　Fate of Man.

(synopsis)

Part I

J'iro Mori was born during the latter part of the Meiji Period in Ganyudo, a small fishing village in Numazu. His father owned

a small fleet of flshing, boats and thus his early years were spent in luxury. It was not long, however, until his father became converted to Tenri-ism, and, in accordarance with its teachings, gave up his fortune.

This caused the breakup of his family, and Jiro, together with his grandfather and grandmother, was left under the care of his uncle who was a destitute fisherman. His uncle's village was poor and dismal, and Jiro soon expressed a strong desire to escape these surroundings. In response to this request, a naval officer named Naito had him placed in a Junior High School in Numazu. Here he met Ishida Koichi, a fellow classmate; the two soon became the closest of friends. Jiro was also related to the Ishidas in that his mother was the daughter of Koichi's grandfather by a girl who was a servant in the Ishida home. The Ishidas were the wealthiest family in the area and they owned a spacious estate near the Imperial Villa in Numazu which the Crown Prince often visited. A short tmje later, his father, the Emperdr Meiji, passed away and the Crown Prince ascended the throne as the Emperor Taisho.

Since poverty is often born of ignorance, Jiro felt that the only way to save his beloved home townfrom poverty was to study.This feeling developed into a burning desire for learning. After graduating from Junior High School, he became a teacher`sassistant

for a year. He soon had saved enough money to enter the best liligh School in Japan the following year.

He was so poverty-stricken during this period of his education that he could not always afford three meals a day. A Mrs. Takaba, who was noted for extending financial aid to working students, heard of

his plight and gave him enough funds to pay for his school expenses. Through this circumstance Jiro came to know her daughter

Kazuko.

It was also at this time that Jiro's attention was attracted to social problems by the rise of the Socialist movement in Japan and the series of rice-riots which spread throughout the nation. Thus he became an avid reader of the works of Kropotkin and became strongly influenced by Arishima Takeo who was an advocate of the abolition of private property.

Mrs. Takaba's assistance did not, however, mean that Jiro's days of want were over. He was still in such difficult straits that he once had to sell his French dictionary to buy food. But he endured his destitution, and persevered in his studies well enough that he was eventually admitted to the Economics Department of the Tokyo

Imperial University. Here, two event greatly influencecl his life. One of them was his meeting Mr. Tabe, one of his superiors at the University. Mr. Tabe owned a villa in Jiro`s home town.This Villa had been left n the care of an aunt.The aunt introduced him to Jiro,

Mr.Tabe took a liking to the youth and beseeched Jiro to reside with him.This was the begnning of a close father-and-son type of relationship between the two.

The other event which strongly influenced his life at this time was the great love that he began to feel for Kazuko, His love for her soon became publicly known, and he

was prohibited from entering the Takaba home because he was

a “dangerous” Socialist.

　As he approached the end of his college career, Jiro passed the Higher Civil Service Examination and immediately after his graduation in 1922 entered the service of the Agriculture and Commerce Ministry. At this point, he was adopted by the Tabes and

he began to call Mr. Tabe “father”. He started his life as a government official with many grandiose ideas for improving society, but his greatest concern was for Kazuko.

Upon hearing of Jiro's adoption into the Tabe family, she wrote him saying that she had decidecl to give in to her father's opposition and drop her affair with him. After this, she left for Germany to study with her younger brother. Jiro was brokenhearted, but soon Kazuko began to write to him from Gerrnany and their love-affair was renewed.

Jiro rose quickly in his department and was the first person among his graduation class to be appointed an administrative official. His appointment was with the Livestock Bureau, but he was soon transferred to the Regional Forestry Office in the province of Akita because his political views differed from those of the chief of the Bureau.

The routine of this local governmental office caused him feel a deep despair ,and his despondency was heightened when he heard a rumor that Kazuko had become engaged in Berlin.

Thus he decided to marry Setsuko,the daughter of a railway company owner named Arita who was a friend of his foster-father,Mr.Tabe.He took a temporary leave from his oflicial position and left with his new bride for France, where he began a further study of economics.

A second life had begun for Jiro.

Part II

Jiro entered the University of Paris and began his stucly under a professor Simian.

