I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 165: Empty Cicada
There are countless office workers who, like Nako Hikigaya, choose to be late for work just to watch "Lost Paradise".

They even felt that buying a newspaper and reading it on the subway would affect their enjoyment of the long-awaited finale.

For this reason, they would rather be late and finish reading the last two chapters happily at home.

In addition to these social animal readers who have been following the updates for the past two weeks, middle-aged men who sat in the office early and housewives who got up early and sent their children and husbands to school also came to the table at the same time and opened today's "Daily Sports News".

Friday morning.

The filming site of "No Longer Human".

The crew, who were supposed to be shooting a morning scene at this time, are now all gathered in a makeshift shed.

Yoshiaki Kobayashi has been a film and television drama supervisor for so many years, and he has always been strict with himself and the crew. Not to mention completing the shooting tasks conscientiously, starting shooting early and working overtime are commonplace.

But today, he became the first person to break the "crew rules".

When Takuya Kimura and Shizuka Kudo arrived at the shooting site early in the morning, they were surprised to find that director Yoshiaki Kobayashi was reading a copy of the Nikkan Sports Shimbun with great interest.

Seeing them coming, Kobayashi Yoshiaki not only did not put away the newspapers, but also asked them to sit down and read together - there were about fifty newspapers on the table, which he bought at the newsstand when he went out that morning.

“Since we are shooting Mr. Kitagawa’s work, we should be very familiar with his style!”

Kobayashi Yoshiaki said this to the creative team, and then everyone agreed with him and crowded into the small shed. When there was no room to sit down, some people stood or squatted in the corner to read newspapers.

After witnessing this scene, other actors and staff who came one after another followed suit and asked people to buy the latest issue of the "Nikkan Sports News". Then they gathered in the venue outside and read the last two chapters of "Paradise Lost".

In the huge shooting scene, the only sound left is the "swish, swish, swish" sound of flipping pages.

The fifth chapter of the second half of Paradise Lost is "Empty Cicada", and the plot follows the previous chapter "Grain Full".

Yoshiaki Kobayashi, who was well-versed in literature and various encyclopedias, quickly understood the deeper intention of Kitagawa Hide in naming the chapter "空参".

"空蝉" literally means the empty cicada. The cicada in summer will die quietly in autumn. "空蝉" and the previous chapter titles allude to the solar terms and time points in the story.

Yoshiaki Kobayashi really likes the way Mr. Kitagawa uses this fragmented approach to incorporate many details into the novel.

Rather than a simple description like "spring, summer, autumn and winter".

That kind of writing style is too stereotyped and has nothing to watch.

Since it is the pioneering work of mono no aware literature, it should reflect the characteristic of "mono no aware" in every detail.

The word "kongchan" actually has another unknown meaning.

In the history of Japanese literature, The Tale of Genji is a must-read and influential work.

Because it is too old, the ancient characters are difficult to understand, and the plot is relatively boring, very few people have actually watched and finished "The Tale of Genji".

Yoshiaki Kobayashi is one of them.

He hates those who claim to have read the book but actually haven't read much of it, and then reveal their true colors once they get into deep conversation.

But Mr. Kitagawa is definitely not that kind of person!
Because "Kusican" is a minor supporting character in "The Tale of Genji" who is not very famous but still fresh in his memory.

Utsusemi was the first woman Genji met by chance after he became an adult.

In the novel, when Genji was seventeen years old, he took a few close followers to the residence of Kii no Kami (son of Iyosuke) in order to "avoid danger."

At that time, Kuchan was also staying here because of fasting. He did not have time to leave in a hurry and was seen by Genji.

At night, Utsusemi's personal maid "Chujo-kun" went to take a bath and forgot to lock the sliding door. Genji took the opportunity to break in, picked up the terrified Utsusemi, walked out of the sliding door, and returned to his own room.

Kuchan is Iyosuke's wife, the owner of this mansion, and Kiimori's stepmother. She knows very well that she is already a married woman and it is impossible for her to be the husband and wife of Genji for one night, so she resolutely rejects Genji's courtship.

Genji talked to her sweetheart all night, but seeing that she remained unmoved, he had no choice but to leave.

Later, Genji tried to have a secret meeting with Kuchan three times, but was rejected by Kuchan every time. After Iyosuke's death, Kuchan's stepson Kiimori began to covet this young and beautiful stepmother.

Unable to bear the annoyance, Kuchan became a nun, leaving Kiimori empty-handed.

Although Genji resented Sora-chan's becoming a nun, he also admired her noble character and elegant temperament. He stopped harassing her, respected her choice, and took her to the East Court of Nijo-in to live with Suetsuhana, protecting her so that she could practice Buddhism.

The story of The Tale of Genji takes place in the Heian period, when relationships between men and women were chaotic.

At that time, there was even a system of visiting wife marriage.

What is a visiting marriage?
This system is similar to the walking marriage of the Mosuo people in neighboring Yunnan, but it is more extreme and still practiced polygamy.

