The Bears of Nametoko

There are so many different ideas that come to my mind after I read this story, so many different relationships and so many different reasons for the choices all the characters in this story make. But honestly the one thing that really stood out to me was the idea that the characters in this story seemed to be doing things because they felt like they had to. For example, the main character, the hunter, was only hunting bears because he felt like he had to do that in order to make a living. Just like how the bear who asked the hunter to let him live because he still had things to do, I also feel that the merchant also had things he had to do as well. Just like how the hunter didn’t want to kill bears, the bears didn’t want to die. And just how the bears didn’t want to die, the merchant may not have wanted to “scam” the hunter out of his bear pelts. But other than that, the ritual that the hunter gives the bears after he kills them also stood out to me. Although he isn’t directly apologizing for his actions I still feel that he feels remorse for what he has done and hopes that his victim doesn’t have to go through it again. However with that said since the bears in this story seem to think on their own like the hunter does, I feel that they too feel remorse for what they have done to the hunter, but also feel like they had to do it so that they too could survive.

I guess my only questions here would be.. Why was the Hunter smiling at the end of the ritual? Could it be that he finally felt free from his duty? Or could it be that he simply understood why the bear attacked him in the first place?