As his graduation approached, however, he fell ill with tuberculosis and was obliged to go to a sanitorium in Switzerland to recuperate. During his period of convalescence, he was prevailed upon by several of his friends to undertake a literary career.

Then, in 1929, he returned to Japan with his wife and child who had been born in France. They took up residence in Tokyo,

and he became a lecturer on currency at

Chuou University. While working in this position, he began his career in literature by

writing a novel entitled Bourgeois, based on

his observations while living in various foreign countries. This novel wan a prize in a contest sponsored by a literary magazine.

Life is full of unexpected happenings and thus we must never give up hope. Is that why they say "la vie est belle" (Life is wonderful) in France? ,

When Jiro returned to Japan, he was in

a state of gloomy despair when a very unexpected event suddenly came into his life.

At Chuou University he conducted one course in currency and another course on economics in English but because of poor health he lectured only on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10:00A.M. to 1:30P.M.Tuesdays from 10:00A.M. to 1:30P.M.One afternoon after his last lecture,Sethuko`s yonger brother Shigeo, who had come to Tokyo the day before with a fellow named Akira,asked to see him.Shigeo had fiinally managed to graduate from college and was

given a job with a warehousing company in Nagoya through the good offices of Mr. Arita.

He was calling on various professors to thank them for helping to make his graduation possible and had invited three professors to

dinner at the Imperial Hotel. He requested that Jiro join them. Jiro therefore accompanied Shigeo and Akira to Shigeo's University near Ochanomizu and from there they went to dinner. After eating, there

was some time remaining before Shigeo and

Akira were to return to Nagoya on the last train so they invited the professors and Jiro to go to a bar with them for drinks. Jiro,

exhausted by the day's events, excused himself and made his way home. Upon his arrival, he found a letter had been sent to the Tabe home and Mr. Tabe forwarded it to Jiro by special delivery mail. He hastily opened the letter, which read :

“Your manuscript Bourgeois has won first prize in our Third Novel Prize Contest. We will be printing an announcement of this award in the May issue of our magazlne and will need a recent half-length photo of you to accompany this announcement,

Please send this photo to the editorial department of our main officc as soon as possible."

The letter was written in such an off-hand

manner that Jiro was stunned by it and felt he was going to faint. He had actually completely forgotten the fact that he had entered the contest and now could not believe he had won the pride.He could not imagine how the editorial department of a noted literary magazine could send such a awkward letter written on such coarse paper,and wondered if it could have been send to him by a prankster.He knew,houever,that no one had heard of his novel expect the magazine company and thus tried to convince himself that the news was true.

His doubts assailed him again when he realized that he had no recent photo to send them. Then he thought of asking his brother Ichiro, who was a journalist, what he thought of the situation. It was late, but Jiro's weariness vanished as he decided to go to see Ichiro.

Jiro's novel appeared in the magazine a few days before the new Diet opened. All of the newspapers carried a big advertisement in bold print concerning his work. As he looked earnestly at the advertisements, he finally realized that his novel had been widely accepted by the literary world.

Following this event, Jiro came more and more to be recognized as a leading writer in the modern tradition, but the university

authorities began to question his qualifications as an economist and he was pressed to resign. It was also at this time that the government passed a new and much more strict Peace Preservation Law) which ordered a violent suppression of liberal thought. Jiro,

as a leading writer, was thus placed in a position of great personal danger.

Sueko, a daughter　of the Ishidas, was arrested under this law for having disseminated dangerous thoughts and Jiro was called in as a character witness during her trial.But Sethuko could not bear the harsh interrogations and torture which she was forced to undergo and thus took her own life while praying for the safety of her lover who was connected with an underground movement.

Jiro evaded punishment,however,and obtained a position under President Shimazaki Toson as chief accountant of the Japan branch of International P.E.N.Club,which was formed after World War I by men of the world of letters as a world-wide organization for the promotion of world peace and understanding. This job had its confining aspects, but it also enabled him to come into contact with great writers like lvlasamune, Tokuda, Arishima, et al.

At about the time of the "February 26th Incident" in 1936, Jiro was faced with the death of both his beloved foster-father, Mr. Tabe, who died a mysterious death at Monte Rosa, and his mother, who was taken sick　while engaged in missionary work with her penniless husband. She died while professing doubts about her religious faith.

