Kappa

I wish I hadn’t read the introduction before reading this book, because knowing of Akutagawa’s mental problems and morbid preoccupations inevitably colors one’s interpretations of the text. The absurdist bleakness of the land of the Kappas, while being an obvious parody of Meiji Japan, seems to be at times more of a projection of the author’s own psyche, and thus one feels a bit constrained in interpretation. So while I thought this was going to be in the ‘literary fable’ genre, the actual experience of the book edges more into an enigmatic psychological horror, especially because life among the Kappas seems to be rather wretched (well, all those declarations that ‘a Kappa’s life is an evil thing.’) Not much relieves the nihilistic tone, other than perhaps art, although the bohemian world is also satirized here; I enjoyed it, but I think I’d recommend the short work Hell Screen if you are interested in an introduction to the writing of Akutagawa.