Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

They drove up over the ridge of the mountain chain, coming out on a gentle slope of neat harvested fields. Dr. Koga parked the car at a spot where there was a pull-off that protruded from the low point of the slope. A farm- house sat above the stone wall high on the opposite slope, and an old man who had come out to the edge of the garden bowed politely to them. Dr. Koga gave a friendly bow back.

"Let's walk along the path through the fields to a place where you can see the entire valley. That's Isamu's grandfather by the way, the boy in the Fireflies."

Below where the path petered out was a neat little chestnut-tree orchard, and looking down through the soft green leaves they could see the modest line of buildings in the jug-shaped hollow along the river. The road leading up from the eastern edge that ran along the river valley was cut off from view by a small pass rising up like a bump, cutting off the view of the Hollow be- yond. The cross-Shikoku highway bypass, too, was hidden in the shadow of a mixed cedar and cypress forest jutting out from the edge of the chestnut grove.

"It was called Jug Village for a long time, apparently," Kizu said, "and looking down at it from here it's easy to understand the legend that grew up that for hundreds of years the village was shut away inside a jug."

"I'm sure the topography does account for many legends," Dr. Koga responded. "But if you drive twenty minutes over to the Old Town district they're opening up a Denny's Restaurant, so it's not hard to understand why the Young Fireflies march through forests at dawn, trying to shore up their collective illusion."

Dr. Koga laid a plastic sheet over each of two black natural boundary- marker stones. As they sat down side by side, facing the valley, Kizu had the feeling that he was about to hear something more detailed than any of their earlier brief conversations. And indeed that's how it turned out.

"While we traveled here by train I confessed a lot of personal things to you, Professor," Dr. Koga began, "and I'd like to take up where I left off. I can understand why Guide had such drawing power over the researchers at the Izu workshop, but why did Patron? For one simple reason: We quite naturally believed that when he went over to the other side he communicated directly with God. Listening to Patron's sermons after his trances, one couldn't help but believe-the kind of belief that brings on a deep feeling of content- ment. In his trances Patron and God had a genuine rapport. After returning from the other side, Guide's painful efforts would allow the vision Patron experienced to be transmitted in words we could understand. And this whole vision was powerfully real.

"The radical faction's action program was created as an extension of that reality. Especially as events sped up, as we began to swing into action, as we listened to secret reports coming in from the sites on our strategy list, we felt that we were a part of Patron's trance. And then-out of the blue-the Somer- sault came crashing down on us.

"Now we wondered what the Somersault was all about. Along with Guide, Patron led us, his advance guard, urging us to hurry and make his message from God come true. Is that what the Somersault was-the two of them standing at the head of the troops but losing their nerve at the last minute? We wondered what God would say to the apostate Patron the next time he had one of his trances: a frightful thing, if it actually took place. But an even more frightening thing happened: For ten years Patron was out of touch with God. I find the term somewhat vague myself, though the Quiet Women evaluate it quite highly, but I think this is what they mean when they say that Patron fell into hell. From the beginning, Guide's torture and death came about because of reports that Patron was starting a new religious move- ment. They drove us into a terrible predicament and left us there, with just the two of them starting something new.

"On the other hand, we thought that if only there was a convincing explanation-in other words, if Patron was able once more to have a vision and reveal what he'd seen-we could have taken the lead in the new move- ment. So the ones doing the interrogating asked Guide: what Patron's latest vision was. But Guide didn't answer. We thought he was hiding something, but now that I look back on it I realize there was nothing he could say. Why did Guide remain silent? I believe it's because of this: He couldn't bring him- self to tell these former radical followers that Patron had been abandoned by God. Guide had an admirable reticence in him, when you come right down to it."

Kizu felt led to take their talk a step further.

"I've been talking about it in vague terms, and you might have guessed already-and people might think me crazy at my age-but my desire to spend my remaining days with a certain young man is why I'm here. Honestly speak- ing, I don't think I'm qualified to hear anything very substantial.

"My remaining days-a pretty accurate way of putting it, as you know, Dr. Koga, since I could be struck down by the cancer at any time. Cancer's calling the shots, in other words. You don't seem to think all that highly of Patron's using his spiritual power to effect a cure, but I'm not entirely dis- missing it. Not that I'm clinging to it, either, as my last hope.

"Living together with Ikuo, seeing my neither-here-nor-there life as a painter to its conclusion with him, I'm doing what you suggested and start- ing to paint again. Painting as the Fireflies would have it, Yonah-Ikuo, this real young man, as the biblical Jonah, as the final creative work of my life. I don't have any particular dissatisfactions about life in the Hollow and my painting, but what about Ikuo? I do know he's got some plan he wants to carry out through Patron's new church, but what it is I haven't the foggiest. He's not the type of person to live a quiet life of faith, though, that's for sure. Be that as it may, I'm prepared to help him with whatever plans he has, but I don't have the courage to grill him about them. Or, more accurately, I don't feel like doing it. So, awaiting new developments from his end, I spend my days painting my final work.

"Seeing how much energy Ikuo is putting into his work every day, I realize that he's waiting, too, for Patron's activities to take shape. That's quite clear. On the surface, he's creating an economic base for the first wave of fol- lowers who moved here and for later waves to follow. Ikuo consults closely with Dancer and Ogi as he plans out his work, he's got the Technicians using their technical skills in starting up production again at the farm, and he's guiding Gii's Fireflies in a way that maintains the boys' independence. All well and good. Ikuo's an unexpectedly able person, and so far he's had good results. But is that enough for him? I don't think so. Since he was a young boy, he hasn't been able to live a normal life. He's become exactly what the Fireflies, with their children's intuition, call him: Yonah. And he's leaving the basic issues up to Patron, hoping through him to arrive at a clear-cut solution.

"In that respect I think he's a lot like you, Dr. Koga, and the Techni- cians. Why was Ikuo like that as a child, and what sort of hope does he en- trust now to his relationship with Patron? I haven't questioned him past a certain point, but especially seeing him after we moved here I can understand that. I feel like I was listening to what you said in Ikuo's stead."

Dr. Koga paid rapt attention to Kizu's words. It had been a long time since Kizu had been able to talk so forthrightly with an intelligent person his own age, Japanese or foreign.

Kizu wasn't the only one who felt this way, for even after he stopped speaking Dr. Koga didn't respond; instead, he gazed at the far-off scenery.

Kizu looked in the same direction.