Note | Killing Commendatore, Book 1: The Appearing Idea by Haruki Murakami, Shinchosha, 2017

Information of the Book

Killing Commendatore is the 14th long novel by Haruki Murakami.

Outline and Style

A story of 36 years old male portrait specialized painter. The style is a reminiscence by the man.

Book 1 consists of 32 chapters. The chapters are attached titles of a vague passage.

Characters

Painter (‘I’)

: A portrait specialized painter. Graduated from an art collage.

Yuzu

: Former painter’s wife. Younger than him 3 years. Have a architecture licence and worked at a small architecture office. A classmate of my former girlfriend. The painter fell in love with her at first sight, because she resembles his younger sister. She married with him two times. The interval (live separately to him) was 9 months, and he lived in the valley. When he was 36 years old,

Wataru Menshiki (7 -)

: A successful IT business entrepreneur. 54 years old well-dressed good-build mysterious man with a curled long white hair.

Masahiko Amada

: Collage class mate with him. When he graduated from the Art Collage, gave up job of painting, and got a employment at an advertising agency.

Tomohiko Amada

: A 92 years old famous painter of Japanese painting. Graduated from Tokyo School of Art (present Tokyo Art University), he studied abroad oil painting at Wien from 1936 to 1938. He converted to Japanese painting during the Pacific War because of .

A later twenties married woman slept with the painter (1)

: A married later twenties women with a characteristic face, suffered domestic violence by her history private high-school teacher husband.

A 41 years old married woman slept with the painter

: The another was a wealthy 41 years old woman with chic outfits and a firm body, and her husband run a company.

Manager of a art agent (, 3)

Komichi (3, 10, 23)

: Younger sister of the painter. She suddenly dead at 12 years old by the heart disease when he was 15 years old.

‘Long face’ (5)

Ex-lover of Menshiki (13)

: Mr. Menshiki associated with her till 13 years ago. She married with other man without noticing. Mr. Menshiki thinks she may give birth his child seven months after the marriage. But she died 7 years ago.

Man of White Subaru Forester (19)

: A middle aged gray-haired man run after a girl.

A late twenties girl (19, 27)

: A late twenties girl with a uncharacteristic face and usual clothes. The painter came across her at a family restaurant in Miyagi. She run away from the man of white Subaru Forester.

Commendatore (21 -)

: Idea. A 60 cm height small man wears the clothes of the Asuka era from the painting work ’Killing Commendatore’ by Tomohiko Amada. He isn’t a ghost, is a ‘idea’ exists in some restrictions and forms himself between few hours in a day, and speaks by a strange ancient way of speaking. He had became a pure idea and he has no liner memory.

Young bartender (23, 24)

Chef (24)

Marie Akikawa (25, 28, 30)

A 13 years old, small, quiet and mysterious girl. A student of the art course run by the painter near the Odawara station, and Mr. Menshiki thought that she is a danger between him and his ex-lover.

Shoko Akikawa (30)

A early forties grace woman, an aunt of Marie Akikawa. She accompanied Marie when the painter drew the portrait of Marie. During the painter drew the portrait, she read a covered thick paperback made a secret the title in the living room of the painter’s house.

Man without face (prologue)

: A tall man without face, and wears a black cap and a dark long coat.

Locations

Upper part of the mountain near the entrance of a narrow valley

: The place where the painter stayed. The former atelier of Tomohiko Amada in the suburban Odawara city. The painter actually borrow from Masahiko Amada of the reason of worry about theft and fire.

Culture shool in the front of Odawara station

: The painter was introduced there by Masahiko Amada. He taught dessin and water colour on Wednesday and Friday.

Mr Menshiki’s house

: A big elegant white house.

A Small Shrine

Hole Under the Small Shrine

Key Elements

penguin amulet (prologue)

‘Killing Commendatore’

: A painting work by Tomohiko Amada. It was painted a violent scene of the Asuka era. A young man thrusts the breast of a old man by a heavy sword. A young women a male servant see this duel. And the strange man sees the scene from a hole of the left lower edge part of the painting.

Cheap second-handed car

: Power blued Toyota Corolla Wagon

portrait

Jungle Network (8)

Jungle Network means a word-of-mouth network among married women and housewives.

Akinari Ueda

opera

Bell like an Ancient Instrument (15 -)

: buddhist instrument

The portrait of Mr. Menshiki (, 18, 19)

idea (21)

The portrait of white Subaru Forester (20, 22, )

binoculars (24,)

Summaries and Memoirs

Prologue

A man without face visited a room of a painter and ask him to draw his face. But The painter can’t draw his ‘face’, because there’s mere nothingness. And the man has no time and left the room.

1. If the Surface is Misty

From May of the year to the begging of the next year, A painter lived an upper part of the mountain near the entrance of a narrow valley. From the house it can see the nasty part of the see and the imaginative mountain scene.

At the time, The painter and his wife divorced temporarily during nine months, and they can’t well understand why they devorced. And he can’t comprehend the time was short or long, the mean of the chaotic time and amazing events of the time.

  • Henri Bergson’s durée

An art collage classmate Masahiko Amada lent the painter the house of former his father’s atelier, the reason of ‘The house would fall into ruin, and there’s anxiety of theft and fire’. His father is the famous painter of Japanese painting and had entered a high-grade nursing home in Izu. powder bleu Toyota Corolla Wagon

The time of divorce, the painter had an affair with two women. Both were the students of a painting class ran by him.

When the painter was a art collage student, he made big abstract paintings. But, to earn his daily bread, he began to do the jobs of portrait painting. Somehow, his portrait paintings had got evaluations by the clients. To make portraits as a labour is easier than other labour works and abstract painting.

When he paint a portrait, he meets and interview with a client, and received snapshots of the client. he paints a portrait by the three-dimensional visual memory of a client not a client itself.

He started an independent business as a portrait-specialized-painter. Sometimes he feels ‘I’m a high-grade prostitute in painting’. But the time he were 36 years old and should wash his hands of the business.

2. Eveyone May Go to the Moon

A evening of middle of march before one month to the 6th wedding anniversary, the painter’s wife told him that she wanna divorce to him immediately by a dream she had. So he went away the home within the day.

In a hurry, he heaped up necessities and artist’s materials to his red Peugeot 205. Then his wife told me that ‘Can I remain your friend?’. red Peugeot 205

He wandered about aimlessly Tokyo by the car. Sheryl Crow’s first album

He headed for the north by highways and reached the side of the Japanese Sea. Octet by Mendelssohn; I Musici Chamber Orchstra; MJQ (Modern Jazz Quartet); Pyramid; Milt Jackson

He reached Hokkaido, then for three weeks he wandered about Hokkaido. In the later half of April he headed to Japanese mainland along the side of the Pacific.

  • In some parts of this novel, Murakami uses ‘ore’ as a subject pronoun of the narrator. ‘Ore’ is one of Japanese subject pronoun, adult men use. Usually Murakami uses ‘boku’ (male children and young men’s subject pronoun) or ‘watashi’ (subject pronoun of women and adult men) as a subject pronoun by the narrator.

The painter met with his wife when ‘I’ was few before 30 years old. After 6 months to the first meeting, he married with her. She worked at a architecture office and he worked at home to paint portraits.

He couldn’t think of the reason why Yuzu wanted to divorce. They spent a good married life he thought.

He felt fatigue by wandering, so he stayed a little old spa treatment spot in the mountain at border of Miyagi prefecture and Iwate prefecture. To the way to Tokyo, his red little Peugeot 205 was broken. So he returned Tokyo by train. At Tokyo, He called for Masahiko Amada to explained his circumstances, then Masahiko told him that ‘There’s a good house just for you’.

3. It’s Only a Physical Reflection

After the wandering, the painter phoned Yuzu from the house in Odawara, because he want to take back his belongings left in Yuzu’s room.

He went to the mansion at Hiroo and took back his belongings.

He called the agent of art and told that ‘I will never paint a portrait again.’. The manager said ‘I think you have a special ability to make portrait’. Rolling Stones;

Tomohiko Amada’s atelier is a Western style cottage (cabin) unsuspectedly. In the house there were huge Tannoy speakers, Marantz vacuum tube amp and fine record collection of opera. Masahiko Amada said his father is a fan of opera, and he went to opera theatres frequently when he studied abroad at Vienna, and he studied modern Western fine art. Volvo; Tannoy; Maranz

The painter taught dessin and water colour at a culture school in the front of Odawara station on Wednesday and Friday.

4. To See from a Distance, Almost All Things Look Beautiful

The (former) studio of Tomohiko Amada motivated the painter, but he had no idea of which he wants to draw.

Puccini; Turandot; La Bohème;

Two days of the weeks he and a 41 years old married women had affairs at the house.

They purely enjoyed the sexual connection in body.

He read Tomohiko Amada’s books and listened Amada’s records remained in the house, and shared with Amada the mind. Beethoven; Schubert

He was interested in the personality and the works of Tomohiko Amada. He researched the books about him in the Odawara City Library.

Tomohiko Amada drew sceneries of the ancient Japan especially the Asuka era. He had studied abroad western oil painting at Wien. But he suddenly backed to Japan in 1938. After the Second World War, he vividly debuted again as a Japanese art artist. Shotoku Taishi; Wien; the Second World War; Hitler;  Anschluss; attack on Pearl Harbour;

The painter think he should study by the life and works of Tomohiko Amada in some means.

There was a big gorgeous white modern house on the opposing side of valley. And the owner may spend a elegant liberty life.

At that time, he didn’t think the man and the painting Killing Commendatore would affect his life.

5. Breathlessly, also Hands and Feet are Cold

In the house (atelier) of Tomohiko Amada, there’s no painting by himself and other painters. There’s a trace of Tomohiko Amada in the air. Matis; Blacque; Wien

One day, the painter accidentally found a painting work Killing Commendatore by Tomohiko Amada when he entered the attic to find a horned owl. horned owl; Killing Commendatore

He unpacked the wrapping of Killing Commendatore without agreements of Tomohiko and Masahiko Amada. The picture is Japanese art was drew a violent scene of the Asuka era. The painter hit on the painting is connected with Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. Asuka era

For few weeks, he spent only seeing Killing Commendatore with listening to a record of Don Giovanni.

Quotation from Don Giovanni.

6. Until Now, He is a Client without Face

The painter got a mysterious request of paint a portrait by the art agent. The client offered a extraordinary reward and he requested to paint the portrait by face to face. The client lived near the house, and he said he would visit to paint the portrait. Nike; Banana Republic; Starbucks

7. Good or Bad, The Name Easy to Memorize

It’s necessity to draw vivid portrait is the ability to grasp a core in client’s face. Mr. Wataru Menshiki visited the atelier by his silver Jaguar sport coupe. Mr. Menshiki told his house is very near the atelier. He said something like a genuine personality exist on the portraits painted by the painter. Mr. Menshiki asked him to draw freely without a restriction as portrait and said Mr. Menshiki was glad to accept adopting a unusual manner. silver Jaguar sport coupe; Don Giovanni; Prague

The painter realized Mr. Menshiki may have motive for other purpose. Edger Allan Poe

8. Unusual Blessing

The painter searched the word ‘Menshiki’ by Google at an Internet Café in the front of Odawara station, but he couldn’t find the information about him. He called Masahiko Amada to ask about Mr. Menshiki. Google; Facebook

41 years old married women called the painter. He asked her about Mr. Menshiki.

