L'intendente Sansho by Ōgai Mori

L'intendente Sansho Reviews

• 
  Nemanja

  Mori Ogai in "Sansho the Bailiff" tells a story about representatives of a noble family, a mother with two children who, on the way to their father away on business, fall victims to their naivety and innocence, and while going through a dangerous area and left without accommodation, get deceived and sold as slaves to the infamous feudal landlord and slave owner Sansho, the children and their mother getting separated in the process. At Sansho’s they go through difficult moments in harsh circumstances and make great sacrifices, encouraged by the thought that their luck will turn, that one day they will be favoured by the human kindness, regain their reputation and reunite with their parents. A story about the extremely sad lives of slaves in feudal Japan, as well as the critique of its former system and of the cruelty of the landlords, told through a great atmosphere in which Ogai evokes horrible conditions, such as endless fields of bamboo groves, heavy winds on the coast, harsh cold, dry leaves, hard land and thick fog.
• 
  Yoshinobu Yamakawa

  This is the story of Yasutoshi and Kurujiro, a sister and brother who suffer a tragedy during their journey to find their father. They are kidnapped by Tayu Yamaoka and sold as servants to Sanshodaiu. The elder sister, Yasutoshi, sacrifices her own life to free her younger brother, Zurikio, who later travels to Sado Island and is emotionally reunited with his mother.
  
  Reading this book, I was deeply moved by the human dignity, the thirst for freedom, and the strength of family ties. The characters in the book never lose hope, despite being tossed about by unreasonable fates. I couldn't help but shed a tear when the scene where King Zurikio becomes the provincial governor of Tango and is reunited with his mother.
• 
  marilù

  Letto per l’esame di letteratura giapponese e l’ho apprezzato. Mi dispiace che Ōgai abbia deciso di farne solo un racconto perché la trama sarebbe potuta essere analizzata meglio, soprattutto sapendo la trama originale delle leggende da cui deriva; la fluidità della lettura però rende il tutto piacevole.
• 
  Realini

  Sansho the Bailiff, based on the short story by Ogai Mori
  8.9 out of 10
  
  
  Launched in 1954, in Black and White, this story of a family living in medieval Japan has been included on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made:
  
  
  https://www.listchallenges.com/new-yo...
  
  When their father, the governor, is sent into exile, the children are separated from their mother.
  They are in fact kidnapped and while the woman is taken on a small boat, the brother and sister are forced to move away, in spite of their repeated, heartbreaking, loud cries and the pleas of the parent.
  
  Another woman, accompanying Tamaki, the mother, is pushed around so much, while she tries to escape that she falls into the water and drowns – this was a bit weird, for it looked like she – perhaps both – should have tried while they were still in shallow waters, close to the shore and not late in the game, when the plunge was fatal.
  In the same vein, the children desperately making motions and running along the shore seemed to ignore the fact that they could step into the water and nothing serious would happen.
  
  This was just a silly thought anyway.
  
  Eventually, Anju, the little sister, and her brother, Zushio, are brought to various potential buyers, but the seller is told he should travel to try at the rich Sansho the Bailiff, the most prominent landowner in the area.
  This is the ultimate villain.
  
  A man so ruthless and vicious that he would spare no pain to the people he owns – for he has slaves working for him.
  When a poor woman tries to escape and mentions her poor children and the longing she felt to see them again after such a long time, the Bailiff instructs one man to punish her and this one moves away.
  
  A terrible torture would be inflicted again later, by a grownup Zushio, although in his case, he would live to regret and ask forgiveness for it, and it consists of using a hot iron.
  Sansho the Bailiff takes the iron himself and places it on the face of his poor, horrified and feeling excruciating pain victim that would be forever stigmatized by this atrocious, vile act.
  
  The former children of a notability, unused with any rough treatment, have to work in terrible conditions, taking up heavy weights, carrying loads through the day and in the case of the sister, falling under the burden in the mud.
  When they grow, the brother becomes so hardened, such a tough character after all this abuse that he suffered ever since he was maybe seven that he seems to have no compassion.
  
  Another situation occurs when the awful, inhumane, horrendous punishment is required and it is Zushio who takes the hot iron to place on the face of another victim of torture.
  Anju is aghast at what happened to her brother, albeit she may suspect what we know today, that those who suffer abuse in childhood tend to become abusive in their turn, when they become adults.
  
  At this stage, if you have reached so far, maybe you should consider stopping, if you intend to look for the film online.
  Because if it was just the buildup of the narrative up to this point, from now on, there might be some spoiler alerts.
  
  Reluctant at first, Zushio would eventually agree with the plan of his sibling to run and try to escape from this slave owner, taking refuge nearby, where a king man offers shelter and saves a woman that had been left to die, out in the open, with no support in barbaric fashion.
  When an official is contacted – after what looked like an exaggerated, lamentable plea for kindness – he decides to install Zushio as the governor of the province where Sansho is the Bailiff…
  
  However, when the young man states that he intends to abolish slavery, the powerful figure explains that this is not possible, for he has no jurisdiction over private realms and it would be dangerous.
  Since I have mentioned what happens this far, perhaps I should stop by saying that the brave, now transformed, Redeemed new governor may try to repent for his past offences, vile acts and try to find his sister – whose fate would not be mentioned – and his lost mother, after some heroic deeds.
  
