Nakagami Kenji: Paradox and the Representation of the Silenced Voice
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Nakagami Kenji: Paradox and the Representation of the Silenced Voice by Machiko Ishikawa Bachelor of Arts (Honours) School of Humanities Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Arts) University of Tasmania, May 2015 Declaration of Originality This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of my knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgmentis made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Signod =awa II Authority of Access This tpesis is not to be made available for loan or copying for seven years following the date this statement was signed. Following that time the thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying and communication in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. This thesis includes edited versions of three published articles as follows. The first half of the discussion in Chapter Three includes a largely edited version of a discussion published as 'Nakagami Kenji's "Writing Back to the Centre" through the Subaltern Narrative: Reading the Hidden Outcast Voice in "Misaki" and Kareki nada' in New Voice Volume 5 (2011, p. 1- 24). The first one third of Chapter Five is a re-worked version of material that appeared as 'Reading Nakagami Kenji's Subaltern Burakumin Narratives through the Perspective of the Omina (Old Woman)' in Japanese Studies Association Journal Volume 11 (2013, p. 158- 178). The publishers of these papers hold the copyright for that content, and access to the material should be soughtfrom the respective journals. Date: Si III Statement of Ethical Conduct The research associated with this thesis abides by the international and Australian codes on human and animal experimentation, the guidelines by the Australian Government's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator and the rulings of the Safety, Ethics and Institutional Biosafety Committees of the University. Date: I 9 � I O � J.-0I f IV Acknowledgements I would like to express the deepest appreciation to Barbara Hartley, my Ph.D supervisor at the University of Tasmania, for her valuable guidance and advice. Her wisdom, knowledge and commitment inspired and motivated me and I feel indebted for her earnest help and encouragement. Sincere thanks are also due to: Yoji Hashimoto, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and Nicki Tarulevics of the University of Tasmania for their ongoing support and assistance. Lecturers and staff members of Kumano University, including, Nori Nakagami, Shiiji Takazawa, Masaki Waga, Yiiichi Tsujimoto, Iwao Matsumoto, Yiiji Morimoto and Teruhiko Higashi, for sharing their best thoughts and memories ofNakagami Kenji. Naomi Watanabe who kindly accepted to act as my supervisor during my research at Waseda University as a Japan Foundation Fellow. Teru and Yukie Shimamura in appreciation for their hospitality during my stay in Sangenjaya. Fukuko Kobayashi ofWaseda University and Shoji Hidaka and Mayako Murai of Kanagawa University who warmly welcomed me as a visiting scholar in their workshops, respectively. Tsuyoshi and Michiko Kuribayashi, Yoko Konishi, and Tsuneo Nakamori for their warm receptions at the Fire Festival in Shingii. Tomoko Aoyama and Mats Karlsson for their incisive comments on my thesis. Tessa Morris-Suzuki for her insightful suggestions on my research, Mayumi Shinozaki for her support during my research at the National Library of Australia. Maria Flutsch for her proofreading of my thesis. Eiko Osaka, Jenny Scott, Yoko Kawasaki, Yasushiro Ishii, Satoshi Kamijo and Yasutomo Sato who generously gave me their time in Tokyo. All those who gave me great support: Donald, Mikako, Mei, Mia, Aneita, Steve, Emerald, Manabu, Masa, Angela, Motoko, Hitomi, Lina, Terry, Sally, Alex, Rie, Grant and Hide. My parents in Japan, Shigeru and Reiko Iwata, and also my brother Koichi and his family who have always believed in me and wished for my success. I owe my deepest gratitude to my daughter, Mimori, for her limitless patience and love. Without the assistance of all these people, this study would never have been completed. Finally, I give sincere thanks to Nakagami Kenji whose narratives have graced my life. - Kokorozashi o tsugu - v Abstract How does a writer represent the voice of the voiceless? This is the primary question in my reading of Burakumin writer, Nakagami Kenji (1946-1992). My project explores Nakagami's representation of the voices of voiceless (mukoku) people - especially Burakumin people - who are oppressed by mainstream Japanese social structures. Nakagami was always conscious of the fact that, in spite of his own background, his privilege as a writer made it difficult for him to 'represent' the voices of the dispossessed. This 'paradox of representing the silenced voice' is the key theme of my thesis. