Ikiru (To Live) by Akira Kurosawa

Life is brief

fall in love, maidens

before the crimson bloom

fades from your lips

before the tides of passion

cool within you,

for those of you

who know no tomorrow

Life is brief

fall in love, maidens

before the raven tresses

begin to fade

before the flame in your hearts

flicker and die

for those to whom today

will never return

Gondola no Uta – theme song from Ikiru

Have you ever felt a lump in your throat while watching a film? Has a film ever made you laugh and introspect about life at the same time? Have you ever watched a film that resonates with you on the subject of existential crisis? Have you ever come alive after watching a film?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mLrLHDdXHI 

Ikiru is one of the most humanistic films you will ever watch even though it is about death. It’s a timeless masterpiece. From the very first frame onwards, every scene reminds us of the forbidden subject - death. And yet, paradoxically the film is titled Ikiru – To Live. Kurosawa made Ikiru in 1952, before Seven Samurai but after Rashoman. It was a deadly combination of writers Hashimoto & Oguni, Takashi Shimura (he acted in both Rashomon and Seven Samurai) as the protagonist Kanji Watanabe and Kurosawa as a co-writer, director.

Akira Kurosawa reminds us that we can only truly live when we face imminent death. In the most elegant manner, Ikiru articulates that death can bring crystal clear focus, clarity to the perplexing issue of life. Certainity of death (surprsingly, isn’t its always there?!) can help in jettisoning all the excess baggage we carry. With that new found focus we can deal with what is true, meaningful and therefore beautiful. It is our quest for life – to live - when the death sentence is hanging like the proverbial Damocles sword– that we can start a true meaningful journey. One start living when one knows that one is dying.

  

In the backdrop of Japan coming to life post WWII, the film is about a lowly clerk Kanji Watanabe who is facing imminent death. In the beginning of the film, the narrator introduces us to Watanabe, who is simply passing his life without living it. His spiritual death precceds his existential death in the piles of files in front of him that he dutifully serves for thirty years without taking a single day of leave. It’s a life without passion, purpose or dream. 

A terrified Watanabe in his despair, runs around to find meaning in his last few days. He takes to hedonism. This drunken stupor doesn’t last long and he is not able to resolve the emptiness of his life. He latches on to his younger colleague, Toyo, to be young all over again. Watanabe, thru Toyo, comes to know that his staff has given him a nick name of ‘mummy’ for his cold, lifeless disposition. Toyo is everything that Watanabe wants to be in his life. Her vivaciouness, zest for life, finding meaning in her toy making leave Watanabe further isolated. His officious nature separates him not only from his staff but also from his son.

It is through Kurosawa’s sheer cinematic genius that finally when Watanabe discovers that in his dying days he can still do something meaningful. His face glows and there is a purpose in his steps. And in the backdrop, there is a birthday celebration. It is a poignant moment that reminds us that the birthday celebration comes when we know the true purpose of our life. In one of the most celebrated scene of the film, Watanabe on his last day is shown on a swing in a children’s park that he toils hard to get built over a cesspool (what symbolism!) and the song Gondola na Uto plays. Even after more than 60 years, Ikiru is a satire against an individual buried deep in an inane work life and also against society that robs people from their purpose and forces conformity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0_hkzCl4nI

In Ikiru, every frame is a work of art - movement of actors, camera placement, editing, background music. Despite the fact that death looms large in this film, the film is imbued with hope. Faced with death, Watanabe looks at the overcast sky and can’t help admiring nature and mutters to himself, how truly beautiful! Kurosawa, thru Ikiru, implores viewers to relook at their life. You will carry a warm glow of hope from this film (I certainly did!). If there is one film that you have to show as a great work of art and a great story, it can safely be Ikiru.

Ain't no sunshine - Life of a Japanese Sarariiman

“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed to a monstrous vermin.”

Opening line of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

In the midst of glitzy Ginza, Tokyo I remembered Czech writer Franz Kafka and his book The Metamorphosis. Kafka worked in an insurance company but despised his work. He had a problem in dealing with all authority figures in his life. In The Metamorphosis he talked about ordinary human beings reduced to inconsequential, inconvenient bugs (vermin). His timeless story showed a petrified Gregor Samsa lying buried deep in all of us. Surrounded by neon lights, I remembered my days when I used to work with Panasonic India and abhorred the word Japanese. I was reminded of the feudal nature of Japanese corporate world. Scores of white-collar workers waiting patiently at the crossing reminded me of our existence where we all are cogs in the wheel, unaware of our calling.

Japan is a study in contrast. It offers serene, zen like order and harmony in every space of life – in art, theatre, music and even mundane daily conduct. And at the same time, such steadfast focus on order and harmony quells individuality. It creates pressure, stress to conform to the roles. There is no space to stand outside the line. Pyramidal feudal structure is followed in all walks of life – from corporate life to tea ceremony.

For the longest time, Japan, because of its geographical location, has been shielded from the global tidal wave of change exemplified beautifully in wood block print of The Great Wave by Hokusai. Its island nature allows it to enforce rules on the entire society that may be very difficult to implement in a large country. This has worked so far. In the ever changing landscape of an inter-connected world, where everybody is on mobile phone constantly, how will Japan resist change and keep its cultural mooring is going to be an interesting sociological study.

Japanese ‘salaryman’ (sarariiman, Japanese way of saying it) is the bedrock of their mostly egalitarian white-collar working society. Sarariiman title was/is the status symbol. It signified employment where the organization assumed the role of a father figure providing training, lifetime employment, gradual increase in salary, pension and housing. The system was designed for an economy that would continue to grow and never falter. It demanded only one thing in return -- an utter devotion to the company.

Since the ‘lost decade’, this system is continuously coming under pressure. But there are no easy answers. After cramming in school, university time is considered as fun time before submitting yourself to a professional life of routine and boredom. Colleges do not provide skills to navigate in the new world order. There are number of sarariiman who suffers from utsu (depression). Even now, employees are expected to contribute 80 hours a week (13 hours a day from Monday to Saturday); not take more than 5 days of holiday in a year; not leave the work till seniors are in office; take the last train to home and the first train back to office. Families are supposed to ‘understand’ it as their commitment to the provider. 

Japanese society has found its own unique way of dealing with this kind of sleep deprivation. It’s called inemuri – catching up on sleep in public. You can find people sleeping not only in places like trains, buses, park benches but also in office meetings, classes and serious discussions.  The Japanese have high tolerance for inemuri.

This is just one aspect of Japanese life. There are far too many features of this society to admire and learn. It just happened that I started writing about it first… Will share my admiration in subsequent posts.