Sugata Sanshiro's Satori Walter KLINGER

8 Walter KLINGER“follow.” In postwar editions of the novel, the sentence containing chuukou has beenchanged to: 即 ち、 天 地 自 然 の 真 理 のままに 生 き 死 にする 悟 りだ。Sunawachi, tenchishizen noshinri no mamani ikishini suru satori da. This could be translated as, “That is to say, livingand dying in the Principle of the Way of Heaven and Earth is Enlightenment.”These are certainly fine enough sentiments, and Sanshiro’s search to understand howto live his life is indeed one of the central themes of the story. However, the point Yano istrying to make is that by following the Way, Sanshiro should be willing to die for him, for hissuperiors, or for some higher cause which his superiors have decided on.Yano continues, “Only by this truth can people attain peace of mind towards death.This is the ultimate one goal of all Paths. Same goes for judo. Sugata, you have lost sightof this point.” 17 Sugata responds, “No, sensei. If you order me to, I can die even now.” 18If you know that chuukou was a virtue in feudal Japan, you might be able to assumethat Sanshiro understands that the Way of Heaven and Earth means loyalty includingsacrificial death. A viewer who doesn’t know this, however, will surely be struck by the lackof logical continuity of the dialogue.In the film scenario but not in the film, and in the 1942 novel but not in the postwareditions, Sanshiro continues, “I can die for loyalty and filial duty.” 19In all versions of the novel, wartime and postwar, and in some of the other Sanshirofilms, though not in Kurosawa’s film or film scenario, Yano next says, “Sugata, if I were totell you to jump into the temple pond, would you without a moment’s hesitation jump in, andhaving jumped in, can you die?” 20Martin Luther King Jr in 1963 said, “If a man hasn’t discovered something that hewill die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Having something you are willing to die for is notnecessarily a bad thing; however, psychologically harassing and browbeating someone intoaccepting what you think is a good reason for him to die, as Yano is doing to Sanshiro, seemsvery unfair. Sanshiro seems to say he will die out of loyalty only because he is being bullied17 この 真 理 によってのみ 人 間 は 死 の 安 心 を 得 る。これがすべての 道 の 究 極 の 一 点 だ。 柔 道 とて 同 じこと。 姿 、お前 はこの 一 点 を 見 失 っておる。Kono shinri ni yotte nomi ningen wa shi no anshin wo eru. Kore ga subete nomichi no kyuukyoku no itten da. Judo tote onaji koto. Sugata, omae wa kono itten wo miushinatteoru.18 いいえ 先 生 。 先 生 の 命 令 とあらば 今 でも 僕 は 死 ねます。Iie, Sensei, Sensei no meirei to araba ima demo bokuwa shinemasu.19忠 義 のためにも、 孝 行 のためにも。Chuuki no tame ni mo, koukou no tame ni mo.20姿 、お 前 は 私 が 寺 の 池 へ 飛 び 込 めと 言 えば 即 座 に 飛 び 込 むか、 飛 び 込 んで 死 ねるかっ。Sugata, omae wawatakushi ga tera no ike he tobikome to ieba sokuzani tobikomu ka, tobikonde shineru ka?