OSHIN - Poem - Subramanian A

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OSHIN

(Serial no 1308 from book no 52 dated 27th October 93.

Oshin was a serial being telecast by Delhi Doordarshan

once upon a time. It was a very impressive serial which wasabruptly stopped by them. The background is some of

the villages of Japan. Oshin was a peasant girl who

becomes rich in the course of decades. Now, she was

revisiting her old alleys and sighs over the change.

This is the theme of this poem. She had begun a very

simple life as one can see).

And with a heavy heart,

Oshin stood there in silence.

Where are they gone?

And she sank into a deep contemplation.

Old alleys she was visiting,

To old inns she was returning.

Those were the days of toil and turmoil,

A phase of life she can never forget.

A peasant farmers daughter,

She had begun her life as a maid.

And a hard working girl she was,

To mean work was pure workship.

Turn of events took place,

Life was an endless parade.

Where were they now?

After decades, she was in search of her grounds.


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The world war had its due share-

The old landmarks had spun into oblivion.

The warehouse, the hairdressers shop,

That poplar tree, nothing was now left.

Only faint outlines now remained to suggest,

Only a sense of feeling was the balancesheet.

Decades had brought in new faces

Decades had swept away old faces.

Where were they? Young Mrs. Yashiros family?

Kaya, her mistresss daughter?

She stood there with dreaming eyes,

She was in the dales of depthless sighs.

Across the plains

She saw the modern signs of life around.

She mentally returned to those springs

And felt a deep sense of pain.

She is now rich enough,

A world was under her very feet.

But she hath not forgotten her decades,

The people, places and the winds of yore.

In our old age we usually suffer

A note of pain in our singular circumstances.

We are in continuous search

Of our old premises to return to our childhood.

This is life,

The past is a continuous call.

But we gather only broken icons

And see faces buried in the passage of time.

And Oshin stood there,

A sense of solitude enveloped her.

Pastures are gone forever,

The meads of life, all now an intangible frame.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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The story starts in 1983. Instead of attending the opening festivities for the 17th

store, Shin Tanokura decides to take a train trip. Her family is in a frenzy, not

knowing where she might be. Oshin's grandson, Kei, remembers the story of the

kokeshi doll she once told. Based on a hunch from the story, he goes on a trip of

his own and catches up with Oshin. From there, the two of them begin a journey

back, traveling through various parts of Japan including where she once lived

years earlier, and starts remembering the difficult times she faced in her life.

In 1907, seven-year-old Oshin is sent off by her father to work as a babysitter, in

order to support her family. With the physical and verbal abuse by her employer,

Oshin insists on sticking it through for the sake of her family. However, when she

is accused of stealing money, she runs away and for days suffers through snow

blizzards as she walks back home to be with her mother. But the blizzard is sorough on her, she nearly freezes to death. She is rescued by a man called

Shunsaku, a Japanese Imperial army soldier turned deserter, a self described

"hunter". She stays with him during the long winter until the snow melts. Once

the blizzard subsides, they are found by an army unit and Shunsaku is shot and

killed. She is then escorted by the soldiers to a hut. A senior soldier then comes

into the hut and says the unit will escort her home, but she declines the offer

mentioning she knows the way and walks home on her own.

Upon her return to her home, Oshin is once again sent out, this time to Kaga-ya in

Sayaka to work as a babysitter. She makes good friends with the daughter, who isthe same age as her, and stays at the Kaga-ya until she turns 16. After returning

home she discovers that her father wants her to work as a bar maid. Realizing that

the bar maid job is a cover for prostitution, Oshin runs off to Tokyo to follow her

older sister Haru's dream of becoming a hair stylist.

While as a hairstylist, she meets Ryuzo and the two get married. While they

survive the Great Earthquake of 1923, their house and business is destroyed

forcing them to return to her in-laws house. As the marriage was not approved by

her mother-in-law Kiyo, Oshin suffers greatly while living with them.

She breaks her arm while attempting to escape and suffers a miscarriage because

of the hard labor she had to endure working in the fields. She finally leaves her

in-laws with her child and attempts to rebuild her life. Subsequently, she finds out

she can no longer be a hair stylist because of her broken arm.


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She finds jobs as the owner of a small bar-restaurant, pastry chef and even a

peddler of fresh fish. Her business booms and with her husband's help, Oshin

establishes a small but bustling raw seafood shop.

The story continues right up to 1983, and follows Oshin's adult life as she

becomes a wife, raises children of her own, and experiences real-life events -

including earthquakes and World War II.

Behind the scenes

The story of Oshin is based on the biography of a Japanese woman, modeled after

the mother ofKazuo Wada, a Japanese businessman who createdYaohan, a

Japanese supermarket chain. The structure of the story was developed through a

collection of anonymous letters assembled bySugako Hashida (

Hashida Sugako, May 10, 1925 ). "It is the untellable past of a woman of theMeiji period, composed right on her deathbed," Hashida said. "I felt that telling

of her hardships of serving as an apprentice and 'being sold at a brothel' was an

obligation our generation needed to honor. However, the themes were so harsh

and dark that the show was rejected by every [Japanese] television network. Even

NHK was opposed to it. 'We can't confront Meiji issues,' I was told. But it was

settled when (then) station directorMikio Kawaguchi( KawaguchiMikio) gave his approval."[2]

television

Oshin, the heroine, serves as a symbolic figure for perseverance, showing that a

person should never give up - even in the most trying times. She was beloved not

only by the Japanese people, but also by people from countries all over the world.

In Japan, many references to Oshin were made when describing perseverance.

For example, sumo wrestlerTakanosato was given the name "Oshin Yokozuna",

as he fought his way up to the rank ofyokozuna, despite dealing with diabetes.[3]Other terms were used during the 1980s, such as "Oshin Diet", where residents

were dealing with the bubble economy and therefore were driven to eating radish

and rice. And, a famous cruise line down theMogami Riverwas renamed "Oshin

Line".[1]

Oshin enjoyed particular popularity when broadcast in developing Asian

countries. Even today,Ayako Kobayashi( Kobayashi Ayako) is givenwarm reception when she visits such countries. InVietnamese, the term -sin had
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kazuo_Wada&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaohanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sugako_Hashida&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mikio_Kawaguchi&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshin#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takanosatohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokozuna_(sumo)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabeteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshin#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_economyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogami_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogami_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshin#cite_note-NHK-0http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ayako_Kobayashi&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kazuo_Wada&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaohanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sugako_Hashida&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mikio_Kawaguchi&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshin#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takanosatohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokozuna_(sumo)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabeteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshin#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_economyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogami_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshin#cite_note-NHK-0http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ayako_Kobayashi&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language


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become a euphemism (sometimes with scorn) fordomestic worker. Oshin is also

shown briefly inMarjane Satrapi'sPe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_workerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjane_Satrapihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(comic)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_workerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjane_Satrapihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(comic)

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OSHIN - Poem - Subramanian A