The section on bears reminded me of a short story by Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) called ‘The Bears of Namotoko.’ Here’s an internet archive translation with illustrations. To give a quick summary:
Kojuro is a lone hunter who travels through the mountains of Namotoko with his dog, hunting bears for their gall bladders and pelts. Kojuro does not hate the bears. He regrets the circumstances which force him to be a hunter, “If it is fate which caused you to be born as a bear, then it is the same fate that made me make a living as a hunter.” The bears themselves have essentially human inner lives albeit cannot communicate in words (a ‘secret world of bears’). Eventually, Kojuro is killed by a bear, after which the beats says “Ah Kojuro, I didn’t mean to kill you” and Kojuro apologises for trying to kill the bear.
I am not sure what the moral of the story is. Miyazawa (in all his stories) attributes very human features to animals (such as familial dynamics, appreciation for beauty, social hierarchy, and religious feeling). Despite this, animals continue to act in a dangerous, unknowable ways.
I suspect it has to do with the story’s roots in old folk tales. In the latter, the Other—whether as a mystical creature, bandit, wild animal, or visitor from a distant land—is often presented as essentially mysterious, much like tsunamis, wars, and famines. The Bears of Namotoko suggests it is not the otherness per se which is the problem; rather, suffering is inevitable becasue of the coil of existence. We must eat to live.
The section on bears reminded me of a short story by Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) called ‘The Bears of Namotoko.’ Here’s an internet archive translation with illustrations. To give a quick summary:
Kojuro is a lone hunter who travels through the mountains of Namotoko with his dog, hunting bears for their gall bladders and pelts. Kojuro does not hate the bears. He regrets the circumstances which force him to be a hunter, “If it is fate which caused you to be born as a bear, then it is the same fate that made me make a living as a hunter.” The bears themselves have essentially human inner lives albeit cannot communicate in words (a ‘secret world of bears’). Eventually, Kojuro is killed by a bear, after which the beats says “Ah Kojuro, I didn’t mean to kill you” and Kojuro apologises for trying to kill the bear.
I am not sure what the moral of the story is. Miyazawa (in all his stories) attributes very human features to animals (such as familial dynamics, appreciation for beauty, social hierarchy, and religious feeling). Despite this, animals continue to act in a dangerous, unknowable ways.
I suspect it has to do with the story’s roots in old folk tales. In the latter, the Other—whether as a mystical creature, bandit, wild animal, or visitor from a distant land—is often presented as essentially mysterious, much like tsunamis, wars, and famines. The Bears of Namotoko suggests it is not the otherness per se which is the problem; rather, suffering is inevitable becasue of the coil of existence. We must eat to live.