"The Wild Geese" by Ogai Mori

The Red Gate of Tokyo University, not far from the campus guest house where we stayed in 2011.

The Wild Geese, a short novel by Ogai Mori, takes place in locations near the medical campus of Tokyo University in 1880. The main character, Okada, a medical student, often takes walks around this campus. Thus there are references and sometimes descriptions of the local landmarks and neighborhoods.

"Okada had regular routes for his daily walks. He would go down the lonely slope caled Muenzaka and travel north along Shinobazu Pond. Then he would stroll up the hill in Ueno Park. Next he went down to Hirokoji ... he would go through the compound of Yushima Shrine...after passing the gloomy Karatachi Temple. ... There was another route. he occasionally entered the university campus by the exit used by the patients of the hospital attached to the medical school because the Iron Gate was closed early. Going through the Red Gate, he would proceed along Hongo-dori..." (p. 15)

A Shrine or Temple near Tokyo University Medical school, 2011.

My husband attended a conference on this campus in December, 2011. We stayed in a guest house owned by the medical school. As I read the story, my mind flooded with vague images from my own walks in that neighborhood. The old narrow streets, rickshaws, and various types of traditional houses have mainly disappeared, but my memories include an amazing number of city features from Mori's story.

One of the ponds on the way from the Tokyo University campus to Ueno Park.

While the medical student, Okada, is the central character of The Wild Geese in one sense, the majority of the story is background, a description of the life of a woman named Otama that Okada catches a glimpse of one day on a walk. Throughout most of the novel, the reader must hold the student and his interest in Otama in mind while learning about the woman, a kept mistress; about her father, a down-on-his-luck widower; about the usurer who buys Otama; about the way the usurer treats his wife; and to some extent the story of the students who borrow money from the usurer.

Finally, the story gets back to the relationship of Okada and Otama. I'm not going to tell how it ends, because that would spoil it if you decide to read it. I'll just say that it's a beautifully built-up story with a really interesting ending, and a very enjoyable read about Old Tokyo.

A traditional restaurant in Tokyo, 2011.

Ogai Mori (1862-1922) published The Wild Geese serially from 1911 to 1913. He had studied Western Medicine at the Tokyo University medical school, and had lived in Europe while continuing his studies. 

I was inspired to read this book by a blogging event titled "Japanese Literature Challenge 9."

Kagemusha

Inspired by our visit to Japan, we watched Kagemusha, an old film by Kurosawa. The visuals were fabulous: interiors that mirrored the style of the museums, traditional buildings, and gardens that we toured. Or did the traditional buildings and well-kept gardens mirror the movie sets? Maybe.

The action scenes with huge armies marching and fighting and horses speeding past the blurred background were also great, as was the plot about a thief rescued from death to be used as the double of a deceased warlord in a great struggle.

Animals

Dragons

Netsuke Horse

--from the Tokyo National Museum

Foxes

-- from a fox shrine in Ueno Park.

In Japanese mythology, foxes bring luck and money, and often have their own shrines.

Dogs and Lions

Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens

The original Korakuen Garden was begun in 1629; it was built for one of the Daimyos, or feudal lords appointed by the Edo Shogun. The red maple trees and other fall foliage were splendid when we visited it last Monday. The landscaping is intensely developed, with fish ponds, streams, arched bridges, a tiny artificial waterfall, pretend mountains and rivers named for real ones somewhere in Japan, stone lanterns, artificially-supported pine trees, rocky footpaths and stairways, trellised wisterias, and even a rice paddy.

As we walked we saw dozens of Japanese visitors with cameras, and one professional photo shoot featuring a couple of models dressed in kimonos and elaborate accessories. The Tokyo Dome is right next door, providing ultra-modern contrast with the ancient garden features.

Feeding the fish and ducks

Men working on the rice paddy; wisteria trellises in the background.

Tokyo Street Scenes

From the Edo Tokyo Museum: an idealized street scene from the past. . . and several street photos that I took while walking around last week:

University of Tokyo Campus

The University of Tokyo hosted the conference that Len attended last week; we stayed in a guest house near one of the several gates. Our gate was not decorative, only serving for security as cars drive through to the nearby University Hospital. Other gates are quite beautiful, such as the one above that frames the yellow leaves of an alley of ginko trees.

The building above is the most well-known sight on campus, our hosts explained. When there's a news story about the university, the media use this building as the representative view.

A famous location at the center of the campus is the Sanshiro Pond, originally part of a feudal estate in 17th century Edo (the old name for Tokyo). The water is quite far below the level of the rest of campus, and attracts ducks and other wildlife. When we walked down the steps to the path surrounding the pond, we felt as if we were in a rural setting rather than in the midst of a busy city.

Asakusa

The gardens behind the Pagoda at Asakusa were open today, so we enjoyed a walk in the beautiful sunshine. A young woman dressed in a kimono-like blouse and jeans served us some green tea as we were walking.





From the Temple steps we could see the huge incense burner, where crowds of people were trying to breathe in the smoke. Similarly, many people were drinking the water at the fountain, and throwing coins into the huge offering trays.

We also walked through the large shopping area around the temple.