Numerous books featuring the words of writer Jakucho Setouchi have been published since her death in November at the age of 99. Jakucho was also a Buddhist nun and focused on life, death and the truth of love until the last days of her eventful life. Her unique advice to younger generations lives on in these books.
Two books by Manaho Seo, 33, a secretary to Jakucho for her last 11 years, vividly portray the late author's life and way of thinking from the viewpoint of the person closest to the author.
"Ima o ikiru anata e" (For you who live in the present time), published by SB Creative, contains conversations between Jakucho and Seo. The other is a book of essays titled "Jakucho-san ni osowatta koto" (What Jakucho taught me), from the Kodansha publishing company.
The publication of the two books was moved up after Jakucho passed away.
"Setouchi strongly desired young people today, who live a restricted life in an age of freedom, to live with enthusiasm. I hope readers will feel the power of the words expressing her hopes," Seo said.
Jakucho was repeatedly hospitalized from September 2021 due to pneumonia and heart failure, but she managed to work on five serials for magazines and newspapers until the end of her life. She had pens, notebooks and paper in her hospital room.
It became difficult for her to talk from the end of October, when her condition worsened. When Jakucho and Seo were alone on the day before her death, Seo told her how her young son had grown. Seo saw the corners of her mouth lifting and a faint smile appearing on her face. When Jakucho drew her last breath, "she looked as if she were falling asleep," Seo said.
The book of conversations conveys thoughts and views on life that Jakucho expressed during their lighthearted talks.
Jakucho used terms such as "jihi" (compassion) to mean love that does not ask for anything in return, and "waganse," a deed of charity, to convey the importance of smiling.
Asked about adultery, she refers to her own experience as she crisply answers: "When you fall in love with someone, you won't care if he has a wife or a girlfriend," and "in whatever relationship, it is happier to love than to be loved."
Jakucho also says, citing the phrase "seisei ruten" (Everything is changing in the eternal cycle of birth, death and rebirth), that both good and bad things "will never continue forever in the same manner. That's why people can keep living."
In the book of essays, Seo describes the days she spent with Jakucho at Jakuan, her temple in Kyoto, from June 2017 until her death. Seo describes the real Jakucho and her unflagging enthusiasm for writing.
For example, Jakucho would stay up all night struggling to write, saying, "I want to die with a pen in my hand." She was close to Seo during her life events, including marriage, childbirth and child-rearing. She started painting amid the pandemic, saying, "It would be boring if I didn't do something new."
Jakucho seemed to be enjoying her age, which was 100 according to the traditional age counting system.
Seo said: "She taught me not to limit possibilities or set limits on myself, and to never give up. I think my life has changed a lot in the 11 years I was with her."
"Sono hi made" (Until the day), a posthumous book by Jakucho from Kodansha, is a compilation of essays published in the literary magazine Gunzo from August 2018 to June 2021. Jakucho looks back over her life, remembering Yukio Mishima and other celebrated writers. Her views on life and death in her later years are also featured.
When she was young, Jakucho went through a difficult period in which she was harshly criticized for several early works containing bold depictions of sex. She poured her energy into writing biographical novels focusing on such female writers as Toshiko Tamura, Kanoko Okamoto and Noe Ito, as if she were projecting herself onto them.
Jakucho said with sympathy, "When writing, I was so amazed and impressed with those writers, who struggled against social obstacles." She also paid attention to today's society, in which women can be active.
After turning 99, Jakucho described her life as "prolonged like an everlasting punishment," looking back on the time when she was 25 and left her home, leaving a young daughter behind.
She writes: "One morning, I wake up and feel that the current situation, in which it seems like I'll never die, may be a punishment on me ... Next morning, I will wake up again, as an everlasting punishment."
The morning of release finally came to her, a little more than six months before her 100th birthday.
Seo said: "She kept running and lived her life doing her best to the very end. I even want to say, 'Congratulations.'"
Jakucho's many words for future generations will continue shining as a guide to life.
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