【Commentary】Why Did the "Hundred Years" of Love Turn into a Grudge? — The Paradox of Sin and Gravity Hidden in Natsume Soseki's "Ten Nights of Dreams" The Third Night
"I had a dream like this."
Even among Natsume Soseki's "Ten Nights of Dreams," the "Third Night" stands out remarkably. After finishing the beautiful and fantastical love story of the First Night, touching upon this Third Night sends shivers down your spine due to its darkness and eeriness. This time, we will decipher from three perspectives exactly what makes this story fill us with such anxiety.
1.
The Child as a "Mirror" What the protagonist is carrying on his back is his blind, six-year-old child.
However, this child possesses a mysterious power, accurately guessing scenery he shouldn't be able to see in the dark night, as well as the inner workings of the protagonist's heart. Soseki called this child a "mirror that reflects the past, present, and future." We rewrite and remember our past in ways that are convenient for us. However, this mirror (the child) does not allow that. It tears off the mask of "I am a good person" and cruelly illuminates the fact of "murder" that should have been submerged deep within the heart. The eeriness of this child is the terror of being forced to confront "your own truth" that you pretend not to notice.
2.
The Light and Shadow of "A Hundred Years" Within "Ten Nights of Dreams," the First Night and the Third Night are connected by the keyword "a hundred years."
The man in the First Night continued to wait for "a hundred years" believing in a reunion with the woman he loved, and found salvation at the end. However, the man in the Third Night is told by the child, who is the reincarnation of the man he once killed, "It was exactly a hundred years ago today that you killed me, wasn't it?" Even with the same "hundred years," one represents "purification through love," while the other represents "condemnation through sin." By using the exact same unit of time differently, Soseki depicted how human actions change the very quality of time. Love turns a hundred years into an instant, but sin drags a hundred years instantly back into the "present."
3.
The Weight of the "Stone Jizo" is the Weight of Awareness At the climax of the story, the moment he becomes aware that he was a murderer, the child on his back becomes as heavy "as a stone Jizo statue." Up until then, he even had the luxury of thinking "I should abandon him," but the moment he admits his sin, a crushing pressure that physically prevents him from taking a single step assails the man. This suggests the nature of our "responsibility." If you pretend not to know, your heart is light. However, once you become aware that "this is my fault," that fact bears down on your life as an eternal burden that will never disappear. The "inescapable sacred weight" of the stone Jizo is the very karma that the man must continue to bear for the rest of his life.
Conclusion: What Are We Carrying as We Walk?
When we finish reading the Third Night, we involuntarily look back at our own backs. "Father, am I heavy?" The voice of this child might be a call from the "unresolved past" lurking in our hearts that we must face someday.
(Notice)
We have released a commentary video on YouTube that digs deeper into this analysis, composed with illustrations recreating the dark nights of the early Taisho era. Please experience through the video the tension of the moment the child on his back turns into a stone Jizo.
[Link to YouTube Video]