42 pages • 1 hour read
Yasunari KawabataThousand Cranes
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1952A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “The Grove in the Evening Sun”
Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary
Chikako phones Kikuji at work and demands that he return home immediately at the end of the day. She informs him that it is the anniversary of his father’s annual tea ceremony, and she intends to host a small ceremony in Kikuji’s tea cottage. To Kikuji’s shock, she reveals that she is already at his house preparing and cleaning out the cottage which has not been used since the death of Kikuji’s mother several years prior. Despite Kikuji’s protests, Chikako invites Yukiko to attend the ceremony in an effort to move the proposed match forward.
Although Kikuji is reluctant to agree to Chikako’s plans and delays his return from work by stopping off at a bar, he ultimately cedes to her wishes and readies himself for the tea ceremony.
Part 2, Chapter 2 Summary
The next day, Kikuji returns to the tea cottage to clean up and tidy away the tea utensils used the prior night. He reflects on the tea ceremony that Chikako held for him and Yukiko. Yukiko was arrestingly fresh and attractive and hinted that she would be in favor of a match with him. However, she didn’t share his distrust for Chikako or his resentment over her meddling, which left Kikuji feeling uneasy.
Kikuji’s maid brings him water for tea and informs him that Chikako showed Yukiko through his house prior to his arrival the previous day. Meanwhile, Mrs. Ota arrives for an unexpected visit, soaked with rain and weeping. She has lost a lot of weight and informs Kikuji that she has been very ill. Fumiko has been taking care of her and keeping watch over her to prevent her from seeking out Kikuji. However, when Chikako phoned her with the news that Kikuji’s marriage to Yukiko was all but settled, warning her not to interfere, she was no longer able to keep away. Kikuji denies agreeing to the match with Yukiko. Mrs. Ota attempts to brew tea for them both, but she is too weak to bring Kikuji’s cup to him. When he kneels beside her, she collapses across his lap.
Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary
Kikuji is angry and berates Mrs. Ota for seeing him as his father rather than as his own person. Mrs. Ota feels guilty and ashamed and is still very weak from her illness, so Kikuji escorts her home in a taxi.
At two o’clock in the morning the following night, Kikuji receives a call from Fumiko saying that Mrs. Ota is dead. Fumiko claims that her mother died from a heart attack, but she asks if Kikuji could recommend a trusted doctor. Kikuji realizes that Mrs. Ota died by suicide and that Fumiko is asking for his help in covering up the cause of death.
Part 2 Analysis
Part 2, titled “The Grove in the Evening Sun,” provides a deeper and more nuanced insight into the characters and relationships introduced in Part 1. This section also sees the relationship between Kikuji and Mrs. Ota reach its tragic—but seemingly inevitable—conclusion.
The atmosphere of this section is characterized by a growing sense of tension. Firstly, Chikako’s ominous presence in Kikuji’s life grows as she redoubles her efforts to promote the match between Kikuji and Yukiko. Her audacity in invading Kikuji’s home and strong-arming him into another meeting with Yukiko creates a sense of vicarious violation to the extent that she flouts social norms and manners to achieve her aims. This part of the novel makes it clear, however, that Chikako is fighting a losing battle in attempting to push Kikuji toward Yukiko. Although Kikuji is attracted to the beautiful young woman, his perception of her is tainted by her association with Chikako. In this way, The Juxtaposition of Beauty and Ugliness highlights Chikako’s negative qualities.
Any connection between Kikuji and Yukiko is far less significant than the links that bind Kikuji to his father’s former mistresses. This is made clear by the fact that Kikuji’s conversations with Chikako and Mrs. Ota are described in great detail as they occur, whereas Kikuji’s meeting with Yukiko is only shown indirectly through his memory of the evening. Yukiko and the idealized, nostalgic version of traditional Japanese culture that she evokes—through her traditional dress, classic demure beauty, and association with the tea ceremony—is put firmly out of reach in the annals of memory. This evokes the theme of Decay of Traditions and Values, particularly when memories of her come alongside Kikuji’s ruminations on the mildew and neglect that afflict his father’s tea cottage as it falls into decay and disuse.
The mood of this section is uneasy and darker than other parts of the novel. Mrs. Ota’s repeated insistence that she is unhappy and ashamed of her actions portrays a sense of helplessness. Her apparently progressive illness and her weakness foreshadow her suicide. She shows signs of physical illness in Part 2, Chapter 2, suggesting that she is at the mercy of forces beyond her control. Upon learning of her death, Kikuji’s immediate focus falls on the picturesque natural scenery that accompanied his last parting from Mrs. Ota. The ugly news of her demise contrasts with the beauty of his memories of her and contributes to Kawabata’s exploration of the theme of The Juxtaposition of Beauty and Ugliness in order to make both appear more extreme by contrast.
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