ABSTRACT
The use of myth in O - e’s works is not easily classifiable, nor should it be.
Myth, with its symbolic resources, can express quite powerfully mankind’s spiritual awareness of the infinite and the mystery of his place in it. Time is dissolved into timelessness. Mythic symbolism can also be applied in a particular way, for example as a social critique. All these aspects can be found intermixed in The Contemporary Game, a vast panorama with a sharp focus on O
- e’s views about the contemporary social structure of Japan. Here
Bakhtin’s concept of continuous evolution is the background. In the novel past and present are fused into what is, in effect, a timeless continuum. O - e’s intention has been to create an imaginary mythology challenging the
accepted traditions of Japan’s origins, which resulted in the establishment of divine rule by an emperor and the creation of a Japanese society based on centralist authority. To do this, he has returned first to the ancient records – the Kojiki and the Nihon shoki – which show that the islands of Japan were created by two gods, the brother and sister Izanagi and Izanami.1 The leading figures in O
- e’s myth are also a brother and sister, the twins Tsuyuki and
Tsuyumi. In six letters to his sister, Tsuyuki records how their mythical village was created. This is the first important point, where O
- e’s return to the
mythical roots of Japan is symbolized by the parallels of brother and sister. The second point where O
- e draws on the ancient history of Japan is his
depiction of a marginalized community, which, in its features, has universal dimensions. In the ancient records, the gods of Heaven known as the Amatsukami descended on Earth and vanquished the Kunitsukami, the independent rulers of separate communities, who fled into the forest and became demons. O
- e’s village community is set deep in a forest, and in its culture and
customs it is allied to the Kunitsukami, in direct opposition to the new heavenly gods who are at the source of Japan’s mythology.2