• 
  Kurasen

  “L’intendant Sanshô” est un livre d’Ogai Mori publié aux éditions “Philippe Picquier”. C’est un peu par hasard que j’ai trouvé ce livre sur une étagère d’une librairie, étant friand des romans historiques, j’ai tout d’abord cru que l’entièreté du livre était sur “L’intendant Sanshô” pour au final découvrir que ce livre assez court(environ 130 pages)comporte deux nouvelles : "L’intendant Sanshô" et "Le clan Abe". La thématique principale de ces nouvelles est le Japon médiéval et les liens filiaux.
  
  Dans la première nouvelle ”L’intendant Sanshô” éponyme du titre de ce recueil, l’auteur nous fait suivre une mère et ses deux enfants qui en partant à la recherche du père disparu depuis douze ans, se retrouvent emmenés et séparés par des vendeurs d’esclaves avec d’un côté la mère et de l’autre la fratrie. Les deux enfants vont être menés chez le seigneur de la région, l'intendant Sanshô, qui va les maintenir captifs et les obliger à travailler, filant la soie, battant la paille, coupant du bois et remplissant des sceaux d’eau. Rêvant évidemment d'évasion, je vous laisse découvrir ce qu’il adviendra de cette famille au cours de votre lecture.
  
  La seconde histoire “Le clan Abe” prend place vers 1640, au temps des shoguns Tokugawa, qui ont lutté pour l'unification du pays. Lorsque Tadatoshi Hosowara, daimyo de Kumamoto sent qu'il va mourir, la règle veut qu'il autorise nominativement certains de ces samouraïs à se suicider selon le rituel du seppuku. Dix-huit le seront, et passeront à l'acte. Mais un autre, Michinobu Yaïchiemon, chef du clan Abe, entend bien le faire aussi, alors que son maître ne l'y a jamais autorisé. Malgré les pressions, Yaïchiemon se suicide, laissant l'instruction aux cinq fils de s'entendre pour préserver l'avenir du clan Abe. Le clan Abe y survivra-t-il ?
  
  Alors au niveau de ce que j’ai apprécié dans ce livre, cela se résume à la première nouvelle, tellement la seconde contient beaucoup de défauts comme par exemple l’abondance de personnages nommés, l’auteur nous décrivant la généalogie complète de certains personnages et surtout la biographie des 18 samouraïs qui ont eu l’autorisation de suivre leur daimyo dans la mort. Ce défaut que j’ai souvent pu retrouver dans certains romans historique de Yasushi Inoué peut facilement passer quand le livre fait 400 pages, mais pas dans une nouvelle ou il y a plus de personnages énoncés que de pages. Pour revenir à ce que j’ai aimé dans la première nouvelle, c’est un récit agréable et une histoire marquante qui aurait mérité d’être plus longue tant je suis persuadé que ça aurait pu conduire à un récit encore plus poignant. Le problème des nouvelles, c’est que l’on a rarement le temps de s’attacher aux personnages.
  
  En bref, la première nouvelle vaut le coup d’être lue, la seconde beaucoup moins, ce qui en fait un livre hétérogène qui bien qu’intéressant à bien des égards, reste somme toute moyen.
• 
  Agnes Fontana

  L'histoire de "l'intendant Sansho" est très courte, et la brièveté des chapitres, la simplicité de l'histoire, sa familiarité avec des archétypes connus (une mère et ses enfants sont enlevés par un marchand d'esclaves puis séparés, le fils, à l'instigation de sa soeur, s'échappe pour partir à la recherche de la mère, il retrouve son père qui était en fait un riche seigneur, puis sauve sa mère), le font voir comme un conte narré en ombres chinoises. Cette histoire est suivie d'une autre, "le clan Abe", qui relate des histoires compliquées de suicides d'honneur suite à la mort d'un seigneur local. Cette histoire nous est étrangère mais nous plonge dans les traditions d'honneur du Japon féodal dans ce qu'elles ont de plus cruel : "puis toute la famille, jeunes et vieux, se réunit autour d'un banquet. Ensuite les femmes et les vieillards se suicidèrent, et tous les enfants furent passés au fil de l'épée...". Je trouve toujours difficile d'aimer un livre très court mais celui-ci, en deux volets bien différents, nous offre un aperçu saisissant sur le Japon ancien.
• 
  ReaddictTH review

  #Sanshodayu #เรื่องสั้น ญี่ปุ่นโดย Ōgai Mori เป็นเรื่องราวเกี่ยวกับชะตากรรมอันน่าเศร้าของครอบครัวเล็กๆในยุคศักดินา และแฝงไว้ด้วยเรื่องราวของความเชื่อความศรัทธาของคนญี่ปุ่น
• 
  Marco Innamorati

  Penso di poter affermare che Mori Ogai non sia il mio autore.
• 
  Kim Daly

  Tout en retenue.