The Japanese Story Project: “Kumono Ito”

Translation by Kunimasa Nerome
Edited by Jenny Auld

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927) was known in his lifetime — and beyond — as a genius of the short story form. He lived and wrote in the early part of the 20th century during the Taishō period, a time of great change in Japan. With the new emperor, Yoshihito, who ascended the throne when Akutagawa was twenty years old, came an increasingly democratic, liberal spirit and a continuation of the openness to Western influence that had begun in the previous era.

Akutagawa himself embraced this universal vision wholeheartedly and brought it to bear in his work. He and his circle of friends translated and published works by WB Yeats and Anatole France in their literary journal. Akutagawa’s story “Kumono Ito” — in which Buddha attempts to rescue a soul from the underworld using the silk thread of a spider — is based on a Russian folktale.

Akutagawa won the regard of his peers and the respect of his literary idol, Natsume Sōseke, during his relatively short life. He was amazingly prolific, writing more than 150 short stories before his untimely death at thirty-five. His early short story, “In a Grove,” was the source material for the 1950 Akira Kurosawa film Rashōmon, which in turn gives its name to the “Rashōmon Effect,” in which the same event is related from contradictory viewpoints.

After Akutagawa’s death, his friend, the writer Kan Kikuchi, established the Akutagawa Prize in his memory. The prize is still awarded twice a year to young or emerging Japanese writers.

Below is an excerpt from Akutagawa’s “Kumono Ito,” (“The Silk of the Spider”), newly translated by Kunimasa Nerome for Legible’s Japanese Story Project.

***

One morning in Paradise, Buddha was taking a walk around a lotus pond. The lotus flowers rose from the water, pure pearl-white, and from their golden centers flowed a fragrance that cannot be described by words. It was dawn in Heaven.

After a while, Buddha stopped walking and stood at the very edge of the pond. He peered down to the Underworld through the crystal clear water between the lotus leaves. As the lotus pond in Heaven was located directly above the deepest part of the Underworld, Buddha could see all the way down to the River of Separation Between Life and Death, and even to the Mountain of Needles.

Buddha’s eyes scanned the crowds of sinners who were crawling in the Underworld and rested on a man named Kandata. Kandata was a scoundrel who, in his time on earth, had done many evil deeds, such as killing people and setting fire to houses.

Kandata had, however, done one good thing in his lifetime. Once, as he was walking through the woods, he found a small spider crawling on the path. He lifted his foot to crush the spider but suddenly thought to himself: “Even though it is small, it is certainly alive. Taking away its life for no particular reason would be too cruel and pointless.” He decided not to kill the spider but spared its life.

Buddha remembered Kandata’s deed and had compassion on him. Perhaps Kandata could be salvaged from the Underworld for this small act of kindness.

Buddha happened to see a spider close by, hanging from its beautiful silver silk. He took the spider gently in one hand, and with the other, he carefully lowered the line of silk straight down, through the clear pond, between the pearl-white lotuses, and into the depths of the Underworld.

***

Kunimasa Nerome ( 根路銘 国真 ) was born and raised in Okinawa (沖縄), Japan. He is in his fourth year of study in political science at The University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. He loves bicycles, raccoons, and ramen, not necessarily in that order.

Jenny Auld was born in Vancouver, Canada. She has an honours degree in linguistics from UBC, with a specialization in the history and structure of the English language. She has written and edited for various publications, and is also an exhibiting artist, with three solo shows at Art Sui Gallery in Taipei, Taiwan. She likes ginger milk tea, riding her bike, and watching way too many Korean dramas.