Post by Justin Yu on Oct 8, 2015 19:40:44 GMT
The two stories, "Aguri" and "Portrait of an Old Geisha" had two very different set of characters. Yet the differences between the pairs serve to make them FOILS for the concept of youth.
Okada in "Aguri," spoiled Aguri with lavish gifts and treated her like a prized pet while taking care of her every need. However, as Aguri grew younger and more beautiful as the years went on, Okada felt his own youth draining away. And he seemed to understand that when he described Aguri in his dreams as "a leopard in necklace and earrings...whose occasional flashes of ferocity made its master cringe" (Junichiro, p66). To Okada, spoiling his younger girlfriend brought him much excitement even at the cost of his own health. The old geisha, Kosono, on the other hand, had different reasons for taking care of Yuki.
In "Portrait of an Old Geisha," it was Yuki, a young man and wannabe inventor, was taken in by Kosono and received financial support so that he can live up to his aspirations. Yet unlike "what neighborhood gossip had it that Yuki was her toy," Kosono did not view the young man as an object of excitement (as Aguri was to Okada) and "was a mother to Yuki" (Kanoko, p84+89). While Yuki believed that Kosono took care of him to atone for her former business and to see him accomplish that which she could not, I believe she did it for a simpler reason. And that would be to fill the emptiness she felt in her life that she realized when she first met Yuki. With the waka that was seen at the end of the story, however, it is clear that she regarded youth as an object of sadness instead of excitement. When she viewed Yuki or recounted stories of her past, there was always a hint of depression behind her actions.
While these stories have shed light on this question, I still have to ask "青春はなんですか~~？" or "What is youth?" Specifically, what is youth for Okada and Kosono?
Okada in "Aguri," spoiled Aguri with lavish gifts and treated her like a prized pet while taking care of her every need. However, as Aguri grew younger and more beautiful as the years went on, Okada felt his own youth draining away. And he seemed to understand that when he described Aguri in his dreams as "a leopard in necklace and earrings...whose occasional flashes of ferocity made its master cringe" (Junichiro, p66). To Okada, spoiling his younger girlfriend brought him much excitement even at the cost of his own health. The old geisha, Kosono, on the other hand, had different reasons for taking care of Yuki.
In "Portrait of an Old Geisha," it was Yuki, a young man and wannabe inventor, was taken in by Kosono and received financial support so that he can live up to his aspirations. Yet unlike "what neighborhood gossip had it that Yuki was her toy," Kosono did not view the young man as an object of excitement (as Aguri was to Okada) and "was a mother to Yuki" (Kanoko, p84+89). While Yuki believed that Kosono took care of him to atone for her former business and to see him accomplish that which she could not, I believe she did it for a simpler reason. And that would be to fill the emptiness she felt in her life that she realized when she first met Yuki. With the waka that was seen at the end of the story, however, it is clear that she regarded youth as an object of sadness instead of excitement. When she viewed Yuki or recounted stories of her past, there was always a hint of depression behind her actions.
While these stories have shed light on this question, I still have to ask "青春はなんですか~~？" or "What is youth?" Specifically, what is youth for Okada and Kosono?