Masahiko called again and he told the painter that he couldn’t find the information about Mr Menshiki and Menshiki may get rid of information about himself. Rendrandt; Doraqroi; Andy Wahhohl; ’Blessing in disguise.’

  • For the first time, the appearance of the internet in Murakami’s novel.

The painter had a love affair with the married woman. He talked with her about Mr Menshiki and she said she would search by the Jungle Network.

  • Jungle Network means a word-of-mouth network among married women and housewives.

After the affair, the painter saw the pure clean house of Mr Menshiki. And he thought ‘the whiteness is a kind of colour’.

9. Exchanging Their Own Pieces

Mr Menshiki went to the painter’s house. They talked about to paint a portrait. The painter told ‘I should critically find the essence of a model’. Mr Menshiki said ‘You may reproduce (represent) a form from a visual memory’, ‘Your works are different to portrait as a pure commercial article’ and ‘I want to paint portrait as an exchange (interchange)’. Starbucks

  • An important part of this novel. This discussion is a notion, a theory or a criticism to create art works, to write novel and to Haruki Murakami himself.

They went to the studio. The painter made Mr Menshiki sit a stool. Georg Solti; Richard Strauss; Ein Heldenleben; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Wagner; Karajan; Erich Kleiber

The painter drew 5 pieces of dessins but he could’t draw the Mr. Menshiki’s face well because he couldn’t grasp the essential image of Mr. Menshiki. Then Mr. Menshiki talked about bits of himself, and they talked about the history of Japanese art. And the talk reached a philosophical discussion about an unconscious common sense, a difficulty of putting into words a self-evidence and a definition of the self in the front of other(s). Meiji Restration; Tenshin Okakura; Fenollosa

The painter reflected about Mr. Menshiki. He can’t draw Mr. Menshiki finely because he can’t grasp the core (heart) of a being as Menshiki.

10. We Push Away Green Grass Highly Grow Thick…

Younger sister of the painter suddenly dead at 12 years old by the heart disease when he was 15 years old. He drew her many times to stock the ‘current memory’ of her.

He suffered the extreme claustrophobia by recalling the sight of his sister was put into a small coffin, rocked and sent to the cerematory.

41 years old married woman told the information about Mr. Menshiki from the ‘Jungle Network’. Jaguar; Range Rover; Mini Cooper; BMW;  Bluebeard’s Castle

After the death of painter’s sister, the relation of his family was broken, and he wanted to concentrate on painting pictures so he went to the art collage.

11. Moon Light Brightened All Things There Were

At 1:45 of a Sunday midnight, the painter woke up, then he realized a tone of a bell rung from a small shrine on a mountain behind. He went the small shrine and confirmed that the bell rung from inside the shrine. By a omnicent feeling, he got back to the house. The tone stopped at 2:31 AM.

On evening of the day, the painter went the small shrine again. The small serine looked shabby in the sunlight. The painter try to draw the portrait of Menshiku, but he can’t.

In the midnight of the next day, the painter heard the tone of bell again.

12. Like That Nameless Postman

Mr. Menshiki visited again painter’s studio. Still the painter couldn’t grasp and draw the portrait of Mr. Menshiki. Richard Strauss; Ein Heldenleben; van Gogh

  • In this chapter, the painter states the notion about painting portrait. Almost all ’auto pilot’ task.

The painter said ‘Anyhow I can’t draw well a ’portrait’ of conventional form as a work’. But Mr. Menshiki said he has a sound curiousity and he want to only the painter represent the shape as it is which his eyes grasp. that Postman of Arles

After the painting, the painter talked to Mr. Menshiki about the occurrences of ringing bell from the small shrine. Then Mr. Menshiki said he want to visit at this night.

Wiener Konzerthaus streicherquartett; Schubert; Tchaikovsky; Rachmaninov; Sibelius; Vivaldi; Debussy; Ravel; Verdy; Puccini; German Opera; Bach; Brahms; Schumann; Beethoven; Mozart

13. At Present, It is Just a Hypothesis Only

The painter and Mr. Menshiki talked about having a child. Then Mr. Menshiki told about ex-lover he associated with 13 years ago, and he inferred she may gave birth his child, but the ex-lover died 7 years ago. Ginza; Akasaka

After her death, Mr. Menshiki got her letter from her lawyer. Judged by the content of her letter, he supposed her child may be his child.

He investigated the child by his lawyer.

14. However, That’s the Strange Incident I Meet First

The painter and Mr. Menshiki went to the small shrine and they found someone rang a bell or something in the small shrine.

Then they returned the house of the painter. They drunk Scotch whiskey and Mr. Menshiki told this incident resembles a thriller in Spring Rain Stories by Akinari Ueda. Scotch whisky; White Label; Akinari Ueda; Spring Rain Stories; Bond of Second Generation

The painter called Masahiko Amada to got approval by him to dig the small shrine.

The painter read Bond of Second Generation by Arinari Ueda.

Mr. Menshiki called the painter and he said he ordered gardeners to dig up the small shrine.

15. It’s Only a Beginning

At 10 AM of a Wednesday morning, the work began.

During the work, the painter and Mr. Menshiki talked about Sokushinbutsu and Nirvana.

Mozart; Sonata for Piano and Violin; Tannoy; Autograph; George Szell; Rafael Druian; Thelonious Monk; Monk’s Music; Coleman Hawkins; John Coltrane;

Under the small shrine, there’s a hole, inside the hole there’s a room made by stones, and the bottle of the hole there’s a bell. Mr. Menshiki went in the room and handed the bell to the painter. Then Mr. Menshiki suggested this room should be investigated by the gardener.

16. A Relatively Better Day

That night the painter can’t fall asleep by the care about the bell.

The next afternoon, the painter went on with the portrait of Mr. Menshiki and he painted it only for himself. After the work, he felt a good sensation of beginning in the air of autumn evening.

At 21:00 of the day, Mr. Menshiki called the painter and they talked about the worth of the event of the day. Menshiki said they had obtained something can’t be digitized by the digging.

Married woman called the painter and they did a phone sex. Tonny Bennett; Nietzsche; Shopenhauer

17. Why Do I Missed the Very Important Thing

The painter remembered Yuzu said ‘Can we remain friends as they are? If you can?’. significance of topos; local rule

The painter gave careful consideration to and struggle with the portrait of Mr. Menshiki. Then the portrait became a work is quite different from a usual portrait. common nothingness (commonplace of absence); Annie Laurie

At 11 AM, Mr. Menshiki came to the house of the painter. V8 engin

18. Curiosity Kills Not Only Cats

The painter and Mr. Menshiki went to the small shrine. Mr. Menshiki said he want to enter and shut himself up in the hall they had dug up. Fumimaro Konoe; Hakone; Atami; curiousity; risk

Mr. Menshiki stayed in the hall covered by a lid (cover) an hour.

Sherlock Holms; Dr. Watson; shadow

The painter told Mr. Menshiki that his portrait was completed in ’a meaning’, but it’s not a portrait, it’s a rather ’a work is modeled on you’. And he said ‘I drew the thing I shouldn’t drew and pull out in you’. Then the painter showed the ‘portrait’ of Menshiki, and Menshiki said ’It’s excellent.’ and ‘You discovered this picture, you found out an image buried in your inner self’. Then Menshiki said he take in it and want to invite the painter to his house dinner. Renbrandt; ego; border between the reality and inreality

19. Do You See Anything Behind Me?

41 years old married woman visited the house of the painter, they talked about the ‘portrait’ and his invitation.

  • The details about the ‘portrait’ of Menshiki wasn’t described. Author described only it is an unusual ‘portrait’ but a fantastic work made by the connection the painter with Mr. Menshiki.

When the painter strolled Tohoku area, he came across a late twenties girl at a family restaurant in a baytown in Miyagi. A middle aged gray-haired man (the man of white Subaru Forester) run after the girl, so the painter and the girl got out the restaurant and run away from him. Ohgai Mori; The Abe Clan; white Subaru Forester; Fool on the Hill; John Lennon; Paul McCartney; Shinagawa

They checked in at a love hotel.

They do hard sex then slept. When he waked up, she had disappeared. After a checkout he went to the family restaurant to eat breakfast. The man of white Subaru Forester was there, and he glared at the painter and his face told the painter like that ‘I exactly know where you were and what you did’. YONEX

At the house of the painter, 41 years old married woman told him that six or seven years ago, Mr. Menshiki was taken into custody in Tokyo Detention House for a insider trading or a money laundering. Tokyo Detention House;  Bluebeard’s Castle

20. A Moment Being and Anti-Being Fuse

Next morning, the painter went to the studio and faced a white canvas to foresee a thing to draw. (canvas zen). He draw a vertical line on the canvas, then started to draw the man of white Subaru Forester by a charcoal. canvas zen; a vertical line

  • Vertical line or border is an important thing of metaphor to divide up between reality and alter world.

He went to the hall of the small shrine and reflected why and how Mr. Menshiki had stayed in the hall.

Masahiko Amada visited the house and the painter told about the hall and the bell. Then the painter said ‘I have a fleeing I want to draw picture, and I’m getting to grasp a new form of art based on portrait’.

Amada told the painter that he and Yuzu had met. She asked his advice on her matters.

This night the painter woke up at 1:35 AM, and he heard the bell was ringing.

21. It’s Small, But the Blood Is Comming if You Cut

The painter was sure that someone ring the bell in the house or the studio. He went the studio but no one ring the bell, and the bell was a shelf he had placed. At that moment, he found a small man of 60 cm height wears the clothes of Japanese ancient era. He realized that the small man is the commendatore in the painting work Killing Commendatore by Tomohiko Amada. Mickey Mouse; Pocahontas; Walt Disney

At around 2:15, Commendatore became silent and vanished. The painter reflected that this world is neither reality nor dream.

22. The Invitation is Still Remain

The next, the painter saw the Japanese art work ‘Commendatore’ (Commendatore still existed in the tableau, the idea ‘Commendatore’ didn’t come out from the tableau), and consider the occurrence of last night and an excellent ability of Tomohiko Amada. van Gogh

Next morning, the painter drew the portrait of the man of white Subaru Forester. When he drew the portrait, the Commendatore emerged spoke to him and he can read the mind of the painter. awakening; Edward G Robinson; Theronias Monk; Don Giovanni; spiritual being

By this night, the Commendatore stopped ring the bell. Mozart; Don Giovanni

23. Everyone Really Exist in This World

At 13 years old, the painter and his younger sister Komichi (10 years old) traveled Yamanashi prefecture and went to the air hole of Mount. Fuji. In the hole, only Komichi entered a small wind hole and stayed the depth of there for a while. The painter greatly shocked. But she got out of the hole calmly and she said ’there’s a special place I can only go in, it’s a room for me’. Yamanashi; Mount Fuji; Louis Carol; Alice in Wonderland

Two years later, Komichi died. The painter felt Komichi had already died in the small wind hole. He thought she might live only the two years of postponement.

