Cross-Cultural Patterns in the Quest Fiction of Okamoto Kanoko

THE COMPAnATIST CROSS-CULTURAL PATTERNS IN THE QUEST FICTION OF OKAMOTO KANOKO Maryellen T. Mori The interrelated themes of social alienation and spiritual quest inform the prose fiction of Okamoto Kanoko, a poet, novelist and Buddhist scholar who Uved in Japan from 1889 to 1939. Many of her stories trace a woman's process of disenchantment with conventional female roles and the awakening of her creative or spiritual aspirations. This essay examines Kanoko's early short story, "Konton mibun" ([Primeval Chaos], 1936), as an exemplar of female quest fiction. "Konton mibun" contains inprototypical form many ofthe themes and characters Kanoko elaborated in her subsequent literature; it thus serves as an ideal point ofentry into her fictional world. Ofparticular significance to the present study are the story's striking correspondences with western women's quest fiction. Using feminist literary theory and Jungian archetypal analysis as its chief interpretive tools, this essay elucidates the female heroic quest paradigm that underpins "Konton mibun" and situates the work within a cross-cultural feminist literary tradition. Okamoto Kanoko and her female writer contemporaries represent the first burgeoning of Japanese women's literary talent in nearly a mülennium. When aristocratic culture flourished during the Heian era (794-1185), it was the ladies at court who virtuaUy monopoUzed Uterary production, creating the bulk of what survives as Japan's classical prose Uterature. From the twelfth century, civil warfare, the gradual transfer of pohtical power from the imperial family to a warrior class, the formation of a feudal society, and the growing influence of misogynist religious doctrines combined to bring about a steady decline in women's social and legal status, women's disappearance from public Ufe, and their loss of all channels of self-expression, including literary ones. By 1600, müitary rule had estabhshed order, but throughout the long, peaceful period that ensued, women were thoroughly subjugated and their voices suppressed. The year 1868 marked the coUapse of the feudal regime and the beginning ofthe modern era. The nation began an erratic transition from a hierarchical society guided by Confucian moral principles to an industrial society based on democratic ideals. The dissemination of western poUtical, phüosophical, and literary influences played a role in shaping the process of social transformation. The revolutionary spirit of the age moved some women to challenge the doctrines and assumptions that defined them as men's moral and intellectual inferiors, bound to serve and obey men throughout their lives. Female intellectuals concerned with women's future in modern society and female authors intent on reclaiming the legacy of their literary foremothers gradually began to emerge in the late nineteenth century. Vol. 20 (1996): 153 CROSS-CULTURAL PATTERNS IN OKAMOTO KANOKO It was not untü the Taishö era (1912-1926) that a significant number of talented and prolific women writers burst onto the scene. Their writing shared a common theme: women's struggle to break out of the role of "good wife and wise mother" to which they had been confined during the feudal ages, and to achieve economic, psychological and creative autonomy. Among this bevy of spirited women, Okamoto Kanoko stands out for her extraordinary personal charisma and creative vigor. WhUe Kanoko was stül in her teens, her poetry was pubUshed and praised by the vanguard poets of her day. When Japan's first feminist Uterary group, "Bluestocking" ("Seitö"), was founded in 1911, she immediately became a member and began pubUshing poetry in itsjournal. She produced four volumes ofpoetry in her lifetime. During a stormy period in her marriage to prominent cartoonist Okamoto Ippei, Kanoko turned to Buddhism, first immersing herselfin Zen meditation practice, then in Buddhist scholarship. She achieved a reputation as a Buddhist scholar, and she lectured widely and published proUficaUy on this subject. Although she did not take up fiction writing untü the last few years of her life, it is for her accomphshments in this area that she has won lasting renown. Her lush prose style, extensive use ofwater imagery, and fusion offeminist and reUgious motifs are among the distinctive characteristics of her Uterature. The content and the Uterary features of Kanoko's works are shaped by a feminist sensibiUty; they are products of an...