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak theorises the (im)possibility of representing the voice of 'subalterns,' those oppressed by ideologies such as imperialism, patriarchy and heteronormativity. Arguing that the oppressed Burakumin peoples depicted in Nakagami's narratives are Japan's 'subalterns,' I draw on Spivak to analyse Nakagami's material. There is no other study, in either Japanese or English that reads Nakagami through Spivak's ground-breaking ideas. Spivak's work reveals and transcends the complicity of Western (Northern, in Gramsci' s terms) intellectuals in the suppression of the non-West (or South). I argue that Nakagami similarly interrogates the relationship between mainstream and marginalised in Japan. Nakagami's narratives have a strong geopolitical perspective that reveals the 'otherness' of his birthplace, Kumano. Nakagami identifies Kumano as Japan's marginalised 'South.' I am particularly interested in drawing on Spivak, and theorists such as Butler and Sedgwick, to profile Nakagami's depiction of marginalised Japanese women, especially Burakumin women. I wish to help readers hear the voices of these women who are often violated sexually by the men given a profile in much Nakagami scholarship. Firstly, I will revisit the voices of key male characters, and the voice of Nakagami himself, in order better to understand the role these men play in suppressing women's stories. Through reviewing conflicts between masculine pairs, especially the father and son, I will note how misogynistic homosocial practices silence the voices of the women associated with these males. The analysis references a selection of both well-known and little read Nakagami narratives. Chapter One examines the 1978 travel journal, Kishu: ki no kuni, ne no kuni monogatari (Kishu: A Tale of the Country of Trees, the Country of Roots), as an early representation of the silenced Kumano Burakumin voice. Chapter Two focuses on the 1976 short story, 'Rakudo' (Paradise) little discussed in existing scholarship, to explore the depiction of the voice of a violent young patriarch and the defiance expressed by the silence VI of his wife. Chapter Three considers Nakagami's masterpiece, the Akiyuki trilogy. Rather than the better known 1976 and 1977 works, 'Misaki' (The Cape) and Kareki nada (The Sea of Withered Trees), close attention is given to Chi no hate shijo no toki (1983, The End of the ' Earth, Supreme Time), written after Nakagami's declaration of his Burakumin background. The second half of the thesis focuses directly on the rarely heard voices of Burakumin women. I profile these women as independent subjects, rather than objects of male interaction. Chapters Four and Five introduce women from the Akiyuki trilogy. Satoko, the prostitute who unknowingly commits incest with her half-brother, Akiyuki, becomes a pawn in the power struggle between her father and half-brother. The aged 'oldest sister,' Yuki, sacrificed her youth in a brothel to feed her father-less family. Moyo remains traumatised by the rape that resulted in the conception of her now adult son. Nakagami's most celebrated woman character, Oryu no oba, the mid-wife and community mother of the buraku community, from Sen 'nen no yuraku (1982, A Thousand Years ofPleasure), is also discussed to support my interpretation of Burakumin women. Finally, I examine the writer's last published novel, Keibetsu (1992, Scorn), with its account of the Tokyo topless dancer, Machiko, who migrates to her husband's rural 'hometown' where she is oppressed and branded as immoral by the gaze of her partner's community. My close reading ofNakagami's representation of the voice of these sexually stigmatised women is my unique contribution to Nakagami scholarship. VII Matters of Technical Presentation of the Thesis Japan~se and Korean names are presented, after the convention in these countries, with surname first and given name following. The exception to this is the case of writers who have written and published in English, such as Yumiko Iida. In the case of Japanese works which are translated into English, I present the writer's name in Japanese order and spelling, even when the English translation gives the name in Western convention. For example, in the case of the English translation of Karatani Kojin's works, the author's name is usually presented as Kojin Karatani. I retain Japanese convention with respect to the use of his name. After the first reference I refer to. writers in the manner that is the common practice in the literature. Sometimes this means referring to them by their given rather than family name. For example, Tayama Katai is referred to as Katai after the first reference because this is the convention in Japanese literary discourse. Multiple brief quotations from the same source within a single paragraph in this thesis are cited in the final appearance within the paragraph. Three periods enclosed in square brackets are used to indicate omissions of words in a cited quote. Modified words and expressions are also placed in square brackets.