A Nissan Infinity limousin by Mr. Menshiki picked up the painter. Mr. Menshiki showed the painter his gorgeous house. A young bartender hired by Menshiki made balalaika for them. They talked about art, playing piano and human abilities. Nissan Infinity; komainu; Meißen; Steinway; Maurizio Pollini; balalaika; Baccarat; Koimari; abstract portrait; cerebral cortex; cosmos; micro cosmos; van Gogh; Mozart; Proust; Persian carpet

Mr. Menshiki showed the painter his writing room. He set the portrait on the room, and it went well with the setting. Schubert; Strings Quartet

Mr. Menshiki explained the lower two floors are used as a storehouse, a laundry room and a gym.

24. I Only Collect Pure Direct Informations

Mr. Menshiki and the painter ate dinner cooked by a chef hired by Menshiki. Robin Hood; Italia; Lucca; champagne; Sicilia; Catania; Verdi; Ernani; Bordeaux wein; souffre; espresso

After the dinner, Menshiki talked about the staying in the hole of the small shrine. He said ‘I want to touch the death’. They got out the terrace of the house, and Menshiki showed his military binoculars and a house on the mountain. And he said a girl may be his daughter lives in the house. border; Icarus; binoculars; Stainway; unlimited solitude

25. I Suppose The Truth Bring a Man Deep Solitude

Mr. Menshiki asked the painter to paint the portrait of the girl named Marie Akikawa and he wanted to see the girl when she would being painted. Menshiki want to only to see her growth in a roundabout way. Then Mr. Menshiki talked about the history of Tomohiko Amada studied abroad in Berlin. Stainway; Austria; the World War 2; Vienna; Berlin; Anchuluss; Germany; Hitler; the Anti-Comintern Pact; Gestapo; Nazi; Asuka era; Bremen

  • Another episode ‘Mr. Menshiki and Marie Akikawa’ begun, but there’s no necessity to .

Hakenkreuz

26. I Don’t Believe Such a Excellent Composition Exists in the World

Two days ago, the agent called the painter and told that Mr. Menshiki payed the charge of the portrait including an extra bonus and the portrait is wonderful and beyond the category of portrait.

The painter watched carefully the Killing Commedatore by Tomohiko Amada in the studio. Donna Anna; Leporello; Nazi; SS; allegory

The painter remembered and reflected that his younger sister Komichi and his visiting Yuzu’s elite family. unconsciousness; Setagaya Ward; Tokyo University

happiness; turning; affinity; solidality; single malt on the rock; Schubert; Strings Quartet;  Rosamunde

27. I Remember the Shape and Form Vividly, However…

The painter told 41 years old women that the dinner at Mr. Menshiki’s house. quality; difficulty; four of British cars; Jaguar E type; Toyota Corolla wagon; Audrey Hepburn; Peter O’Toole

The portrait of the man of white Subaru Forester completed remaining uncompleted. It indicated a ominous sign.

The painter remembered the ‘affair’ with the late twenties girl in a love hotel in Tohoku. She wanted to hit her body and strangle her neck, but he declined.

The painter reflected that the man of white Subaru Forester know the ‘thing’ with the late twenties girl, and he felt restless by the presence of the portrait of the man.

28. Franz Kafka Loved Slopes

croquis; dessin; plan; first impression; view to things

The painter asked the Commendatore that the mean of Tomohiko Amada’s ‘Killing Commendatore’ according to the incident occurred in Vienna, 1938. The Commendatore said ‘you should remain the metaphor as it is, and the code as it is’ and he said metaphorically ‘Franz Kafka loved slopes and viewed them for hours’, ‘you should grasp representation as it is’. metier; metaphor; code; truth; representation; young Marlon Brando; Elia Kazan; On the Waterfront; allegory; parable; chesha cat

29. Strange Element, There Might Be Included

Two days later, Mr. Menshiki called the painter. The painter told ‘I want to draw the portrait of Marie by voluntary will and get rid of ‘a form as your request’ to be natural feeling’. code; enigma

Mr. Menshiki called the painter and he said that Marie Akikawa had accepted the offer of her portrait by her enthusiastic will. Then, he told the the attempted assacination incident in Wien committed Tomohiko Amada. Franz Kafka; 1938; Anschluss; President Miklas; Seyß-Inquart; HItler; Himmler; KZ Mauthausen; Goebbels; Kristallnacht; Paris; Herschel Grynszpan; Rath; Candela

The next day, Mr. Menshiki called again and he told ‘Marie Akikawa will visit at 10:00 AM, Sunday’. trust; secret; view; way of thinking

The next day, the painter got a divorce notice from Yuzu. In the house, he reflected the divorce, but he can’t understand the situation, cause and thier progress. sense of mental numbness; morphine for mind

30. There’re Differences Among Individuals in Such a Thing

(…)

31. Perhaps It May Be Too Perfect

(…)

32. His Specialist Skill Was Very Useful

(…)

Details of the Book

Killing Commendatore, Book 1: The Appearing Idea
Haruki Murakami
Sinchosha, Tokyo, 24 February 2017
512 pages
ISBN: 9784103534327

Related Posts and Pages

Note (EN) | Killing Commendatore, Book 2

Book Review | Killing Commendatore

Summary | Novelist as a Profession

Note (EN) | Novelist as a Vocation

Note (EN) Horned Owl Spreads Its Wings Only With the Falling of the Dusk (Haruki Murakami A Long, Long Interview) with Mieko Kawakami

Timeline of Haruki Murakami

Works of Haruki Murakami

Literature / littérature / Literatur Page

YouTube Haruki Murakami Commentary Playlist

YouTube Literature & Philosophy Channel

Note | Novelist as a Profession by Haruki Murakami, Switch Publishing, 2015

‘Novelist as a Vocation’ by Haruki Murakami is ‘essais’ about his views to literature, art and writing novel.

1: Are Novelists Tolerant Persons?

novel; novelist; literature

Murakami thinks almost all of novelists are idiosyncratic persons and hard to deal with. But they have tolerances to novel or to write novel. To write novel isn’t a difficult thing, and is a form of expression everyone easy to participate. But it’s difficult to continue to write novel in a long term. There’s a kind of a qualification.

intelligence; knowledge; low-gear; story; clitics; ‘for example’

To write novel is not suitable for smart people. Novelists change things by their consciousness to story. Novelist make use of a dynamism of difference between an original thing and a result. Smart people can’t keep on write novel. To write novel isn’t a efficient activity.

‘bovine’ work; ship in a bottle; pace

internal drive; tough endurance

Each professional novelists has a qualification or a strong core as an internal derive can’t stop writing and an tough endurance.

2. When I Became a Novelist

age 30; experiences; general; common knowledge; Jazz; coffee; liquor; the Student Movement; niche; Shigeharu Mukai; Aki Takase; difficulty; Waseda University; disturbance of university; power of moral; Shinjuku; Kabukicho

Before Murakami became a novelist, he spent an unusual life. He married when he was a university student and run a Jazz café in suburban Tokyo. His youth are a tough and hard years, but he was happy and gained wide experience.

  • Jazz café is the Japanese unique style of café, coffee shops play Jazz records all day long.

Jean Racine; Sendagaya; unsociable nature

a sunny day of 1978; the Jingu Stadium; Yakult Swallows; beer; green lawn and white ball; Dave Hilton; Charlie Manuel; double (two-base hit);

A sunny day of 1978, Murakami watched a baseball game of Yakult Swallows at the Jingo (Shrine) Stadium, Tokyo. When Dave Hilton hitter a double, Murakami hit on a notion ’Well, I may also write a novel’. After the works of Jazz café, he wrote his debut novel Hear the Wind Sing on a kitchen table everyday till late at night.

Russian novels in the 19th century; English paperbacks; Japanese contemporary novels; epiphany; Olivetti typewriter; écriture (style of text); ‘translational style’; neutral; flexible

Murakami finished the draft of his first novel, he was’t satisfied with it. So he rewrote the novel in English by an Olivetti typewriter. By rewriting in English, he got the his own rhythm of text. Then he translated that English text to Japanse. He think his style of text isn’t a ‘translational’ style, but is a neutral and flexible style of écriture.

way of expression; important moving; to play music; set of tools

Finding of an own method of writing and to finish the first novel are a ‘important moving’ for him and the feeling is ‘to play music’ rather than ‘to write a novel’.

‘good feeling’; ‘delight’; happiness

The ‘good feeling’ and ‘delight’ he gained when he wrote the first novel, are still unchanged, and he feels the happiness of writing novel every morning when he starts work.

3. About Literature Awards

literature awards; Ryunosuke Akutagawa (Literature) Prize (the Akutagawa Prize)

literary circle; ordinary life

Murakami was’t thinking of keeping away from the Japanese literary circle, he spent only a ordinary civil life and it made his unique position spontaneously.

He wasn’t content with the first and second novels, but he was glad about to get the ticket (qualification) to write novels.

a storm in a teacup; business; Academy Awards; Novel Prize; Raymond Chandler; Nelson Algren; Kurt Vonnegut; Autobiography of Studs Terkel;

Murakami treasured readers buy his book out of their own pocket, rather than literature prizes, medals and favourable reviews. To miss winning the Akutagawa Prize is good for Murakami because of not to put his name and reputation on ’an Akutagawa winning writer’.

5%; Ray Bradberry; Fahrenheit 451; YouTube; 3D Video Game

Murakami thinks 5% of people read books actively. So to read books will not die out.

member of a section committee; individualism

Murakami haven’t served a member of section committee of any literature awards. It may be abandonment of responsibility to young novelists, but he thinks his primal duty as a novelist is to continue publishing high-quality works.

qualification (ability) of a individual; it can’t be argued in the same way

4. On Originality

originality; Oliver Sacks; Anthropologist on Mars; original creativity; Beatles; Please, Please Me; the Beach Boys; Surfing USA; works has fixed value; Gustav Mahler; Thelonias Monk; classic (master piece)

To explain originality is difficult. For example, people can’t continue to hear the songs of the Beatle and the Beach Boys as novel and fresh music. It’s case by case that originalities will fede or not. The originality of the music of Gustav Mahler would be discovered by the posterities.

van Gogh; Picasso; ‘reference’; Sohseki Netsuke; Ernest Hemingway; écriture; Psyche

Novel originalities might become a ‘reference’ of fine art or literature as ‘classic’, like van Gogh, Picasso, Sohseki Natsme or Ernest Hemingway. To evaluate current contemporary works is more difficult than to evaluate ‘classics’ had became original.

artist; style; unique style; standardize; flash in the pan; Beethoven; Symphony No. 9; worth as a work

By Murakami’s opinion, requirements of original artist are below.

  1. An unique style.
  2. He can version up his unique style by his own ability.
  3. The unique style will became a standard among people’s psyche.

chronological substance; ‘marriage swindling’; illusionist; decency; Zbigniew Herbert; avant-garde or not; right-wing or left-wing; fine literature or popular literature; coordinate axis; ’custom’; ‘unwritten rule’; the counter generation

Murakami want to be a ‘unique (original) novelist’. But originalities should be judged by a collaborate work of readers with ‘certain time’.

information glutted society; expression; needs (necessities); freedom; model; natural feeling;

Murakami thinks to make an originality, it needs to reduce anything(s) by myself. To find your necessities, you should find your own spontaneous joy and pleasure. To novelists, it may be more difficult to write simple, necessary and dry words and texts rather than to write complicated, tricky and serious words. Murakami thinks his originality and root of writing novels are a free and natural feeling.

