Personal Views: Explorations in Film

11. The Ghost Princess and the Seaweed Gatherer: Ugetsu Monogatari and Sansho Dayu

273 He฀had฀taken฀a฀Chinese฀drawing฀of฀geese฀from฀the฀boudoir,฀ and฀was฀copying฀it,฀with฀much฀skill฀and฀vividness.฀.฀.฀. ฀ “But฀why฀do฀you฀copy฀it?”฀she฀asked.฀.฀.฀. ฀ “I฀want฀to฀know฀it,”฀he฀replied.฀“One฀gets฀more฀of฀China,฀ copying฀this฀picture,฀than฀reading฀all฀the฀books.” D.฀H.฀Lawrence,฀Women฀in฀Love A฀colleague฀told฀me฀recently฀that฀he฀would฀not฀feel฀qualified฀to฀ talk฀about฀Ozu฀and฀Mizoguchi;฀that฀he฀would฀not฀know฀how฀to฀ approach฀them;฀that฀he฀could฀do฀so฀only฀in฀terms฀of฀mise-ensc ène.฀In฀the฀context฀of฀the฀conversation฀it฀was฀clear฀that฀this฀ was฀a฀covert฀reprimand฀rather฀than฀an฀expression฀of฀humility:฀ my฀colleague฀meant฀that฀he฀did฀not฀know฀enough฀about฀the฀ circumstances฀of฀production฀within฀which฀the฀films฀were฀made฀ (the฀Japanese฀film฀industry,฀social-political-cultural฀conditions฀ at฀the฀time)฀or฀about฀the฀conventions฀on฀which฀they฀draw฀and฀ the฀ cultural฀ tradition฀ within฀ which฀ those฀ conventions฀ developed ;฀and฀he฀implied฀(correctly)฀that฀I฀knew฀no฀more฀than฀he.฀ I฀think฀we฀were฀both฀aware฀that฀fundamental฀principles฀were฀ involved,฀ though฀ neither฀ of฀ us฀ pursued฀ them:฀ fundamental฀ questions฀about฀the฀nature฀and฀function฀of฀art฀and฀the฀status฀ of฀individual฀works:฀art฀as฀art,฀or฀art฀as฀social฀process.฀My฀own฀ position฀with฀regard฀to฀movies฀from฀“alien”฀cultures฀is฀implicit฀ in฀earlier฀essays฀in฀this฀book.฀I฀think฀any฀knowledge฀one฀might฀ acquire฀about฀cultural฀background฀and฀circumstances฀of฀production ฀ is฀ potentially฀ useful,฀ but฀ also฀ potentially฀ dangerous:฀ useful,฀as฀a฀test฀of฀one’s฀own฀perceptions;฀dangerous,฀because฀ such฀ knowledge฀ of฀ a฀ culture฀ which฀ must฀ necessarily฀ remain฀ 11 The฀Ghost฀Princess฀and฀the฀Seaweed฀Gatherer Ugetsu฀Monogatari฀and฀Sansho฀Dayu 274 chapter฀11 alien฀however฀much฀information฀we฀acquire,฀can฀easily฀influence ฀our฀reading฀of฀individual฀works฀disproportionately:฀we฀begin ฀to฀see฀“Japanese฀culture”฀instead฀of฀Mizoguchi.฀A฀“realized”฀ work฀of฀art฀will,฀by฀and฀large,฀carry฀its฀explanation฀within฀itself,฀ for฀anyone฀willing฀to฀trust฀(however฀provisionally)฀his฀instincts฀ and฀imagination. ฀ Around฀the฀same฀time,฀one฀of฀my฀students฀told฀me,฀during฀a฀ seminar,฀about฀Yin฀and฀Yang.฀Yin฀and฀Yang฀are,฀in฀Japanese฀tradition ,฀the฀passive฀and฀active฀principles฀respectively;฀they฀correspond ฀to฀the฀moon฀and฀sun,฀woman฀and฀man,฀water฀and฀fire.฀ My฀student฀applied฀them฀(resourcefully,฀I฀thought)฀to฀the฀water฀ and฀fire฀imagery฀of฀Sansho฀Dayu.฀I฀like฀Yin฀and฀Yang;฀I฀find฀them฀ immensely฀reassuring.฀They฀confirm฀for฀me฀that฀I฀had฀understood ฀Sansho฀Dayu฀before฀I฀heard฀of฀either฀of฀them.฀They฀figure,฀ I฀think,฀in฀most฀mythologies฀(e.g.,฀Diana฀and฀Apollo)฀and฀in฀ the฀novels฀of฀D.฀H.฀Lawrence฀(e.g.,฀The฀Rainbow).฀They฀help฀me฀ to฀make฀my฀point:฀that฀(give฀or฀take฀a฀few฀details)฀the฀essential฀ significance฀of฀Sansho฀Dayu฀can฀be฀deduced฀from฀the฀specific฀ realization฀of฀the฀film;฀that,฀at฀most,฀one฀needs฀a฀knowledge฀of฀a฀ few฀other฀Japanese฀films฀from฀the฀same฀period฀in฀order฀to฀con- firm฀one’s฀deductions.฀How฀many฀westerns฀must฀one฀see฀before฀ one฀can฀confidently฀interpret฀Rio฀Bravo฀or฀The฀Searchers?฀A฀few,฀ I฀think:฀perhaps฀four฀or฀five.฀I฀am฀aware฀(and฀could,฀I฀think,฀ have฀deduced฀without฀being฀told)฀that฀the฀styles฀of฀Ozu฀and฀ Mizoguchi฀derive฀from฀various฀traditional฀elements฀in฀Japanese฀ art—particularly฀drama฀and฀painting.฀I฀cannot฀imagine฀how฀a฀ more฀detailed฀knowledge฀of฀these฀elements฀than฀I฀have฀would฀ significantly฀affect฀the฀way฀in฀which฀I฀read฀the฀films. An฀attempt฀to฀define฀the฀art฀of฀Mizoguchi฀can฀usefully฀take฀as฀ its฀starting-point฀comparison฀with฀his฀great฀contemporary฀Ozu.฀ It฀must฀be฀said฀at฀once฀that฀any฀general฀definition฀must฀be฀tentative ฀in฀the฀extreme,฀being฀based฀on฀only฀a฀small฀proportion฀of฀ each฀director’s฀work:฀about฀a฀dozen฀Mizoguchis฀and฀only฀half฀ 275 the฀ghost฀princess฀and฀the฀seaweed฀gatherer as฀many฀Ozus,฀mainly฀late฀works฀in฀both฀cases.฀The฀enterprise฀ is฀further฀complicated฀by฀the฀great฀range฀of฀subject-matter฀and฀ expression฀within฀Mizoguchi’s฀work.฀Rather฀than฀attempt฀to฀offer ฀generalizations฀that฀would฀cover฀even฀all฀his฀accessible฀films,฀ I฀am฀limiting฀this฀essay฀to฀only฀two,฀though฀they฀seem฀to฀me฀the฀ greatest฀and฀most฀completely฀representative฀of฀those฀I฀have฀seen:฀ Sansho฀Dayu฀and฀Ugetsu฀Monogatari.฀They฀are฀closely฀related฀to฀ each฀other,฀and฀the฀other฀late฀works—including...