Ashley Tibbits
on Thirst for Love by Yukio Mishima
 
 

Yukio Mishima’s novel, Thirst For Love could foremost be viewed as a passionate love story. This love takes an interesting twist at the very end of the story, where more is learned about the main character, Etsuko, than in the previous one hundred and seventy four pages. This is not to say that those events prior to the dramatic final scene are not an interesting ride. In fact, Thirst For Love is a page-turner at its best. As a contemporary love story in Japan, complete with passion, suspicion, jealousy, manipulation, lust, and death, the novel makes for an incredibly exciting read.

The story is focused around the character, Etsuko, a not-old-but-not-quite-young woman who recently had been widowed by her husband, Ryosuke. Through a series of flashbacks narrated by Etsuko, the history of the marriage of these two is revealed. Ryosuke both beat his wife and had extra-marital affairs. Etsuko’s husband would leave for days at a time, making excuses to her when she inquired about his activities. It was almost as if Ryosuke wanted to be caught in his lies, perhaps to further torment his wife.

Yukio Mishima

One particular weekend Ryosuke did not come home, Etsuko resolved to commit suicide. However, when her husband returned, he immediately fell ill. Out of sympathy, love, and duty as a wife, she postponed her plan and devoted her time to taking care of her husband. Finally, however, Ryosuke’s illness became serious and he was forced to move to the hospital, where a doctor determined that he was suffering from typhoid disease and his future was uncertain.

While her husband was in the hospital, Etsuko’s suspicions of her husband’s infidelities were confirmed as many women, whom Etsuko has never met, came to visit him. In particular, Ryosuke’s employer’s wife, whose pictures were prominently displayed with Ryosuke’s things at home, came to see him during his hospital stay. Etsuko recognized the women and forbade her to see Ryosuke. However, the woman was bound and determine and forced herself into the room. For the first time, Etsuko saw her husband’s affection for other women first hand, and when he finally dies, she is both devastated in her loneliness and relieved at the loss of this abusive man.

After Ryosuke’s death, Etsuko goes into the somewhat rural city of Maidemmura (outside Osaka), where her father-in-law, Yakichi invited her to stay with him, as well as her brother in law and his family. Yakichi then fell in love with his daughter-in-law and even shared a bed with her, each night caressing her in hopes of her returning his feelings. At first, Etsuko was resistant, but eventually gave in to Yakichi’s desires, though not out of love. In fact, Etsuko was actually in love with the eighteen-year-old farmhand, Saburo. While she was very much attracted to his rugged simplicity and seemingly gentle demeanor, Etsuko tried her hardest to keep this her innermost secret.

Etsuko was able to hide her feelings until one day. The story opened with Etsuko buying socks for Saburo, which she did not develop the courage to give him until this climax of the story. After she finally gave Saburo the socks, she finds them in the servant’s garbage and discovers that it was Miyo, the female servant, who had thrown them away out of jealousy. This sparks paranoia in Etsuko who subsequently spent most of her time tracking the servants and digging through both their belongings to find any sign of romance between them. Her search hits a peak when Miyo ends up pregnant by Saburo. Deeply hurt, Etsuko demanded to know if Saburo really loved Miyo. Saburo assured Etsuko that he did not love Miyo, but this is mainly because he did understand the concept of love, and because he could tell that this was what Etsuko wanted to hear. At this point, however, Saburo was still not aware of her feelings toward him. In her rage of jealousy and confusion, Etsuko then told Saburo he must marry Miyo so that she might feel out his response to this idea. Casually and unquestionably, Saburo agreed to the demand.