‘self who hopes for no one’; ‘despite’; writer’s block;

Murakami has no slump, because he write only when he want to write spontaneously by the natural feeling.

5. Well, What Should I Write?

training; custom(s); to read books a lot; to watch things and phenomenons; clear conclusion; ‘at present, I can’t conclude neither of them’; things ’as they are’; Paul Valéry; Albert Einstein

Young people who want to be a novelst has to read books a lot and watch things and phenomenons in detail. People who concludes smartly and immediately are not apt to a novelist. The attitude necessary for novelists is like one of ‘at present, I can’t conclude neither of them’ and to accept things ‘as they are’.

collection of things in details; unordered details; ’incoherent memories’; James Joyce; imagination; combination(s) of partial memories; Steven Soderbergh; KAFKA

When Murakami write novel he cites collection of things in details or incoherent memories. A combination(s) of partial memories makes a story.

essay (essai); materials; stock of junks; ‘magic’

When Murakami writes a novel he does’t writes essai or anything except for the novel, to concentrate using materials of memory for the novel.

experience(s); happiness; unhappiness; ordinary family

’nothing to write’; new words and style; not to explain; music; jazz; rhythm; harmony; free improvisation; ad-lib

When he first novel, he had no idea to write, so he felt ‘I only to write I have no things to write’ or make use of a feeling as ’I have no things to write’. But the feeling as ’I have no things to write’ changed ‘I can write anything freely’, then he wrote the novel like playing music while modelling the rhythm and free improvisation of jazz.

inner self; daily life; ’renewable energy’; enduring creativity

It’s easy for novelists to weave a story from inner self rather than to rely on the seriousness of material (facts). You may as well make use of materials as scenes and people of your daily life, and put your imagination to build your own story.

reality of novel; age; era; own reality; to deposit

6. Taking Side with Time: To Write Long Novels

long novels; novelette; short novel; characteristic; quality

Murakami thinks long novel and to write it are his life line or his main battle field, and short novel and novelette are place(s) of training.

’business as usual’; life and work cycle; chores (small jobs); noise

When Murakami writes a long novel, he fixes (keeps) a cycle of life and work like a ‘business as usual’ for keeping vast energy to do a very long term work.

regularity; artist; factory; a liberal; Isaac Dienessen

When Murakami do a long term work as writing a long novel, he must writes 10 pieces of manuscript just calmly everyday. Because the regularity of work is important for him.

first draft; rewrite; ’aging’ (leaving)

Murakami wrote a first draft then rewrote it freely without the care of the conclusion and the whole consistency. After a second or third rewriting, he leave the manuscript for one week or one month for ‘aging’.

my wife; editor(s) of a publisher

Then he consults and argue with his wife, and he rewrites parts in question. There’re no complete texts in novel. So act of rewriting itself is important.

galley; ’carpenter’s work’; Raymond Carver; time; ’preparation’ (arrangement); silent term; understanding; processes

Murakami rewrites many many times, and the works take a lot of patience. But he can’t help feeling happy during the rewritings. Time is one most important essential elements of writing novel, especially term of ‘preparation’ to cultivate a bud of novel. So novelists should set their schedule actively (aggresively).

7. Extremely Individual and Physical Activity

individual activity; intangible subjective things; tangible objective things

To write novel is extremely individual activity in an own writing room. It is the work to change intangible subjective things to tangible objective things. All of writing novel are works in your individual writing room, if you write a novel out of your room or outdoor.

individual motivation of ‘I want to write novels’; solitary work; ‘One day at a time.’

to obtain physical strength;

From Murakami’s individual view, to obtain physical strength is the most important element to write novel. To decrease physical strength makes decrease strength of thinking and mind.

hippocampus; neuron; combination in daily life, between physical exercise and intellectual work;

A combination in daily life between physical exercise and intellectual work ideally affects the kind of creative works of which novelists do. Murakami started running when he had became a professional writer, still now do it about a hour almost everyday.

to tell story; bottom of his consciousness; darkness of mind; collective unconsciousness; individual unconsciousness; ruin and chaos; anti-social literary man; ‘activist writer’

The basic of novelist is to tell (weave, make) story. And to make story is, in other words, to descend the bottom of my consciousnes or darkness of my mind. In the darkness, it’s mixed of a collective unconsciousness and an individual unconsciousness, the primitive age and the contemporary era.

Anthony Trollope; model; usual (ordinary) life; Franz Kafka; principal occupation; side job; concentration by taciturnity; sustainability without being discouraged

Murakami thinks necessary things of novelists are a concentration by taciturnity (reticence) not to show off like ‘Well, my inner chaos is so big like this !’, and a sustainability without being discouraged.

happiness; miracle; genius (gift); ability; technique; capacity; view of the world

types of novelist; Mozart; Schubert; Pushkin; Rimbeau; van Gogh; genius artists; quality of a way of life itself; total balance

8. About School

schools; school education; whole of education

study; to read books; to listen to music; to watch movies

Murakami had been thinking the study of school is boring. But he thought he wasn’t loafing, so that to read books, to listen to music passionately, to play baseball and to go out with girls are his important private study.

English novels; mystery; sci-fi; practical English; collage entrance examination; educational system; individual nature

When Murakami was a high-school student, he started reading English novels by himself. But he could’t obtain good scores in English tests on the school, also honor students in Japan should not read a English novel or speak English with native speakers. Because Japanese English education concentrate(d) on to gain good score on collage entrance examinations, and teach(ed) the technique for it.

interest; sports; ‘doggy characteristic’; ‘catty characteristic’; ‘characteristic like sheep’; Japanese social system; stickiness of ‘priority to numerical value’; bubble economics; wisdom of men; common sense; sophistication of system; consensus; depth; profundity; reflection

The Japanese social system emphasize on utilitarianistic efficiency and materialistic profit. But Murakami thinks Japanese people should make important on flexible and total thinkings like wisdom and common sense.

Fukushima nuclear disaster; structural defeat; economic efficiency

resurgence; development; intention; individual; association; ‘recovery place of individual’

making some mutual friends; to read many books; compound view; objective

To read many in school days made Murakami’s objective compound view and his individual place.

system of school; boring; dreaming (fantasy); efficiency; safety dogma (safety dogma); dangerous brief values; a free thinking and its axe of idea

Murakami thought schools were boring. He prefer to imaginate stories than going to schools. The most different thing to imagination is ‘efficiency’. The conclusion of the Japanese efficient social system may be the Fukushima nuclear disaster. His wish to the Japanese school education is only ‘Don’t oppress children’s imagination’.

9. How Characters That I Should Present?

characters; real person; Somerset Maugham; ’automatic pygmy’s effect’; ‘making characters’

Murakami make characters during building story automatically and naturally. Writing story makes happen details and features of characters.

persons; appearance; saying; negative characters

To write novels, you must know a lot of persons include which you don’t like. To write profound stories, you need to know and write various persons include negative, malicious and curious ones.

Raymond Chandler; Philip Marlowe; first person; third person; imaginary ‘I’

One of Murakami’s pleasure of writing novels is the thing ‘If I wish, I became anyone’. In the former half of Murakami’s career, he aimed at to weave stories by the axe of imaginary ‘I’. In the later one, he began to experiment of using the voice of third person.

naming of characters; nickname

Scott Fitzgerald; * The Great Gatsby*; J. D. Salinger; The Catcher in the Rye

To adopt third personal pronoun, Murakami felt ‘I can became almost anyone’, and he can rely a separated self on a other as a method of story telling.

unpredictable elements; fiction

Novelists create novels, at the same time certain part of self of novelists are created by novels.

character of same age as the novelist; relativization

To describe novel and characters is like a testing ‘a different self’ by unfittable shoes. So Murakami hasn’t write a main character of the same age to him.

10. Who is I Write for?

(…)

11. Going Abroad: The New Frontier

(…)

12. Place a Story Is in

(…)

Product Details

Novelist as a Profession
Haruki Murakami
Switch Publishing, Tokyo, 10 September 2015
313 pages, JPY 1944
ISBN 9784884184438
Content

  1. Are Novelists Tolerant Persons?
  2. When I Became a Novelist
  3. About Literature Awards
  4. On Originality
  5. Well, What Should I Write?
  6. Taking Side with Time: To Write Long Novels
  7. Extremely Individual and Physical Activity
  8. About School
  9. How Characters That I Should Present?
  10. Who is I Write for?
  11. Going Abroad: The New Frontier
  12. Place a Story Is in: Memories of Dr. Hayao Kawai

Related Posts and Pages

Summary | Novelist as a Profession

Book Review | Novelist as a Profession

Note (EN) Horned Owl Spreads Its Wings Only With the Falling of the Dusk (Haruki Murakami A Long, Long Interview) with Mieko Kawakami

Book Review | Abandoning a Cat, When I Talk About My Father

Note | Abandoning a Cat, When I Talk About My Father

Timeline of Haruki Murakami

Note (EN) | Hear the Wind Sing

Note (EN)| Drive My Car from Men Without Women

Summary | Drive My Car from Men Without Women

Book Review | Killing Commendatore

Note (EN) | Killing Commendatore, Book 1

Note (EN) | Killing Commendatore, Book 2

Works of Haruki Murakami

Keywords of Haruki Murakami

YouTube Haruki Murakami Commentary Playlist

YouTube Literature & Philosophy Channel

Note | A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami & Alfred Birnbaum, Vintage Books

Information of the Book

A Wild Sheep Chase is the third novel by Haruki Murakami, the last volume of the ‘Trilogy of the Rat’ and the first full-length novel of Murakami. The narrator and some characters are also appeared ‘Hear the Wind Sing’, ‘Pinball, 1973’ and ‘Dance, Dance, Dance’. To write this novel, Murakami quit the owner and bartender of his Jazz bar. Former his two novels are anti-novel and anti-literature attempts. But, by this novel, Murakami’s full-scale modern urban adventure, his grand narrative and his real literal career began.

Outline and Style

Fragments of 43 chapters and an epilogue. In Japan, this novel was released by books. The book 1 contains mainly episodes in Tokyo, besides it includes ‘my’ memories in 1970 and 1978, episodes of the girl with perfect ears, ‘my’ business partner and the right-wing Boss, and letters from the Rat. And the book 2 contains episodes in Hokkaido include the history of Junitaki-cho and the life of the Sheep Professor.

Book 1

  • Part 1: Memories in 1970 and Naoko
  • Part 2, 3: Memories in 1978 (divorce from the wife, about the girl with perfect ears)
  • Part 4: Meet the ‘matter’ of a sheep
  • Part 5: Letters from the Rat, ‘my’ home coming and about ex-girlfriend of the Rat
  • Part 6: The request by the secretary of the Boss, a departure to Hokkaido

Book 2

  • Part 7: Arrival at Hokkaido, staying at the Dolphin Hotel
  • Part 8: History of Junitaki-cho, an adventure to the highland of the villa of the Rat’s father, staying at the villa, the encounter with the Sheep Man and a separation and death of the Rat
  • epilogue: Return to the ordinary world

Characters

‘I’

: The narrator of this novel. A freelance translator runs a small translation company with a friend. 29 years old.

the Rat

: A rich university dropout made the daily commute to J’s Bar. He had spent ruined idle life in his home town, then wandered around Japan and finally reached his destination, Hokkaido.

the girl with a pair of the most bewitching, perfectly formed ears

: The girl had three occupation, they are a part-time proofreader of a small publishing house, a call girl in a discreet intimate friends-only club and a commercial model specializing in ear shot. Her ears are too beautiful for words, have a ‘special power’ can ‘unblock’ and can foresee the future.

