Bheela’s Blog -017
13 March 2021
Episode 16 Recap
Oshin starts learning alphabets and numbers from Shunsaku. Shunsaku teaches her other lessons also. He takes a promise from Oshin that when she grows up and if Japan ever goes to war, she will resist. He introduces her to rebel poet Akiko Yosano’s poem in which a sister asks her brother not to go to war.
Shunsaku confesses to Oshin that he was an army soldier and has now quit the army. This is the reason that they are hiding in the mountain. Matsuji asks Oshin to keep this a secret.
Oshin’s mother, Fuji, believes that Oshin is dead and her body is covered in snow. She wants to perform a funeral so that Oshin’s soul can rest in peace.
Episode 17
FLASHBACK CONTINUES
Oshin feels happy in the mountains with the two men Shunsaku and Matsuji. She has started contributing to household work. The new year is just about to begin. Most Japanese households prepare Mochi — a sweet made by pounding rice, using Mortar and Pestle, to celebrate the happy occasion.
Matsuji, the elder, has made a Mortar-Pestle set by using forest wood. They call Oshin to see the same. Matsuji has saved some rice for such special occasions. With Oshin around, they are both thrilled and want to celebrate.
Oshin joins them and is impressed to see the Mortar-Pestle set. Matsuji tells her that he made this for her; She is extremely grateful. She is also surprised that Matsuji can make many things using meager forest resources. To make the rice cakes, one person has to use the Pestle to beat the rice, the other has to knead it with little water. Matsuji asks Shunsaku to help. Shunsaku has never done this in his life, and he hesitates. Matsuji teases him, saying that he, a city boy, is good of nothing.
Oshin then comes forward to help. She knows this as their family did the same during the new year back in the village.
As she starts synchronizing the strokes of Pestle and kneads the rice, Shunsaku praises her for her excellent skill on the job. Later he too tries some strokes.
Oshin is very happy; she never had such a fulfilling life. She could eat as much as she wanted, and she was learning many new things. Most of all, she was surrounded by the warm affection of the two men. She realizes that true happiness lay not in wealth or material things but in mutual love and sharing with others whatever they had, no matter how small.
Mochi, i.e., the rice cakes are ready, and Oshin counts them .. 12, 13, 14 & 15!! She is happy to be able to count beyond 10!
Shunsaku appreciates her learning and tells her that it will soon be the new year. Matsuji enters, and he has prepared a lovely dress made of rabbit skin for Oshin. He gives this present to Oshin for New Year’s Day. Oshin is taken aback; she says they could have exchanged many things against the rabbit fur.
Matsuji tells her not to worry about things and asks her to try the coat. He comes forwards and puts it on Oshin himself and ties it with the belt.
Oshin exclaims, “It is so warm!” Matsuji is happy that it fits Oshin perfectly. He tells Oshin that from now on, she won’t have to borrow Shunsaku’s oversize garments to keep warm anymore. Matsuji wants to make more dresses for Oshin once the spring comes buying material from market downhill the mountain. Unfortunately, he is unable to go to public places. Oshin says that the coat is warm and she can wear it all the time.
After wearing the coat, Oshin bows down and conveys her gratitude formally to Matsuji and to Shunsaku. She tells them how happy she is. She suddenly remembers that she had to take the clothes inside. She goes out to pick the washed and dried clothes.
The two men then talk among themselves. Shunsaku wants to know from Matsuji that hopefully, he is not cross with Shunsaku anymore. Matsuji replies that Oshin is very special. He sometimes feels that she is his real granddaughter. Matsuji also apprehends about the onset of spring whether they like it or not. Shunsaku also fears for spring when they will have to drop Oshin at her home and move to a more discrete and safer place.
Oshin picks up all the dried clothes and simultaneously recites the poem about a sister who does not want her brother to go to war. As she sings, a thought comes to her mind that her mother, by this time, would have given birth to a new baby. She is thinking if she got a baby brother or a baby sister.
At the village, Oshin’s mom, Fuji, just returned from the temple quietly. Her husband confronts her and demands to know if she took some rice with her. He wants to know where she had gone with the rice. He is agitated since that rice could have fed the family for many days. He runs after Fuji as she enters the house. Fuji sits in front of the worship area in the living room. Grandma also is startled by this commotion.
Fuji then replies that Oshin’s spirit is now able to rest in peace. She has brought a wooden plaque from the temple. The rice was considered the cheapest offering that she gave to the temple to get a funeral done in Oshin’s name. Fuji feels sad for Oshin that it is all they could do for her. She believes that now the funeral is done, her spirit will rest in peace. Father gets very upset, and he hits Fuji, calling her a stupid woman. Grandma tries to stop, but he goes on. Sakuzo is angry because the rice was wasted just for a small plaque of wood. He wants Fuji to give the plaque back to the temple. He says that they don’t even know if Oshin is dead or not.
Fuji calms down and says that Oshin is just seven and they have not heard from her. There is no way she can be alive in the blizzard condition. Every time Fuji has a dream about Oshin, she feels terrible. She had to perform the rituals to comfort Oshin’s poor soul.
