Compare and contrast the characters of Tsu and Yohyo in Twilight of a Crane.

 

Twilight of a Crane is a well-known modern Japanese drama based on a folk tale written by the reputed Japanese playwright Yu Zuwa Junji Kinoshita. This drama makes use of magical realism involving talking cranes that metamorph into human forms. The two protagonists of the play are Tsu and Yohyo. The story of Tsu and Yohyo, is in a way, is the story of post-World War Japan that was forced to embrace capitalism which had brought about great changes in the lives of its feudalistic people.   

The two protagonists Yohyo and Tsu are husband and wife. Tsu is a female crane that has assumed a human form and become Yohoyo’s wife as a payback for saving her life. Yohyo is a peasant who is kind and caring but at the same time unambitious and laidback. He does not seem to make the connection between him helping an injured crane and the subsequent sudden appearance of a beautiful young woman at his doorstep who wove beautiful cloth at a conscious level. 

In the play Tsu, the female crane, represents nature and Yohyo stands for a man who is in harmony with nature. This is proven by the fact that Tsu and Yohyo are able to communicate with each other very well initially whereas Tsu is unable to communicate with or understand corrupt materialistic people devoid of finer human feelings such as Sodo and Unzu. Yohyo’s simple positive characteristics have made Tsu fond of him to the extent she would undertake to produce a magical cloth for him as a sign of her affection and gratitude.   

The senba ori has initially been made by Tsu just to show Yohyo the beauty of it: “I wove that cloth only to show you its beauty,” said Tsu to Yohyo. However, Yohyo is unable to truly appreciate the motive behind or the sacrifice involved in the process of making the cloth. So the cloth becomes an easy way to make money fast, for him. In the process of selling the cloth he meets two traders and becomes avaricious hearing that he could make a lot of money by forcing his wife to make more of it. He also develops a desire to visit Kyoto. At this point, he completely disregards the effect of weaving the cloth have on his wife. Moreover, he threatens her saying that he would leave her if she did not weave the cloth for him to sell. Earlier, Yohyo was easily satisfied and happy – he played with the children and worried about his wife eating cold food. He enjoyed simple things and did not cared for money at all. However, after listening to Sodo, Yohyo changes completely from a sensitive man living close to nature to a man who is dissatisfied and unhappy with his present circumstances.      

The relationship between Tsu and Yohyo undergoes a drastic catastrophic change as a result of being exposed to the budding Capitalism of Sodo and Unzu. One might take this scene as a metaphor for Capitalism and Market Economy forcing its way into the largely self-sufficient feudalistic rural Japan. At the beginning the crane-wife has no doubts about her human husband’s affection for her. However, as he starts using money, his way of life changes. He becomes lazy; instead of making a living he lives off the efforts of his wife. Still, he retains some of his basic goodness: he plays with the children and worries about his wife being forced to eat cold food. When lured by the siren call of money offered by Sodo, he quickly loses much of his humanity and becomes focused only on gratifying his senses. At this point, Tsu realizes that she was no longer enough for him. Despite her pleadings he is bent on making money and going to Kyoto. At this point, Tsu loses the ability to understand what her husband is telling her. She behaves towards him the same way she had behaved towards the two traders indicating that Yohyo has become one of them. 

In conclusion, one might read the two main characters of Kinoshita’s Twilight of a Crane as metaphors for two ways of life. Tsu represents a life lived close to nature subsisting on nature’s bounty. Her conduct is in adherence to natural laws. At the beginning, before he was corrupted by money, Yohoyo, too, was similar to Tsu. That is why she became his wife and was able to communicate with him freely. However, as her husband becomes more interested in making money and enjoying a life away from the land, she loses the ability to understand him. He in turn becomes insensitive to the pain he caused her or the possibility of losing her. Yet, the playwright ends the play in a positive note. Yohyo at the last moment regains some of his earlier goodness and realizes the damage his actions has caused to his relationship with his wife. This is why the play ends with Yohyo calling out to the crane that is flying away. He even makes an effort to follow her but is unable to as a result of the grip materialism has on him: “Tsu!.............Tsu!.............My dear!...........(He takes a few stumbling steps as if to follow in the direction of the crane, and halts, grasping the stuffs tightly)” Consequently, the play ends in a bittersweet note.