Mrs X (4)

: A grey-haired Englishwoman run a call girl club that the girl of perfect ears registered.

wife of ‘mine’ (2, 3)

: The same character as ‘the girl with long legs’ in Murakami’s former novel, Pinball, 1973. After 4 year marriage, she divorced with ‘me’.

Friend (7, 8, 9, 23)

: A friend of ‘mine’, runs a small translation company together with ‘me’. ‘My’ classmate at the University. The company was successful in business of translations and advertisements.

The girl who’d sleep with anyone (old girlfriend of ‘me’, Naoko) (1)

: The same person to ‘the third girl I slept with’ in Hear the Wind Sing and Naoko in Pinball, 1973. She met ‘me’ in autumn, 1969 at a small coffee shop near the university when she was 19. She died at 26 years old.

the Boss (9, 18)

: A major right-wing figure ruled the centres of political authority and the core sectors of the public relations industry from behind the scene. But his face, name and substance are never publicized. In 1936, he had been possessed by the sheep with the star mark as a blood cyst in his brain, then he had charisma, a solid ideology and the ability to steer society by using weakness of the people.

the secretary of the Boos (8, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 43)

: A black-suited, strange but superior secretary of the Boss. He plotted the whole happenings to gain the power of…

the driver of Limousine (chauffeur) (11, 19, 24, 43)

: A mysterious but religious and polite middle-aged Christian. He knew the phone number of God and called Him every night. He named ‘my’ cat ‘kipper’.

ex-girlfriend of the Rat (16)

Desk Clerk of the Dolphin Hotel (25, 26, 27, 28, Epilogue)

: The son of the Sheep Professor, and the owner and desk clerk of the Dolphin Hotel.

The Sheep Professor (27, Epilogue)

: A eccentric scholar knows all of things about sheep. He was a agricultural researcher and elite public servant. In the researching in China, the spring of 1935, he made a ‘special relationship’, mental relationship or spiritual communion with sheep. He was possessed by the sheep with star mark. So he was discharged by the government office, backed to Japan and became a shepherd in Junitaki-cho. After end of the war, he assumed directorship of Hokkaido Ovine Association. In 1978, he was still researching sheep in the gloomy and dusty room on the second floor of the Dolphin Hotel.

Ainu youth (Ainu shepherd) (29)

: A man contributed to the development of Junitaki-cho and its sheep pasture, was from the Ainu race (a minority race in Hokkaido). His oldest son was killed on the front-line of the Russo-Japanese War in Chine.

the Livestock Section in Town Hall (30)

sheep caretaker (30, 32)

The Sheep Man (35, 36, 37)

: A strange man in a costume of sheep speaks fast. The true character is the Rat in disguise of full sheep skin with two horns, and black leather mask, gloves and socks.

J (15, Epilogue)

: A Chinese bartender and owner of J’s Bar.

Places

Tokyo

: The capital, most populous city and central part of mainland Japan. The scene of the former part of this novel (book 1 in Japanese edition).

Office of the Translation Company

The Boss’s bass (12, 17, 18)

: A two-story cream-colored and a Meiji-era Western-style manor main house and many buildings in a ninety-six thousand six-hundred seventy-one square feet field on a high hill in the suburbs of Tokyo.

Hokkaido

: The northernmost island and prefecture, and the second largest island of Japan. The scene of the later part of this novel (book 2 in Japanese edition). Hokkaido was rapidly developed by the modernization in Meiji-era to Showa-era, and the people were trifled.

The Dolphin Hotel (25, 26, 27, 28, epilogue)

: A small hotel in Sapporo. ‘Its undistinguishedness was metaphysical.’ (p.163) It is five stories tall and not particularly old. The former building of. On the corner of second floor, there’s the Sheep Professor’s room.

Junitaki Township (30-43)

Villa of the Rat’s father (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)

: The villa and the estate was the pasture of the Sheep Professor before. Then the father of the Rat purchased as a villa. The villa and the field around there separated by the bend should be a world of the mind of the Rat. So the girl with perfect ears disappeared on the next day ‘I’ and she had reached there.

J’s Bar (15, epilogue)

: A favourite bar of the Rat and ’mine’ in the hometown. The symbol of ordinary world.

Key Elements

sheep (17, 30)

: Sheep in this novel are the metaphor of refugees, outsiders and persons oppressed by a society, a political and economical system, including Japanese people, the Boss and ‘me’. And they are the metaphor of collective unconscious power and authority of a nation or a mass.

a sheep with the star-shaped birth mark on its back

: I think that the sheep with the star mark is a evil spirit of a ruler, a dictator or a fixer. They had been oppressed and controlled by a government and a society, then they rule a society, politics, economics and people on the behind scene from negative and evil motives.

the will (18), a concept that governs time, governs space, and governs possibility (18), a dynamo manifesting the vial force at the root of all life in one solitary point of the universe (40), a realm of total conceptual anarchy (40)

: The true character of the sheep with the star mark, or the purpose and the object it makes.

weakness (18, 40)

: Because of his real weakness of everything as a hereditary disease, the Rat was possessed by the sheep with the star mark. The sheep likes weakness and darkness of men, fascinates the men own them, and he makes use of them to rule the world by malice.

name (24, 43)

: The chauffeur said acts of naming is having emotional bond and sharing feelings between creatures. So he named ‘my’ cat kipper, because the cat moves by his own will and share feelings with ‘me’. Anywhy, in the end of the story, the cat lost the name, because the chauffeur said ’I’ can’t remember ‘my’ own name.

cigarette (35)

: In ‘my’ staying in the villa of the Rat’s father, anyhow ’I’ gave three packs of Lark to the Sheep Man, gave up smoking and started jogging. I think that is ‘my’ own settlement or solution to ‘my’ own situation and weakness by becoming healthier and stronger.

Keywords, Summary and Memoir

Part One: A Prelude

1 Wednesday Afternoon Picnic

investigation of possible negligence, old quarter of Tokyo, Waseda, pack of cigarettes

‘I’ went to the funeral of an old girl friend in old quarter of Tokyo.

autumn nine years ago, small coffee shop near the university, hard rock and bad coffee, her ashtray full of cigarette butts, Mickey Spillane, Kenzaburo Oe, Allen Ginsberg, the Doors, the Stones, the Byrds, Deep Purple, the Moody Blues, whiskey

Encounter to the old girl at a small coffee shop near the university in 1969.

some rock-music café, cup of coffee, chain-smoke, leaf through book, Mitaka, radio, full blast, FEN rock program, woods, the ICU campus (the International Christian Universtiy), student lounge

most curiously depressing circumstances, any new directions, twenty-fifth of November, Gingko leaves, heavy rains, dry riverbed of gold, bad dreams, two birds, having sex, the ICU campus, hot dogs, Yukio Mishima, lounge TV, kettle, teabag, plain hot tea

In 1970, the student movement had ended, by she still daily commute to the rock-music café. ‘I’ and her still had relation.

2 Sixteen Steps

elevator, whiskey, cigarettes, sixteen steps, icy iron door, red pumps, my mud-caked tennis shoes, cheap beach sandals

After the funeral I got drunked and backed home.

straight black hair, unmanned white neckline, brassiere strap, coffee, transistor radio, succession of innocuous pop songs,perfect morning sound track, air conditioner, radio traffic report, salad, tomatoes and string beans, cucumbers, blue Okinawa glass salad bowl, crackers, lavender smoke, Shinjuku, cat,light rock, winter coat, hats, things I left behind

At that time ‘my’ wife was gone from the apartment by their divorce.

3 The Slip

cola, coffee, cigarette, swimming, aquatic organism, American novel, geranium

Ex-wife disappeared and left not a single trace.

scraped zero

After ‘my’ ex-wife’s disappearance, I spent bored ordinary life nothing changed from day to day.

Part Three: September, Tow Months Later

4 The Whale’s Penis and the Women with Three Occupations

therapy, aquarium, boyhood, whale’s penis, high-ceiling stillness of the exhibition room

The memory of the whale’s penis of the aquarium in ‘my’ hometown.

natural gifts, ‘earholder’, Akasaka, Mrs. X, English-language tutorial school, callgirl, Hilton, Okura, Prince, Kanda, three photos, giant close-ups of an ear, quintessence, paragon, fanciest French restaurant, Aoyama Boulevard

‘I’ slept with the girl with a pair of the most bewitching, perfectly formed ears.

potage tortue, salads verte, mousse de sole, patage d’oursin, roti de beau avec garnie persil, salade de tomate, omelettes and sandwiches, slender clove cigarette, wine, Farrah Fawcett’s nose, the good variety and the bad variety, ordinary story, 1948, December twenty-fourth, Christmas Eve, Capricorn, blood type A, old tomcat, forty cigarettes, three suits, six neckties, collection of five hundred records, Ellery Queen, À la recherche du temps perdus, sole mousse, Nietzsche, blueberry sorbet, espresso, noiseless ventilation system, Mozart concerto, black hairband, fragments of the sensations

‘I’ and the girl went to a French restaurant at the Aoyama Beulevard. They talked about ‘my’ boring life and her ears have special power.

5 Unblocked Ears

beauty, beauty of a variety, extraordinary, unblocked state, agape

‘My’ thinking about her ears. Their beauty of a variety expand as the entire universe, and ‘it transcended all concepts within the boundaries of my awareness.’ ‘I’ and the girl slept together.

6 The Further Adventures of Unblocked Ears

smell of the rain, birds, whale’s penis,

A September afternoon toward summer’s end, ‘I’ met the girl with perfect ears, and slept with her. After the affair there’s phone call by ‘my’ business partner.

Part Four: A Wild Sheep Chase 1

7 Before the Strange Man

alcoholism, one shot of whiskey, a cool glass of barley tea, linoleum, deep-blue shirt, black tie, cologne, T-shirt with Snoopy carrying a surfboard, old Levi’s that had been washed colorless, dirty tennis shoes, plush skyblue Swedish sofa, filter-tip Pall Mall, special visitors’ cigarette case, heavy tabletop lighter, new lithograph, the Salvation Army trumpets, margarine ad, innocent butcher, innocent ham, air conditioner thermostat

About my business partner’s alcoholism. ‘I’ and he discussed and quarreled about their life and occupation.

8 Now the Strange Man

white-gloved hand, white shirt cuffs, well-tailored black suit, subtly toned tie, name card, foreign-born Japanese, white envelope, ordinary photograph of an idyllic Hokkaido landscape, undistinguished pastoral verse

A strange man came to ‘my’ office and told the matter about the photo of a sheep in Hokkaido.