She is also now angry and tells her husband if he is bothered about the rice, she declares that she will stop eating from that day even if she shrivels up and dies. Sakuzo, Oshin’s Dad, gets up and goes out. Grandma tries to pacify Fuji. She says that Sakuzo also loves Oshin a lot; she thinks that he wants to believe that Oshin is alive and safe. Fuji wants to believe that too, but fears for Oshin’s life. Grandma says that when spring will come and snow will melt, Sakuzo will find if she is still alive. Fuji says even if we find the dead body, it will too late; Oshin’s spirit won’t be able to go to heaven till then. Fuji cannot help thinking of her all the time, lying dead, frozen in the snow. Grandma tries to stop Fuji’s train of thought but is unable to do so.
Fuji continues, poor Oshin, they never gave her any easy life. At least with this funeral, Oshin could go to heaven, and she will be able to rest. Grandma understands her feelings as a mother. Fuji prays in front of the plaque, ‘Dear Oshin, you can finally go to heaven now and rest in peace.’
Sakuzo stands outside the hut when his elder son, Shouji, appears. Shouji had gone to help the neighbor for preparing Mochi for the new year. The neighbors pounded plenty of rice. Shouji wanted to know if their family will prepare rice cakes for the upcoming New Year. Oshin’s Dad replies with a sad voice that they won’t, although they harvested enough rice. The new year is not celebrated in a house if someone has died, so they cannot enjoy it. Somehow, a feeling is sinking to him too that Oshin might be dead.
It is New Year Day. Matsuji brewed ‘sake’ (alcoholic drink popular in Japan) using primitive methods. Shunsaku and Matsuji are enjoying their drink. Oshin eats her dinner, a bowl full of rice soup with meat. They are so happy to celebrate. Last year, they were only two of them, so it was quiet, but this year due to Oshin’s presence, they feel like they are celebrating at home.
Matsuji starts singing a song. This is the same song, which sailors on the river Mogami sing. Oshin stops eating and becomes sad. Shunsaku observes this, and he asks Oshin the reason for her sadness.
Oshin replies that she knows this song. When she used to wash diapers in the river, she heard the sailors sing this song. Every time she heard it, she felt very lonely and wanted to go home to her mother. She thought that she will be able to reach her home if she followed the river. Shunsaku asks her if she wants to go home? Oshin replies, ‘no.’ Shunsaku thinks that her folks would be worried for her at home. Oshin replies that they would believe that she will not be home until the contract is finished. Matsuji then asks her what about the lumber mill owners for whom she worked. Oshin answers this as well; she says that they won’t look for her as they would believe that she has reached her home. When she will finally reach home in springtime, her parents will think that she came home because she finished her tenure.
Matsuji laughs out loudly at Oshin’s innovative thinking. He comments that Oshin is such an optimist, and he hopes her imagination comes true. Shunsaku, though, is unable to laugh, and he becomes thoughtful.
Shunsaku is preparing a mural carving out of a wood piece. Oshin is learning the table of three.
3x3=9, 3x4=12…
She asks Shunsaku if he will sell the statue in the market when spring comes? Shunsaku replies, ‘No.’ It is a memorial, he explains, for the people who died in the war. Then he corrects himself; it is for those people whom he killed.
He gives Oshin another life lesson; he says, ‘Oshin, you’re going to live for many years to come. There will be many situations, both sad and hard. You will meet people you don’t like. But still, you must never resent or hate them. You must never hurt other people. If you resent or hate someone, you will regret it. You will feel terrible about it in the end. If you hurt somebody, finally, you will be the one that is hurt and suffers. Everything that you do comes back to you. Now listen, Oshin; if you want to hate or hurt somebody, try to think of his point of view before you resent or hate him. Ask yourself, why does he mistreat me? There has to be a reason. If you can think of any, then you must improve yourself. But if you can’t, and they still mistreat you, you should not accuse them but pity them. Those who maltreat you without reason must be miserable people. You should feel sorry for these people. You should think this way and forgive them. Do you understand?’
He continues, ‘Well, you probably don’t understand now. But I hope you will become a person who can love and forgive people. If you can go out and love others, they will love you in return, and you will be a happy person. If you can do this, you will be rich in your heart. Can you remember all of these? I taught you reading, writing, and mathematics, but no matter how good you become at your subjects, it won’t mean anything if your heart is bad. No matter how much you study and how important you become, it will not do you any good if you are not a good person.’
After teaching her this lesson, Shunsaku feels that it is probably a bit hard for Oshin to understand.
Oshin did not understand most of what Shunsaku taught her. But she understood that her brother was suffering because he killed people in the war. Although Oshin had no idea what ‘love’ meant, she decided that she would grow up to be a person who could love her fellow human beings.
She goes to the place where Shunsaku kept all the statues he had carved out of the forest wood. She bows down to those statues and offers her prayers.
The shining sun on those quiet mountains was beginning to bring a sense of spring.
Oshin was not aware of it or what it would bring for her in her immediate future.
Will she reach home in spring?
Episode 18 is coming shortly with what happens next.