Before her death, Jiro's mother called him to her side and, after Dr. Makiba had left, told Jiro that while his father and any other visitors were out of the room she wanted to talk to him. It seemed that she wanted to pour out her soul to him, but was too exhausted to say all that she really wanted to say.

“After your farther gave up his property and began his life of religious devotion, we lived like beggars. It was no life for a person with any sense. Your father said that because we had spent several generations living a haughty and self-centered life, it was necessary for us to be humble and self-effacing as a flrst lesson in faith but when one lives in such degraded circurnstances for fifteen or twenty years,one loses his dignity without being aware of it.His children despise the world.They lose their prized faith.

“When we were living like the dregs of society,at times I used to think quite often about how it would have been if your father had not taken up religion.Do you see? ”

Your grandfather and grandmother lovedthe Jhoruri drama and they would invite the village people into a drawing room facing

the pond to watch the plays. Your father would distribute copies of prints from wood blocks which he had carved and painted himself to those who came. I Iiked to play the koto and arrange flowers and I was always neatly dressed and had no concern about my livelihood.

We could have enjoyed having people come over from my parents' home as the season came and went and I could have visited them with you and the other children.

Your father abandoned that type of life for a life of faith. But, truthfully speaking, our earlier way of life was a happier one. I

honestly believe that even God would have been pleased if we bad not abandoned it.

We would have been happier if we had never known of the Tenri faith and I am beginning to have doubts . . ." she said tearfully, and then, as her tears continued to fall, she remained silent for a while. As Jiro sat by her bedside he was at a loss for what to say.

“No matter what suffering he had to bear, even if he had to go without food for two or three days or was ridiculed mercilessly, he

never complained or grumbled. This attitude made it all the harder for me to bear. If he had complained, I could have comforted him, but when he said nothing I felt like grumbling myself.It is my nature not to complain, but I was a fool.I didn`t know what type of life was best for me to live.I wanted a sure knowledge of the God he always spoke of, but I was impatient. ...

Last winter I was chosen to serve the offertory in the Tenri Headquarters. I was asked to wrap talismans. Only woman who were considered to embody the virtues of　the order were chosen for this service. Your father considered it a high honor and was

overjoyed . . .but I was frightened. I desperately wanted to see God to reassure myself.

. . . I even went so far as to perform a cold water puriflcation rite during the dead of winter but even then I was not able to see God."

“Jrro, is there a God ? "

“I don't have any religious faith so. . .”　

　“That's why I'm asking you.”

Jiro Iooked into her eyes and said firmly

“I don't believe in a God who has a human form and who uses his power to help human beings. But there is a power in the universe

which moves the heavens and the earth and sustains the lives of men. They call this power God. During the long history of mankind, men have imagined God to have numerous shapes and characteristics. I've lived in Europe and have seen the piety of the Christians and their sublime faith in their God. . .”　

“What is the difference between the God of the Christians and the God of Tenri-isrn ? ”

“There is only one force which moves the universe and so the only difference is in the attributes which men have imagined God to have. Men identify God with their own historical and racial backgrounds.”

His mother closed her eyes in exhaustion and she became silent.Jiro thought for a moment that it would have been best for him to have avoided talking with her like this,but then he felt that since it was the only time be could ever discuss the matter with her it was best to be forthright and honest.

Mr.Arita kept a mistress in another house and she was the cause of perpetual feuding in the Arita household. Mrs. Arita tried to find comfort and encouragement by supporting the war effort through making gift packs for soldiers who were leaving for the front, and by attending their send-off parades. Eventually she became afflicted with cancer. Just before she died, she expressed grave concern for the safety of her son, Shigeo, who was serving in the army and so Jiro promised her that he would visit Shigeo on the front in China.