9 The Boss

a major right-wing figure, prewar background, Manchuria, the Kanto Army, the Chinese mainland, Soviet troops, MacArthur, Sugamo Prison, advertising industry, black mail, stock market, Sixth Sense, Stanford graduate

‘My’ partner talked about the Boss, a major right-wing figure, his background, career and character.

10 Counting Sheep

serendipitous spring breeze, “everything”, “zero”, two different names, metaphor, coincidence, innocent world, doughnut holes, purely metaphysical question, whisky, air conditioner, electric wall clock, cognitive means of confirmation, bright blue summer sky, billowing white clouds, not bad Scotch, flock of sheep, grassy meadow, cigarette, ballpoint pen, thirty-three, deep two-whiskey-afternoon sleep

In ‘my’ room, ’I’ thought about the incident about ‘the Sheep’. Why is there the problem? Does the photo mean what?

11 The Limo and Its Driver

cuckoo clock, limousine, spotless white shirt, orange tie, my fifteen-year-old Volkswagen Beetle, push-button telephone, peaceful cello sonata, specially made plain-cut cigarette without a brand, Russian tobacco, sheep emblem, the quiet strain of Bach, waning light of summer afternoon, cicadas, some kind of symbolism to the dream

A limousine arrived at ‘my’ office, and ‘I’ sit on the sheet to go to the place of the boss. The driver of limousine played a cassette tape of a peaceful cello sonata of Bach. ‘I’ found the cigarettes with the sheep emblem.

12 Wherefore the Worn Universe

symbolic dreams, reality, symbolic realities, the worn universe, universe of alternative considerations, high hill, all-too-picturesque course, Japanese garden, small golf course, two-story cream-colorer house, Roman aqueduct, a large Western-style room, elderly maid in kimono, glass of grape juice, sheep emblem, tall man in a black suit

‘I’ arrived the house of the boss. Descriptions of the house and gardens of the boss. ‘I’ entered the large room of the Western-style house.

Part Five: Letters from the Rat and Assorted Reminiscences

13 The Rat’s First Letter (Postmarked December 21st, One Year Ago)

snow, snowing, chickens, eggs, nineteenth-century Russia, Siberia, Dostoyevsky, a small town, Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Aomori

The content of the first letter of the Rat. His letter told ‘me’ his apathetic ruined life in a distant small town on northern tip of mainand, and his mentally awkward situation. And the Rat enclosed his own novel. The letter and the novel shipped to the ‘my’ birthday and Christmas, 24 December.

14 The Rat’s Second Letter (Postmarked May, This Year)

final destination, books, FM music, records, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, sherbet, snowfall, the end of the world, jeep, Olivier, Othello, beer, the Black Sea, a picture of sheep, check for one hundred thousand yen, Sapporo, Hokkaido

In the Rat’s second letter, he told his ruined situation and mind which nowhere to go in his final destination.

15 The Song Is Over

Bullet Train, white short-sleeved shirt, green cotton pants worn through at the knees, white tennis shoes, canned beer, dried-out ham sandwiches, no hometown, rain-gray, the nature of boredom, navy-bleu summer suit, starched white shirt, shiny black shoes, the Beatles, Paul McCartney

Descriptions of ‘my’ homecoming in this June and ‘my’ reflection of the present state.

dank place, unpronounceable Chinese polysyllable, GIs, the Vietnam War, Boz Scaggs, jukebox, university student couples, highballs, fancy cocktail, Caesar salad, Scandinavian puzzle, bulldozed, vodka lime

Then ’I’ remembered the J Bar from ‘my’ first visit in seventeen and, histories of the Rat and J. A chat with J in this June.

unexpectedly warm, mercury-vapour street lamp, rainy season, motorbikes, your typical early summer evening, liquor store, cans of beer, spray-paint graffiti, gasoline station, gray shirt, gray trouser, gray cap, security guard for the area

‘I’ strolled the riverside of ‘my’ hometown and drunk two cans of beer. When ‘I’ hurled the cans to the sea, ‘I’ was warned by a security guard.

16 She Drinks Her Salty Dog, Talking about the Sound of the Waves

stick-with-it type, white sports shirt, green cotton slacks, Russian writer, aphorisms, old American submarine movie, television, claustrophobia, everything-works-out-in-the-end-so-maybe-war’s-not-so-bad-after-all, nuclear war

‘I’ phoned the Rat’s ex-girlfriend and told the letters of the Rat arrived.

green hill, june rain, coffee lounge, bright pink dress, cerulean blue grand piano, quintessential hotel-coffee lounge numbers, sharpen pencils, tortoise, elephants, ample white cotton slacks, orange-and-yellow checkered blouse, leather shoulder bag, drafting work, architectural office, orange juice, coldest time, draft plans, supermarket, FM radio, stockings, sound of the surf, vodka with grapefruit juice, salty dog, Cutty Sark on the rock, lips, napkin, old film scores, wrong background music, second whisky

‘I’ had arranged to meet her at the coffee lounge of a hotel. She talked me about the sound of surfs on the coast near the her apartment and about the Rat.

Part Six: A Wild Sheep Chase, Ⅱ

17 The Strange Man’s Strange Tale

plain-cut cigarette, pupils, homosexual, dark brown with the faintest though of blue, silence, terminal patient, real loss, five million yen, goodwill, mediocre realists, mediocre dreamers, watered-down grape juice

The black-suited secretary of the Boss told the matter of the photo in a roundabout way and mythically.

a large black-and-white photograph, Nikon SLR, definitive silence, cuckoo, scenario, delightfully pathetic, magnifying glass, biology, herbivorous social animal, Meiji-era, source of wool and meat, China, twelve zodiacal animals, H. G. Wells, Martians, no historical connection, modern Japan, rigorous government checks, rhetorical, ordinal Suffolks, faint stain of the back, star-shaped birthmark, solid silver Dupont, the same sheep emblem

The secretary told me to the history of sheep in modern Japan , and implied the issue of the star-shaped birth mark and the same sheep emblem of his Dupont.

  • The sheep are symbol of oppressed people by the governmental system?

18 The Strange Man’s Strange Tale Goes On

mediocrity, mediocre, chaos, Karl Marx, proletariat, Stalinism, Dostoyevsky, Marxism, neurology, blood cyst, U.S. Army, Class A war criminal, the Tokyo War Criminal Tribunal, narcotics, Chinese mainland, Chiang Kai-shek, brainwashing, insomnia, born again, Hokkaido, Korea, right-wing group, Hitler, lebensraum, shadow path, miraculous self-transformation, powerful underground kingdom, Valhalla, world of uniformity and certainty, the Will, a concept that governs time, governs space, and governs possibility,, negation of language, Western humanism, individual cognition, evolutionary continuity, existence, chestnut-colored sheep with the star on its back, cicadas, near-dusk breeze, sixth sense, the most ridiculous story, empty pool

The secretary told ‘me’ about the occur brain symptom of the Boss, his past and the philosophical and metaphysical aim of his underground kingdom. Then the secretary demanded ‘me’ to find the sheep with the star on its back.

  • Suddenly, the world of ‘mine’ and this story connects the history, the political and economic system of Japan, and opened up the view to the world.

19 The Limo and Its Driver, Again

Shinjuku Station, west exit,, Spinning Teacup, And Quiet Flows the Don, The Brother Karamazov, Ideologie Germanica, value of pi, Chopin ballade, Christian, godly person, your simultaneously presence, my Bic

After the meeting, ‘I’ rode again the limousine drove by the driver, to go to the Shinjuku station. ‘I’ chatted with the driver, and he said that he is a Christian and telephone the God every night.

20 Summer’s End, Autumn’s Beginning

pale lavender dusk, summer’s end, the top of high-rise hotel, spacious bar, Heineken, whole dish of peanuts, a million people, early autumn darkness, my Levi’s, stack of ten-thousand-yen, one hundred and fifty bills, cheese and cucumber sandwich, French-Japanese dictionary, cordless transceiver-phone, time limit

‘I’ went to a bar of the high-rise hotel in Shinjuku, drank Heinekens and ate peanuts and cheese and cucumber sandwich. At the time a phone call from the secretary to this bar. He told ‘me’ the Boss’s condition sudden made worse and they set the time limit of one month to find that sheep.

21 One in Five Thousand

digital clock, jogging shorts, T-shirt, three scrub brushes, one box of paperclips, well-chilled six-pack of canned beer, sausages, cotton swab, five thousand sheep, one lone sheep in that vas landscape, Johnny Rivers, Midnight Special, Roll Over Beethoven, Secret Agent Man, Johnny B. Goode, coffee, cracker, so damn stupid

In ‘my’ apartment, ‘I’ and the girl with perfect ears talked about the stupid occur order by the Boss. Hokkaido is the vast landscape and the sheep of the sheep in Hokkaido is five thousand.

22 Sunday Afternoon Picnic

her handkerchief and underwear, orange juice, three-day-old bread, oleander, pigeons, orchid, ineffable aura of fatalism, great divide, eight papers, national and local,, my own pace, nameless people, mediocre person, midway point between their desires and their pride, center of gravity, Sunday-morning feeling, my near-scrap Volkswagen, supermarket, cat food, kitty litter, travel razor, doughnut shop, cinnamon doughnut shop, travel agency, Sapporo, canvas shoulder bag, families, young couple, rain hat, bookstore,paperbacks,checkered shirt, mustard-colored slacks, intensely dark sunglasses,large canvas bag, clove cigarette, the first Sunday of autumn, soft afternoon glow

‘I’ dialed the number of the man in black to talk with a photo of a horse jumping a hedge on the Sunday paper. But he denied to do small talk and said the sheep is the only matter. Then I went to the town to buy travel tickets, outdoor clothes and articles for travel.

  • The group involved ‘me’ in the world of the strange incident. But ‘I’ protested and kept in the ordinary life.
  • Doughnut is the important sign of Murakami’s works. It is the entrance to the underworld or .

23 Limited but Tenacious Thinking

eau de cologne, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, not a bad lead-in sentence, rundown of giraffes and elephants and pandas, responsibility, Brother Johnson, Maynard Ferguson, Star Wars, pre-industrial-revelation translation business, making things simpler

‘I’ phoned the secretary to ask looking after ‘my’ cat during ‘my’ searching. At ‘my’ neighbourhood dive, ‘I’ phoned ‘my’ business partner to say ‘good-bye’ and maybe ‘I’ will never come back to Tokyo, but he purshaded ‘me’ to stay.