Under the visiting marriage system, the man and woman live with their own mother and siblings.

The man would sneak into the woman's house at night, leave the next morning at the shortest possible time, or stay at the woman's house for several days at the longest, and then return to his own home.

The children born to the couple live with their mother, while the man is responsible for paying for the living expenses of his wife and children.

In fact, under the visiting wife marriage system of the Heian period, a man could have multiple wives living in their parents' homes, and he could randomly visit one of them every night, or even visit those unmarried women who lived at home.

If a married woman's husband does not visit her, she will always be alone in the empty house. If this goes on for a long time, she will definitely allow a man other than her husband to come to her house for a tryst.

My wife’s family usually turns a blind eye to this.

They also didn't want their daughter to be a widow at an early age. Even in such a chaotic society, Utsusemi was able to abide by the rules of being a woman. Not only did she not agree to have a tryst with Genji, a second-generation official, she also explicitly rejected her stepson who coveted her.

If you think about it carefully, Kuchan's personality and experience are actually similar to those of Matsubara Rinko.

But the two made completely different choices.

"Utsusemi finally gained the respect and kindness of Genji, and also practiced perfectly throughout her life, leaving a good name for the rest of her life. As for Rinko, she gradually lost herself in the immoral love and couldn't extricate herself. This has nothing to do with right or wrong, but is it just that character determines destiny?"

Yoshiaki Kobayashi had also read the literary review manuscript of Tetsutaro Mori, so he knew the ending of Muramatsu Tomoshi and the other person early on.

It turns out that Mr. Kitagawa has been hinting at this ending!
After discovering this kind of detail Easter egg, his interest in reading became even stronger!
Takuya Kimura and Shizuka Kudo, who do not have such a deep literary foundation, do not care about these things. They just want to see the ending as soon as possible and fill their expectations.

In the chapter "Utsukai", various crises gradually occur between the two people who return to Yamanashi Prefecture.

There are emotional crises, economic crises, and life crises.

They gradually realize that even if they marry the person they love, they cannot escape the daily necessities of married life.

Moreover, without a high income, the two could no longer lead the luxurious and high-profile life they used to. Even when buying a car, they had to choose a second-hand, cheap one.

For the first time, Muramatsu Tomoshige truly felt that he had gained freedom, but also felt that he was isolated from the world.

"Is it okay for you to do this?"

"What is it?"

"Don't you regret it?"

This conversation echoed repeatedly in their minds.

They told each other that they had no regrets.

But in fact, it would be a lie to say that I don't regret it, but no matter what I do now, it will not help.

“Generally speaking, at our age, we can more or less distinguish between the important and the unimportant, and know what we can and cannot do.

Of course, many of us definitely want to fall in love, and when we see a good-looking woman we would want to seduce her.

But if you fall in love with a woman and even give up your job and status, then you will either lose everything or become just like a cat or dog in heat on the street. "

These were the last words that Muramatsu Tomomi's good friend, Kashiwamura Takeshi, the former editor-in-chief of Gunzo, said to him when he went to Modern Shobo to serve as vice president.

The two broke up because of a joint essay writing incident.

Muramatsu Tomoshi also completely cut off contact with Kashiwamura Takeshi because the other party replaced him as the vice president of Modern Shobo.

But these days, when the night was quiet, he slowly recalled what the other person said before he left.

The mood will suddenly become very complicated.

He wasn't like this before.

"It sounds harsh, but it's true and very pertinent." Kobayashi Yoshiaki praised Kashiwamura Takeshi for his clarity of mind.

The joint essay contest was over and both of them had to take the blame.

But in the end, Kashiwamura Takeshi was able to get a good retirement job, while Muramatsu Tomomi fell into an irretrievable situation, because they made completely different choices.

As for playing with women, middle-aged men of their age who have some money in their hands definitely like it and are willing to do it.

But you have to separate play and love!
"Why do you still need to fall in love when you are middle-aged?" Yoshiaki Kobayashi sneered at Muramatsu Tomo's naive idea.

But every time he watched "Paradise Lost", he felt extremely envious and sympathetic towards the other party.

Because at least he tried, experienced it, and failed.

It's much better than people like him who are trapped in the siege all their lives.

"Kill me! Kill me!"

"Let's just die like this! I'm not afraid of dying like this."

"Let's die together!"

At the end of "Kucan", the two people who were almost collapsed hugged each other and made a "death agreement".

This chapter ends abruptly.

"Damn it, luckily I finished serializing it in one go, otherwise it would have been cut off here. If I were you, I would have cursed Mr. Kitagawa too."

Yoshiaki Kobayashi immediately turned the newspaper over and found that the title of the last chapter was "Bliss"!
What does it mean?
Extreme happiness and bliss?

Isn’t this a very festive word?
Why did Mr. Kitagawa choose to use it at this ending?

Could it be that the final outcome for the two was not death?
Kobayashi Yoshiaki read on anxiously with doubts.

(End of this chapter)