Jiro traveled to China as a special correspondent for a newspaper and there he met Professor Richlieu, a friend whom he had

known in Paris. His experiences in China led him to protest the atrocities which were committed by the Japanese soldiers. Once,

a young officer gave Jiro his sword and ordered him to decapitate some innocent Chinese students. When Jiro refused, the officer swore at him and called him effeminate. This incident took place one morning when he and a fellow correspondent named

Sugiyama were aroused from their sleep before dawn by an orderly who told them he had orders to take them immediately to his commanding offcer. They were not even allowed to wash or dress and they still felt groggy when they stepped into the orderly's car. The town was still asleep and although the sun was hot during ,the middle of the day, it was unusually cold for the month of May.Sugiyama whispered to Jiro. ”“I wonder what he wants of us I`m afraid that he is insane.”

The car drove through the gate of the barracks,passed many buildings, turned down a back alley and stopped by a small building. As they left the car,Jiro finally felt wide awake.They were greeted by a Coorporal who snapped to attention and said,

“The Commanding Officer has ordered that I be your.assistant.” He then held out swords to Jiro and Sugiyama but they didn't understand what the swords were for. There, two anrmed soldiers standing nearby said, "Ready, sir," and, as they peered into the gloom, they could see three young Chinese about fifteen feet away sitting on the ground with their backs toward thern and their hands tied behind their backs. Each one was facing a hole which had been dug in front of him.

Again the Corporal tried to thrust the swords into their hands but as he did so a chill went up Jiro's spine and he began to tremble. He felt as if he were facing execution and the silence which surrounded him only heightened the tension. His body tensed as he waited to see what would happen.

“If you fail, we'll flnish the jo'b,”the Corporal whispered. As he said this, one of the Chinese youths suddenly turned his head.

His hair fell onto his forhead and his boyish face was pale with fear but his piercing eyes seemed to penetrate Jiro's heart and his

body automatically drew back in revulsion.

“Jiro, Iet's get , out of here! This is none

of our business !　”

Jiro was startled as Sugiyama's voice seemed to call to him from beneath the ground which they were stancling on. They both turned and started to walk away in step with each other. Their steps quickened as both were struck by panic. A cold sweat broke out on their forheads just as if they were to have swords descending on their necks. They were no more than 30 feet away when they heard a sharp command followed by a dull thud and sharp cries of pain.These screams seemed to pursue them and they both walked faster as if to escape from the sound.

After they fled the barracks area, they roamed the town until they could flnd a car to take them back to their hotel. As soon as they reached their room they collapsed on the floor speechless. After a prolonged silence, Jiro said, "What a terrible thing for an offcer to do !　What was he trying to do, shock us into losing our ability to think rationally?" Sugiyama's face was trembling with anger.

Jiro, having seen with his own eyes the atrocities of the army and the suffering it had caused, had great fear for Japan's future despite the fact that the nation was having a great celebration on the occasion of the 2,600th anniversary of its founding.

At the outbreak of the Second Word War, government control of free speech was even more strictly enforced. Because of this, a serial which Jiro was writing for his news-paper was rejected and he was even suspected of being a spy because he was corresponding

with foreigners. He was still popular with a large group of students, however, and he opened his home to them and started a study

group. But it was not long until all draft deferments for students were abolished, and, one after another, his sttident friends departed for the front. Jiro prayed for their safety and deplored the miserable age they were living in.

These students continued to write him from their battle area and one day a letter arrived from a student named Sawada who was in a military hospital in Seoul, Koria. It read:

Dear Professor

Two months have passed since I was transferred to this field hospital.I now realize for the first time that the chest disease which I am fighting is so severe that I am faced with death. It gives me hope, however, when I realize that you has struggled with the same disease and now I can unclerstand what you were trying to teach us. In a certain sense, I have found my life again and I have even been able to flnd the motivation to go back to writing poetry.

I have a favor to ask of you. I have heard that my friend Watachi has volunteered to join a unit whose members are Kamikaze.

This, of course, means certain death, and I want to convince Watachi to withdraw from doing such an inhuman thing but I have

been unable to sway him. No cause can justify such action. Please try to get him to give up his foolish ideas. We often visitcd you together and I knew him well. He was very talented and he loved life. I can't imagine anyone other than the devil could lead him to make such a decision. Please try to persuade him to change his mind!

Kenji Sawada

As .Tiro read the letter, tears fillecl his eyes.

Within a month, Japan really began to feel sufferings of the war on the home front.