24 One for the Kipper

ridiculous submarine, gigantic cookie, appallingly clear, prewar expressionist, refrigerator, gas cock, medicinal items, washbasin, tennis shoes, potato, cars produced in America for export to Saudi Arabia, kitty-kitty, name, Kipper, being witness to the creation heaven and earth, airport, salmon shooting upstream to spawn, Shinjuku to Sendagaya, Antelope, Mule, Names of Ships, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Enola Gay, full-fledged conscious identification, purpose, secondary element, conscious identification with living things, chaos, The Magnificent Seven, non-interchangeability, not mass-produced, name of a physical object, name of a function, fixed, Sleeping Beauty

‘I’ made ready to take a trip and ride the limousine drove by the religious chauffeur to go to the airport. During the driving, the chauffeur named ‘my’ cat ‘Kripper’ and they talked about act of naming. By the chauffeur said naming is the act of identification with living things.

a real character, Home on Pampas, gratin, spaghetti, 747s, Tristars, a fat, ugly old lady,, DC-7, Friendship-7

Part Seven: The Dolphin Hotel Affair

25 Transit Completed at Movie Theater; On the Dolphin Hotel

Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, not a single cloud, orange juice, Ice Age, Chitose Airport, denim shirt, knit vest, endless procession of deep forest, coffee shop, very pragmatic, major former ranches of Hokkaido, library

‘I’ and the girl with perfect ears reached Hokkaido, but the time was three-thirty. So they go to see movies.

deathly quiet, not a common occurrence

They saw two movies in a movie theatre.

twilit street, fake polestar, draft beer, salmon and potatoes, the yellow pages, Dolphin Hotel, bigger lobby than expected, large color TV, parlor set, early days of Technicolor, registration card, fake name, fake address, thick celluloid-rimmed glasses, One-month, twenty ten-thousand-yen notes, corner room away from elevator, room 406, your small, basic hotel,, cockroach, hard-as-asphalt starched sheets, A not very well-known mass guitarists, Kenny Burrell, B.B. King, Larry Cordell, Jim Hall, absolutely realistic grasp, biology

They searched the yellow pages and decided to stay the hotel named ‘the Dolphin Hotel’. They arrived this ‘my’ small, basic, not particularly old hotel, reserved one month and visit a cheap corner room in which a cockroach creeping along the window frame.

26 Enter the Sheep Professor

nearby coffee shop, sheep photo, the mountain in the background, sunglasses

Mountaineering Association, The Mountain of Hokkaido, Hokkaido atlas, café, two ginger ales, impossible task, five o’clock bell, corn, modest dinner, Japan’s agricultural policies, simmered fish and miso soup, intercourse

They went around government offices and associations to the clue to the sheep’s whereabout.

my old tennis shoes, new sneakers, government offices, library, southern Sakhalin, compass, cardboard cutouts, thin cotton windbreaker, three-line notice, morning editions of hour newspapers, made-up story, mentally disturbed man, Siberian camp, like in a basketball game, big-breasted secretary, the office activities, brassiere with cables from the Golden Gate Bridge, red dress, Bugs Bunny

‘I’ placed a three-line notice to the Rat in newspapers.

business, habit, vile orange sofa in the Dolphin Hotel lobby, mummies kept out of the light of day, inheritance, inheritor’s disappeared, Moby Dick, the Whale Hotel, white wine, the Hokkaido Ovine Hall

When ’I’ and the girl were chatting with the desk clerk of the Dolphin Hotel, accidentally he told them the building of the hotel had been the Hokkaido Ovine Hall.

the Hokkaido Ovine Association, sheep resources, sheep reference room, resource materials, old and useless, some recollection

The desk clerk of the Dolphin Hotel told me that this Hotel is the property of the Hokkaido Ovine Association and here’s a sheep reference room on the second floor.

  • It’s accidental, they funded and stayed the Dolphin Hotel. It’s convenient for ‘me’, author and story.

27 The Sheep Professor Eats All, Tells All

child wonder, Sendai, violin, Beethoven sonata, Emperor, gold watch, Agriculture Faculty of Tokyo Imperial University, nutshell, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, a unified scheme of large-scale agriculturalization for Japan, Korea and Taiwan,, A Study on Rice Cropping on the Korean Pennisula, big, imminent North China campaign, self-sufficiency program based on sheep, ‘special relationship’ with sheep, interrogation, mental relationship, spiritual communion, simply livestock, the Ministry Reference Collection, Japan-Manchuria Sheep Scheme, shepherd, deep down

The life history of the Sheep Professor. He was a agricultural researcher and elite public servant. In the researching in China, the spring of 1935, he disappeared whereabout. During disappearing, he made a ‘special relationship’, mental relationship or spiritual communion with sheep. He said ‘there is a sheep inside me’. Then he retired, back to Japan and became a shepherd. After end of the war, he assumed directorship of Hokkaido Ovine Association.

chilly and damp, dim, dust, old papers and old body odors, ancient door at the end, DIRECTORS OFFICE

‘I’ and the girl with perfect ears went to the room of the Sheep Professor.

long hair, white as snow,, a self-possessed figure, sturdy boned, body odor, so packed with old books and papers, stains, mahogany desk,, gray shirt, black cardigan, herringbone trousers that had all but lost their shape,, maze of a subterranean hell, unmitigated, monumental significance of that sheep,, soup, salad, a roll and meatball,, Manchuria-Mongolia border, nothing special, a perfectly natural feeling, not uncommon, blessing from the gods, Yuan dynasty, star-bearing white sheep, Genghis Khan ’sheepless’, Pusan, a monumental plan to transform humanity and the human world

In the Sheep Professor’s room, he talked about the ‘incident’ in the summer of 1935. He told that the unique sheep has clear eye, pure white fleece and a brownish star on its back entered his body. The feeling is nothing special and it’s a perfectly natural feeling for him. After his resignation of the public servant, the sheep came with him to Japan to do a ‘monumental plan to transform humanity and the human world’. One morning the sheep gone from his body, then it entered the body of the young Boss.

homestead, some rich man, vacation home with pasture, moustache

The Sheep Professor told the place in the photo is the homestead he lived for nine years. He sold the homestead to some rich man. And he answered the Rat visited his room, asked about the homestead and went there.

Asahikawa, branch line

The Sheep Professor drew a detailed map and told how to reach the homestead.

28 Farewell to the Dolphin Hotel

mountaineering supplies, portable rations, sporting-goods store, heavy fishermen’s knit sweaters, wooden socks, department store, bookstore, 1:50,000 -scale map of the area, tome on the local history, rugged spiked boots, padded thermal underwear, heavy snows, end of October, large backpack, extra, dress, high-heels, search of something, an ongoing search

On their departure, the desk clerk (son of the Sheep Professor) said his father’s life is an ongoing search and his life has no purpose.

Part Eight: A Wild Sheep Chase, Ⅲ

29 The Birth, Rise, and Fall of Junitaki Township

early morning train, beer, Authoritative History of Junitaki Township, literature department of Hokkaido University, local historian

‘I’ and the girl with perfect ears went to Junitaki township by train.

1881, all poor dirt farmers, Tsugaru, dark-eyed Ainu youth, ‘Full Moon on the Wane’, Ishikari River, beautiful flowers

Brief history of Junitaki Township.

lam, far away from civilization, Shiogari Pass, falls, Twelve Falls Settlemnet

About colonization and name origine of Junitaki Township.

sixty-degree arc between two mountains, deep river gorge, bamboo, huge evergreens, wolves, elk, bears, musktats

Japanese name, daughter of one of the settler, especially cold winter, inbred poverty, corn, potatoes, fruit, giant black cloud

The severe and troublesome history about settling of the township and, a Ainu youth took Japanese name and married a Japanese woman.

another beer, box lunch of salmon roe, autumn morning sun

sawed-board houses, log cabins, dried fish and elk antlers,, charcoal, census, tearful reunion, millet, real white rice, communal sheep pasture, flocks of sheep, the Territorial Government, the Russo-Japanese War, front line in China, army-issue wool overcoat, chorus of castanets

The development of the township. After the basically development, the township set up a communal sheep pasture. The Ainu man was interested in raising sheep, became a able shepherd and took on the responsibility. When the Russo-Japanese War launched, the eldest of the Ainu man was sent to the front line and died. After the dead, the Ainu man stayed out at pasture with sheep, became wake and died at age sixty-two.

rice field, silo

boring fare, Taisho era, settling of Hokkaido, new world of Manchuria and Sakhalin, 1937, period of rapid industrial growth, abandoned farmlands, the Pioneer Museum, ‘Bountiful Humanity in Bountiful Nature’

Junitaki cho had developed and prospered till 1950s or 1960s. But after the period of rapid industrial growth of Japan in 1960s to 1970s, the town and its farmlands are abandoned.

30 The Further Decline of Junitaki and Its Sheep

last vestiges of virgin forest, blazing red leaves of the rowan ash, chocolate bar, tranquil light, Johnny B. Goode

The look in the train in Asahikawa.

row of old brick warehouse, typical small-scale regional city, our destination, our transit point, our connecting train

‘I’ and the girl with perfect ears arrived Junitaki-cho.

chronology, simplified timeline, developments in the history of Junitaki-cho, major events in the history of Japan Port Arther, war to war, poor, poverty, cold country

‘I’ made a simplified timeline of the Junitaki-cho with the major events in Japan. ‘I’ and the girl with perfect ears concerned the history and its hardship.

  • A chart divided by a line, same as in Hear the Wind Song, appeared again.

Coke

‘I’ waited the next train in a waiting room, and the girl strolled the town during it.

bag of apples, better days, air of doom, toilet and kerosene smells, some fresh air, common bonds of disinterest and ennui, old man, camel-hair sweater, heavy middle-aged lady, Scriabin sonata, conductor, muddy brown, autumn sun, spillway of café au lait, huge track, roadside billboard, boredom, two hour and forty minutes, final stop, dark shadows of the hills, fatal stains, two cupped hands, fresh start in morning

‘I’ and the girl reached Junitaki-cho. The town was an ominous place and covered by the dark shadow of hills.

small rotary, bird-shaped fountain with no water in it, half dozen warehouses, old-fashioned brick construction, huge cows, thicket of weeds, NORTHERN LIMIT OF LARGE SCALE RICE FARMING, small street, human fortune, cream-colored Honda Fairlady, a red Toyota Celica, deadbeat town, small one-story wood-frame houses, inn, only one lumber mill

‘I’ searched a inn in Junitaki-cho.

old inn, café-au-lait river, Town Hall, Livestock Section, magazine namecard, free-lance writer, Suffolks, meat sheep, a total picture of sheep, U.S. Army, rich man, ghost town, melancholy-hued sun, JUNITAKI-CHO MUNICIPAL SHEEP FARM, dense autumn foliage, sheep house, two hundred sheep, unnatural blue, completely black, yet their fleece is white,, luminous blue eyes, pale violet gloom, two helpers, caretaker of sheep, drill sergeant at a military school, the Self-Defense Forces, fenced in with wire, jeep, owner of the villa

‘I’ visited the sheep house near the town and asked a caretaker of sheep about the sheep of the photograph. He didn’t know about the sheep and told me that a guy has moustache (the Rat) stays the villa on the mountain.

31 Night in Junitaki

hard-line realist, the Rat’s father, vacation villa in Hokkaido, large diesel trucks loaded down with lumber, pitch black, jeans, my crew-neck sweater, computer game, pinball tables, old Spanish cheapies, one hundred thirty-two pounds

‘I’ remembered the Rat’s father has a villa in Hokkaido. ‘I’ and the girl stayed at the inn in Junitaki-cho.

  • The Boss, the Sheep with star mark, the Rat,,, the factors of story began to connect.
  • It’s unnatural and convenient for the author that ‘I’ suddenly recalled the the Rat’s father has a vacation villa in Hokkaido.