Yakichi, Etsuko’s brother-in-law, and sister-in-law all realized by this point the feelings she held for Saburo, as her obsession grew to the point which made it difficult to hide. Etsuko’s love for Saburo made Yakichi insanely jealous. He had been put in the same position with Etsuko that she was in with Saburo. Out of his jealousy, Yakichi complicated matters by telling stories of how "in love" Saburo and Miyo were, which infuriated Etsuko. When Yakichi decided that the best thing for Etsuko to do would be leave Maidemmura and then made this offer to her, she obliged only under the circumstances that Miyo would be fired. Yakichi agreed to appease her and relieved Miyo when Saburo took a short trip home. When he returned, he did not inquire about where Miyo had gone. Crazy with anticipation, Etsuko decided to confront him on the issue and divulge her emotions toward him. The two met secretly one night and Etsuko begged to know what Saburo’s relationship with Miyo was. Again, he pondered the idea of love in general and the word seemed to have little effect on him. Due to his lack of emotion he informs Etsuko that he is not in love with Miyo and never wished to marry her. Etsuko frantically begged to know whom Saburo did love. After little thinking and with no genuine emotion, Saburo said he loved Etsuko. However, she could easily tell that this was not the truth. He moved toward her and made sexual advances to which Etsuko denied. In fear, she ran away and he chased after her. She screamed in terror and Yakichi awoke. Suspicious, he ran outside to see what was happening. He brought a mattock with him but no intention of using it against Saburo. In a violent rage Etsuko grabbed the mattock and killed Saburo as Yakichi watched in horror. She forces Yakichi to help her bury the body, and when the two are finished, Etsuko sleeps for the first time in the course of the story.

Saburo’s murder was not the first violent behavior shown by Etsuko. While throughout the novel she acted quietly and seemed hardly malicious, her violent streak was foreshadowed when Etsuko and her step-sister and step-brother had gone to a festival where Saburo was performing a ritualistic dance. Etsuko passionately threw herself into the mesh of shirtless, thriving bodies as she was drawn into the sight of Saburo’s unclothed back. She was pushed into him and her nails drew blood from his back. Rather than feeling fear, Etsuko was thriving on this feeling of closeness.

The question of why Etsuko fells in love with Saburo is raised, and also why when she had the chance to finally be with him, she declined, and turned violent towards him. Etsuko’s previous relationship with her deceased husband had been one of abuse towards her, and she harbored tremendous anger and resentment toward Ryosuke after his death. She puts Yakichi in the same place she had been in within her marriage, hopeful with the promise of love but in the position to be greatly taken advantage of. As she was not the one Ryosuke loved, Yakichi is not whom Etsuko loves, but rather tortures with her emotions toward Saburo and coldness toward him. Etsuko no longer wants to be the fool, and uses Yakichi the way her husband used her.

Etsuko seems drawn to Saburo as a result of his great differences from her husband, and from Yakichi. Saburo is simple, and seems completely removed from love altogether. She could find no sign of passion so great in him, that he could inflict the emotional pain on her the way Ryosuke had. His emotionlessness also provided a challenge Etsuko was more than willing to accept, and so she pursued him. She was not looking for love, security, and affection, as she could have surely had that from Yakichi, but rather wanted to satisfy a primitive, animalistic urge she had toward Saburo, most likely out of a subconscious desire to torture herself, as she knew her chances of being with Saburo were not promising. This is further proved by her rejection of Saburo’s sexual advances during their secret meeting. She finally heard what she wished to hear so badly for so long, was offered exactly what she wanted, and she declined. In fact, his strong advances toward her sent her into a fit of rage so fervent that she committed murder.

While I have stated earlier that this is a tale of love, it is more accurate to call it one of obsession. Clearly this is not love in the conventional sense. There is no reason, no romance, and no tenderness in this love. Her obsession reaches the extent of stalking, hurting innocent people by meddling in other’s relationships out of blind jealousy, and finally by committing a terrible murder.

Yukio Mishima wrote this novel in the year 1950. This post-war time was a very difficult one for Japan. While historical iconology may have a great effect on many of Mishima’s works, this tale took place regardless of place, time, or historical context. Through this emotional examination of the different characters, Yukio Mishima is showing the darker side of the human psyche. He is also, through an exaggeration of human weakness, examining the possibility of what could happen as a result of letting weaknesses such as jealousy, paranoia, and fear take over love, reason, and respect. Tales of obsessive love such as this existed before Thirst For Love and have been abundant, too, decades after the novel was published. The idea of human weakness is infinite and constantly explored, and in this example Yukio Mishima allows us to experience the why and how of such powerful emotions. His grasp on the character of Etsuko and the other characters in terms of their development, as well as the beautifully narrated descriptions of emotions and events, make Mishma’s story of obsessive love a stand-out and surely worth the read.