Mitsuyo Kakuta (角田光代, 1967–) set her sights on becoming a writer from an early age. Her debut novel—Kōfuku na yūgi (A Blissful Pastime), written while she was a university student—received the Kaien Prize for New Writers in 1990. She has been working continuously as an author ever since, never having had to support herself with a separate job. Three nominations for the Akutagawa Prize serve as a measure of the promise with which she was regarded from early in her career. Then, at the encouragement of an editor, she shifted toward the entertainment end of the literary spectrum, where she garnered a much broader readership with works depicting the lives of women in her generation, from their mid-thirties to forties. After publishing two brilliant novels in 2002, Ekonomikaru paresu (Economical Palace) and Kūchū teien (Hanging Garden), she went on to win the Naoki Prize for the second half of 2004 with Woman on the Other Shore (tr. 2007). Her successes continued with The Eighth Day (tr. 2010), which received the 2007 Chūō Kōron Literary Prize and was made into a televised drama series as well as a movie; the book sold more than a million copies, vaulting her into the ranks of Japan's best-selling authors. In 2012 she added to her list of honors by earning the Shibata Renzaburō Award for her novel Kami no tsuki (Paper Moon), and the Izumi Kyōka Prize for her volume of short stories Kanata no ko (The Children Beyond).
Mitsuyo Kakuta is currently working on translating the Tale of Genji into modern Japanese. (source: BooksFromJapan.jp)
The House on the Slope has a seemingly simple, mundane premise: Risako Yamazaki is a full-time housewife with a working husband and a three-year-old daughter. Her ordinary life is interrupted by the arrival of a court letter informing that she is to serve as an alternate lay judge in a criminal case. The defendant is Mizuho Ando, a housewife who is about the same age as Risako and is charged for drowning her eight-month-old baby girl in a bathtub. The following ten days of trial not only shed light on the evidence and truth behind the tragedy, but also bring about a series of reflections on Risako’s experiences as a gendered subject in the patriarchy advocating and consolidating domestic-public dichotomy.
The most significant takeaway from this novel, in my opinion, is that motherhood is more than a matter of childbearing. It is also about meeting both familial and societal expectations that pose mental health challenges as well as physical demands. In other words, motherhood as a social construct exposes the reality of childbearing process that is marked by loneliness and helplessness. Such a phenomenon is suggested in both Risako’s and Mizuho’s experiences. Sitting in the court and listening to Mizuho’s testimonies, Risako cannot help but notice the vivid resemblance between the former’s words and what she has been through. It is exactly this resemblance that makes Risako feel sympathy for Mizuho and prompts Risako to rethink her roles as a mother. In fact, the questions she keeps asking herself throughout the pregnancy implies the scepticism towards her suitability and ability of being a ‘perfect’ mother. “Am I really cut out to be a mother?” “Can I be a good mother?” Her ambivalence towards motherhood is marked by both her excitement and apprehension about the baby’s arrival. Such an internal conflict is heightened by various difficult childbearing moments: low breast milk production; the baby’s refusal to sleep at night; relentless tantrums of the child during the “terrible twos.” There are times when she feels the urge to break her silence and express her frustration. Yet, doing so makes her feel guilty and promises herself not to ever let such a thing happen again. As if for a mother to lose herself is unpardonable. Being a mother has certainly altered her individuality. However, in Mizuho’s impassioned words, Risako finds solace and kinship shared unknowingly between the two mothers, to the point that the latter is able to stand in the former’s shoes and imagine what Mizuho has gone through and done. In these moments, Risako is Mizuho, and Mizuho Risako. The emotional and cognitive empathy - preceded by Risako’s interminable questioning about the testimonies by Mizuho and other parties - ultimately serves as a catalyst for her to reach a reconciliation between herself and the society. It is not only Mizuho’s trial, but also that of Risako.
一次审判,两段人生。水穗的错误敲醒了里沙子被沉默的自我。全社会向她们推销家庭主妇,却没人告诉她们这个选择的代价是什么。女人的一生就像在水上行船,一路上很多力量在推着你走。更可怕的是这水面下的暗流,一旦被卷入漩涡,就很难出来。如果不思考,随波逐流,那么几乎不可避免地要遇上祸难。可以走入婚姻吗?可以做家庭主妇吗?可以生孩子吗?当然可以!但是这些决定必须是你自己的,全程中你都必须紧握船桨,必须看清前路,必须不断思考。Do not go gentle into that good night.