32 An Unlucky Bend in the Road

hazy and cool, Hokkaido’s short autumn season, gray clouds, none of the heart of autumn, rice fields, tractor, golden birch woods

‘My’ reflection in the inn. Hokkaido’s short autumn was nearly over.

old jeep, box-shaped roof, surplus job, Self-Defense Forces, good-natured creatures, nervous sweat, sheer walls of dark primal forest, flatlands, lemon drop, stud ram, sheep harems

‘I’ and the girl ride the old jeep driven by the sheep caretaker. During the drive they talked about attitude of sheep and sheep harems.

paved surface, dark primal forests rushed in like giant waves, ominous sounds, menacing breath, conical mountain, blue-tinged patches of light-gray sky, uneven sooty black, frozen silence, nasty chill, one hell of a curve, heavy mountaineering parka, the edge of the world, slender ribbon of silver river, valley, dense green forest, thin columns of smoke, breathtaking panorama, uniform gray, the Asian continent, the Japan Sea, utter precariousness, bottom of abyss, “dead man’s curve”, midst of a peaceful highland scene, the grand expanse of forest, blackbird, viscous fluid, sturdy birch-trunk bridge with handrails, the best-tasting water, not a very big waterfall, Seven Stars

Because of a hard rain, the Jeep stopped before the unlucky curve. ‘I’ and the girl left from the Jeep and went beyond the curve into the plateau of the Rat’s place.

  • The landscape of this scene is like ones in computer roll playing game (RPG) or like diorama. So it is effective and sets off this story.

vast lake of pasture

wire, grass was soft, soil dark and moist, black clouds, old American-style two-story wood-frame house, painting white, foreboding grey, rust-colored gabled roof, evergreens, protected it from the elements, smell of rain, flock of birds, The Swiss Family Robinson, dark room at the Dolphin Hotel

‘I’ and the girl reached the gloomy site of the house of the Rat, built by the Sheep Professor.

unnaturally dim, gloom, smelling like an old barn, sense of vertigo, darkness, plain gray space, old prewar sofa, clove cigarette, whole winter’s worth fuel and food, different atmosphere layer, TIme was dead in the air., pair of blue pajamas, old-model lamp, heavy oak chest of drawers,, men’s sweaters, shirts, slacks, socks, and underwear,, good clothes, the Rat’s, desk drawer, cheap fountain pen, three boxes of ink cartridge, cough drops

‘I’ and the girl entered the villa. Inside of the villa is unnaturally dim and no man. Descriptions of inside the villa and the things seems the Rat’s.

chime performance, kerosene heater, built-in glass-paneled bookcase completely filled with old books, prewar editions, geography and science and history and philosophy and politics, Plutarch’s Lives, Selected Greek Tragedies, erosion of years, stereo hi-fi, two hundred old records, worthless, Nat King Cole’s South of the Border, gray rain, fair-sized trunk room, carpets, dishes, a set of golf clubs, guitar, mattress,overcoats, mountaineering boots, old magazines, junior high school exam reference books, radio-controlled airplane, the fifties and sixties, old screen magazines, The Alamo, John Wayne, John Ford

‘I’ and the girl decided to wait for the Rat’s return. ‘I’ looked through a bookcase, record library and trunk room on the second floor.

33 She Leaves the Mountain; Hunger Strikes

dense evening gloom, a pot of stew, still warm,, not an ordinary hunger, bottle of red wine, a few slices of bread, apple, the Percy Faith Orchestra, Perfidia, solitaire, Götterdämmerung, time flowing slowly, gentle stream

Next morning, the girl with perfect ears was gone from the Mountain.

old-fashioned, strong and functional, Sherlock Holmes

I made a bed in a small room that the Rat hadn’t been using.

34 A Find in the Garage; Thoughts in the Middle of the Pature

birds, morning light, primitive toaster, frying pan, butter, sunnyside-up, two glasses of grape juice, loneliness, an almost new can of shaving cream, Gillette razor, true to methodical Rat-form, gleaming white, gin-with-lime, three packs of Larks, lose all sense of time, spectacular weather, a few white brushstroke clouds, songs of birds, Seven Stars, smell of dirt and gasoline, old Toyota Land Cruiser, road maps, towel, half a bar of chocolate, roll of wire, large pair of pliers, no reasonable explanation possible from such unreasonable circumstances, mist, smell of grass

In the villa, there are a lot of remains by the Rat. In the garage, there’s an old Toyota Land Cruiser and the key of which in the dashboard like the Rat always hid it.

35 The Sheep Man Cometh

mountaineering boots, full sheepskin pulled over his head, costume, leather mask, gloves, socks, zipper from neck to crotch, half-bottle of Four Roses, two glasses with ice, in total disinterest, everything all frozen, illusion

The Sheep man visited the villa, drunk whiskey and talked with ‘me’ about the girl with perfect ears, the Rat and the Sheep. He vaguely answered my questions then left the villa and vanished in the snow field.

  • The Sheep man said the Rat ‘was living here. Up to a week ago.’ in total disinterest. So the Sheep man isn’t the Rat? Who is the Sheep man?

Salisbury steak, chunk of beek, scrambling eggs with wooden spatula

After the vanish of the Sheep man, ‘I’ cooked in the kitchen. During ‘my’ cooking, ‘I’ thought about ‘I’, the Rat and the Sheep man would open a nice restaurant here.

36 The Winds’ Own Private Thouroughfare

three days passed, morning air, steadily cooler, brief autumn, jog, without smoking, free time, roast beef, salmon, bonito flakes, soy sauce, cabbage pickles, unusually calm, dense lead-gray clouds, an honest-to-goodness north-country snow, silence, all alone

‘I’ had stayed the villa for a week, the first snow fallen, the winter went to dense, so ‘I’ became all alone in the silence.

Bread Baking, Conrad novel, four-inch-square newspaper clipping the Rat had been using for a bookmark

When ‘I’ read the book of the Rat, ‘I’ came across news paper clipping of my advertise . The Rat knew ‘my’ arriving the villa.

jeans, sweater, jacket, tennis shoes, no sign of human life, plump birds, azaleas, lost all sense of direction, waterfall, toofullofsoldiers, hearaboutthewar,

A morning, ‘I’ saw the Sheep Man in the woods and chased him. ‘I’ asked him some questions about the Rat and the Sheep. But he didn’t reply. He said he is from Junitaki-cho, and there is too full of soldiers, and ‘Hear about the war?’.

  • The Sheep man is the ghost of a son of Ainu shepherd which possesses the corps of the Rat?

bake bread, plenty of flour and yeast, salad, ham, eggs, canned peaches for dessert, pilau of canned salmon and seafood and mushrooms, cheesecake, strong milk tea, hazelnut ice cream topped with Cointreau, broiled chicken, can of Cambell’s soup

In the villa, ‘I’ ate affluent stocks of foods. Despite ‘I’ in the edge of the world, ‘I’ gained weight.

ninth day, The Heritage of Pan-Asianism, wartime edition, a sheet of white notepaper

When ‘I’ read a list of the Pan-Asianists on a book in the bookcase of the villa, ‘I’ came across the name of the Boss and he is from Junitaki-cho. I realised the secretary, the Boss or the Rat know the truth and things and event are plotted from the beginning by anyone.

37 Things the Mirror Shows, Things the Mirror Doesn’t

opaque, damp chill, cheap pulp paper, hot tea with brandy, intermittent chill, White Christmas

The tenth day on the mountain, a nasty snow fallen, and real chilly winter arrived.

bright and clear, patch work of snow, sunlight, iceberg, housecleaning, cold grape juice, smell of the wax, spaghetti, the full-length of mirror, ’free will’

‘I’ still stayed the villa and cleaned there. I found a dirty antique full-length of mirror and, then wiped and scrubbed it.

old guitar, Benny Goodman’s Air Mail Special, sandwich of thick slices of ham, can of beer, brandy, angry, Groucho and Harpo, Duck Soup, blue Löwenbrau, terror shot

The twelfth day, when I played an old guitar, the Sheep man visited. The Sheep said he couldn’t pass on my message. ‘I’ said ‘I’m very, a very angry’ about the the whole situation. When ‘I’ bring another beer, ‘I’ realized the Sheep Man wasn’t be reflected by the mirror.

‘I’ said to the Sheep Man, ’I’ was going to wait for the Rat and pack the luggages in the night and would be leave the villa the next day.

  • I can’t understand ‘I’ could know the Rat would be there that night.
  • I guess, ’I’ thought the Sheep Man is the Rat, and ‘I’ told ‘I’ would leave the next day, the Rat would visit the villa without the costume of Sheep.

terrifying dream

38 And So Time Passes

darkness, total darkness, madman, names, sensations, places, bottom of a deep well, particles of darkness, mercury in motionless space

‘I’ woke up at eight at night. Derailed descriptions of darkness. Then the Rat visited the villa.

  • Well is the important symbol in Murakami’s novels. It is the entrance to different-dimension worlds.

39 Dwellers in Darkness

absolute lacquer-black darkness, back-to-back, friend to kill time, friend sublime, sixth sense, number of hints, real pain, another soul

The Rat talked about history of the villa, his family and the Sheep Professor. And he said he met the sheep with the star on its back in here.

long silence

Finally, ‘I’ asked the Rat that he is already dead. After the long silence, the Rat said ‘That’s right’.

40 The Rat Who Wound the Clock

wind a clock, kind of hardship, self-acquittal, controlled

The Rat said he died with the sheep in him, and the sent ‘me’ the photograph of the sheep with the star mark as the kind of code.

weakness, very individual thing, hereditary disease, moral weakness, weakness of consciousness, weakness of existence itself, real strength,, whole lock, stock and barrel,, one last thing, supreme power base, a realm of total conceptual anarchy, kingdom of generalities, sheeplessly, no meaning, green cord, red cord

The Rat said that because of his weakness he lost everything by the sheep with the star mark except a being in a realm of total conceptual anarchy by the sheep. Then he told me to leave here as soon as possible, he took the form of the Sheep Man.

41 Green Cords and Red Cords; Frozen Seagulls

(…)

42 Return Visit to the Unlucky Bend

(…)

43 The Twelve-O’ckick Rendezvous

(…)

Epilogue

(…)

Analysis and Remarks

  • By this novel, Murakami’s story became true surrealistic one. And the world of it partially connected with and mentioned the nationwide political and economical system, and the Asian history.
  • But, I think, this Murakami’s first real surrealistic novel is unbalanced with former two novel of trilogy of the Rat.
  • Some points of the plot of this novel are conventional for the author and ‘me’. For example, they found the Dolphin Hotel accidentally, ‘I’ remembered the Rat’s father owned the villa in Hokkaido, the sheep caretaker of Junitaki-cho was an acquaintance of the Rat, and in the villa, ’I’ realized the Boss was from Junitaki-cho.
  • ‘I’ achieved almost nothing by himself. ‘I’ only passively got involved in the matter and the situation which caused by some persons and groups. Instead ‘I’ lost his job, house, wife, girlfriend, business partner and friend. His achievement is only to quit cigarettes and to start jogging.
  • But landscapes of Hokkaido and the Rat’s mind, and memories of the chase are painful also precious and beautiful. This chase and the death of the Rat are a kind of initiation to grown-up for him.

Details of the Book

A Wild Sheep Chase (Vintage International)
Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum
Vintage Books, London, 20 April 2000
304 pages, pounds 8.99
ISBN 978-099448778

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