Shusaku Endo: Buffoonery and Sadness—Thirty Years with My Teacher, Korian-sensei

2024/12/10

Shusaku Endo's life spanned 73 years, but for nearly the last two years, I never saw him laugh. We tried several times to make him laugh, but it never worked. He would always just look down, appearing to be in pain or troubled.

Until then—that is, before he began his battle with illness—he laughed often. Although he had already started dialysis, his lies, jokes, and penchant for pranks never ceased. Those days were truly worthy of the name Korian. For example, he held an event called "Pierre Jardin (not Cardin) Fashion Show and Evening of Music," where housewives and students would walk the runway in their finest clothes. Then, Mr. Jardin (who for some reason was American) would give a greeting in English.

Or then there was the "Dinner Party with the Iemoto's Wife and the Female Boss." He took a beautiful member of his amateur theater troupe, "Kiza," who had a bit of an intimidating air, and made her up to be a female boss from Hakata, then invited an elegant wife of an Iemoto to the dinner. Everyone was instructed to talk only to the wife, until finally, the female boss lost her patience. "I've been sitting here listening quietly, and all you do is fawn over that old lady over there! What do you think you're doing to me, Endo-shan?!" she'd shout, and for some reason, she'd kick over the man playing her henchman. Then, blood would spurt from the henchman's leg (actually a hidden bag of Mercurochrome), and seeing this, the Iemoto's wife would start trembling, turn pale, and run for the door, leaving her handbag and cardigan behind...

He repeated such pranks, even going through rehearsals, right around the age of 70, during the period when he was struggling to write his final novel, "Deep River."

Shortly after Sensei's death, I wrote a somewhat long memoir asking why he tried so hard to play at such a time ("My Teacher, Shusaku Endo," Bessatsu Bungeishunju). That book is now being republished for the first time in 28 years.

Perhaps this is proof that Endo's literature does not grow old with time. That "buffoonery and sadness," which could be called the essence of Endo's literature, moves the hearts of readers across centuries. A new chapter confirming this has been added for this new publication.

Shusaku Endo: Buffoonery and Sadness—Thirty Years with My Teacher, Korian-sensei

Muneya Kato

Kawade Shobo Shinsha

244 pages, 2,310 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.