Ozu's Haiku (Franklin)

 


In haiku there is an element to the beautiful effect these poems have called kireji.  This is translated as "cutting word" and it has an effect similar to cesura in English writing.  My understanding of the use and effect of this tool is that the kireji produce a hanging moment in which the poignancy of a moment is emphasized and connected with the text that follows.  This concept was first explained to me as a moment between the nature images in a haiku and the human world that nature illuminates. The brevity of the moment captured in this frame has precisely this effect on me while watching Tokyo Story. Shukishi says "What a beautiful sunrise this morning" or something similar, and then Noriko shares the view with him for just a moment.  This is a moment of reflection on the natural beauty surrounding Shukishi and Tomi's home, the beauty that Shukishi saw in his wife. In particular, the brevity of this pause from the human realm emphasizes the sorrow in returning to such concerns as the funeral and the transcience of all things, both human lives and glorious sunrises. Hanging too long on such moments would detract from the realism of the timing and also from the mystery and universality of the sentiments between these characters, Shukishi, Tomi and Noriko.

Comments

  1. Krishnan VenkateshDecember 22, 2021 at 9:38 AM

    You're absolutely right about kireji -- thank you. An interrupted thought, a suspension, a cut (literally, caesura) -- but not a cut made for fluidity, rather a cut in the skin of reality. And we move on.

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