This study will compare and contrast the role of Buddhism in Yasunari Kawabata's novel Thousand Cranes with the role of Christianity in Shohei Ooka's novel Fires on the Plain. The argument of the study will be that in each book the religious path chosen or followed by the protagonist is a reflection of the his attitude toward and relationship with the Japanese culture in general.
Despite the fact that both books were originally published in the late 1950s, Ooka writes about World War II, while Kawabata writes about the postwar period. Because of this difference, the emphases and themes of the books stand in contrast. Thousand Cranes explores intimate relationships with larger historical, social and political issues serving only as a contextual backdrop.
Buddhism, specifically the tea ceremony, serves as the matrix for the emotional and psychological expression of Kikuji and other characters in Kawabata's novel, a work which honors and affirms the traditional, spiritual foundation of the culture. Thousand Cranes is a story of passionate interrelationships which are tempered and controlled through the ritualistic avenue of the tea ceremony.
In Ooka's novel, on the other hand, the focus is on grander social and political issues, although those issues are realized through the agonies of isolation and deterioration experienced by Private Tamura. Whereas Buddhist ritual in the tea ceremony holds together the postwar passions of Kikuji and Ota in a way which gives them dignity, order and a controlling foundation, in Ooka's novel the protagonist ultimately considers rejecting everything of the culture which is coming apart around him. His inclination to consider the Western tradition and faith of Christianity is hardly a rational decision, but instead is the result of his need to find some sign of hope in a life which has been drained of that precious commodity. If Tamura, for example, had been offered the Buddhist tea ceremon...