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Vol.4: Fukagawa in my mind
December 3rd is a very special day for me: it is (it would be, was he still alive) Nagai Kafû's birthday. I know there's something weird, let's say even silly, in celebrating the birthday of someone who passed away so long ago, but for me, a foreigner living in Tokyo for over three years now, everything happens in this amazing city is somehow related to the experience of his books. This year's December 3rd is even more special, since I'm sitting alone in my room anxiously waiting for some news which, if positive, may change the course of my life - or at least of the next three years. In Kafû's works often happens that changes and transitions in one's life are represented by a character's crossing of a bridge. 
One of the most important changes - and a really memorable bridge-crossing - is the one we're told in "Fukagawa no uta." Here, an overtly autobiographic "jibun" (the I-narrator) who spent a long time in the West and, at the time of the narration, is been back to Japan for very short, crosses the Eitai bridge to find himself in Fukagawa. In the late Meiji period, Fukagawa was a district in which the previous era - the Edo period - and its atmosphere were still enjoyable. It is not surprising, then, that Kafû's "jibun" is deeply moved by the scene he sees there, a sort of still-life of Edo downtown's activities, faces and sounds. "Jibun" thinks of the modernization of Japan but also of his own life, of his past and the path he's about to walk.
Crossing the Eitai bridge today might be a little disappointing - especially if someone has in mind Kafû's novel - but I have to confess I had the feeling that Fukagawa still keeps some of the ancient spirit so successfully evoked in "Fukagawa no uta". This area changed, of course, and nothing of Kafû's time is now visible; but having seen the rest of Tokyo, I couldn't help thinking that in this area changes are actually slower, and that a short trip to Fukagawa can easily supply one's need of steadiness when city life seems to run too fast.And what about people who don't live in Tokyo? Fukagawa as a state of mind, is that possible? 
 
 
Gala M. Follaco: Born in Italy. Graduated from the University of Naples "L'Orientale." Currently living in Tokyo and graduate student at Waseda University. | ||
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