Church of the Flaming Green Tree are his- torically important. The Hollow for them is a kind of sacred ground that links all these groups. That being the case, when a bunch of outsiders from an unrelated church comes in and occupies this historic building, they can't help but express how upset they are."

"It's like the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kizu added, "though natu- rally there are more differences than similarities."

"Actually," Ikuo said, "Gii told me that with the sacred Hollow snatched away from them by our church they do feel like Palestinians."

"But surely there are brighter prospects for coexistence here than in the Middle East," Dancer said.

"First of all I'd like to get them to consider our position," Ikuo said.

"Also, as one member of the church, I'd like to consider what we have to offer to this land. Instead of cooperating with the village authorities to sup- press the Fireflies, I think it would be much smarter to get to know them better. At any rate, Patron has agreed to my negotiating. And I want to. After all, Gii's the son of the owner of the Farm, with whom we'll be working closely."

"The more connections we have with the local people the better, I think,"

Ogi said. "I haven't told Professor Kizu this yet, but Asa-san phoned a while ago about the art school and said the local schools can't help. According to her, the Old Town faction opposing the church staged a comeback."

"Is that right? I suppose it's to be expected," Kizu said disappointedly.

"If Aum Shinrikyo had had an artist among them who wanted to open a painting class in the village at the foot of Mount Fuji where they had their headquarters, I don't suppose the locals would have welcomed the idea."