Book Review: Yoshiki Hayama's 'Letter in a Cement Barrel'

On a whim, for some reason I reread Yoshiki Hayama’s Letter in a Cement Barrel on Aozora Bunko for the first time since high school. Here are my thoughts on it.

Yoshiki Hayama: Letter in a Cement Barrel - Aozora Bunko

Introduction#

Some stories in Japanese literature textbooks leave a lasting impression while others fade quickly, but Letter in a Cement Barrel was definitely one of the unforgettable ones.

I remember reading it line by line, oscillating back and forth between two perspectives: what happens if you read it as proletarian literature, and what happens if you strip away that premise?

Rereading it after all these years, I ran headfirst into a question. It was probably the very question posed in our high school textbook back then:

Namely, what was Yozo feeling when he “looked at his wife’s swollen belly and saw his seventh child”? That is the central question of this article.

Now, having graduated high school and joined the ranks of the story analysts, I have a powerful tool at my disposal: the Hero’s Journey.

Let’s test out this “third perspective.”

Matsudo Yozo’s Hero’s Journey#

To be honest, at first I was only half-serious. Letter in a Cement Barrel was published in Japan in 1926. The Hero with a Thousand Faces didn’t even exist yet.

And the protagonist, Yozo, doesn’t go on any kind of physical journey whatsoever. He goes to work, comes home, and that’s it.

Letter in a Cement Barrel seems utterly detached from the Hero’s Journey.

…And yet, when I actually tried it, I found the structure of the Hero’s Journey emerging with shocking neatness—without even needing to force any far-fetched stretches.

To begin with, let’s map out the obvious stages to the events in the story.

As an experiment, rather than presenting a polished explanation neatly fitted to the Hero’s Journey right from the start, this article will trace the trajectory of how I actually arrived at the analysis. {: .prompt-info }

This time, I’m using Campbell’s original Hero’s Journey rather than Christopher Vogler’s version. The Vogler “Hero’s Journey” was tuned specifically for Hollywood films, and when it comes to reading Letter in a Cement Barrel, the original Hero’s Journey felt far more fitting.

Setting aside the fact that Letter in a Cement Barrel is proletarian literature and the social conditions of the era for a moment, let’s proceed with only the Hero’s Journey as our compass.

The Ordinary World#

Matsudo Yozo was emptying cement barrels. He is a laborer working eleven-hour shifts, without even the time to pick the concrete out of his nose.

The Call to Adventure#

Yozo finds a small wooden box inside a cement barrel.

Refusal of the Call#

Yozo ignores the wooden box at first, but finds it curious and pockets it. However, he has no time to open the box while on the job.

Supernatural Aid (and the Threshold Guardian)#

Who is the “guardian” Yozo must pass to cross into the special world?
What is the “supernatural aid” that sends Yozo on his way into the special world?

Here is the far-fetched case we can make:

The Threshold Guardian Is the Sturdily Nailed-Shut Box#

To begin with, Yozo’s adventure in the “special world” in this story is, quite simply, reading the letter inside the small wooden box. It involves no physical travel. As though dreaming, Yozo immerses himself in the letter.

Yet for Yozo to enter the “special world” of reading the letter, he must open the box. The box is firmly nailed shut, and for Yozo to pry it open, he needs supernatural aid.

The Supernatural Aid Is the Family That Made Yozo “Suddenly Remember the Small Box in His Bowl” and Gave Him “the Mood to Smash Even This World to Pieces”#

The moment Yozo decides to open the small box is immediately after recalling his wife’s outburst:

“Out of a daily wage of one yen ninety sen, fifty sen goes to eating two shō of rice every day, leaving ninety sen for clothes and rent, you damn fool! How could you possibly afford to drink?!”

If we trace what went on in Yozo’s head:

On his way home, Yozo thinks about his wife and kids.
He remembers his wife yelling at him: “Save money, you damn fool!”
Come to think of it, wasn’t I just thinking about money earlier?
Oh right, I picked up that little box—too light to hold any money, probably.
Teasing me like that when I’m dirt-poor—screw it, I’m busting this thing open!

It must have been a train of thought like that.

In other words, thinking of his children and wife, along with her shout of “You damn fool!”, jolted Yozo into remembering the box and fueled him with “the mood to smash even this world to pieces.” This functioned as the supernatural aid needed to open the box—that is, to cross the first threshold.

The Crossing of the First Threshold#

Yozo opens the wooden box and begins reading the letter.

The Belly of the Whale#

In the letter, a female worker reveals that her lover died in an industrial accident.

In the Hero’s Journey, the function of “The Belly of the Whale” is that the hero must undergo a sort of metamorphosis before fully venturing into the unknown world.

An industrial accident that occurred without Yozo’s knowledge has no direct causal link to perform that function on Yozo himself. And yet:

Getting caught in the rock crusher
Sinking beneath the stones as if drowning in water
Bones, flesh, and soul alike crushed to powder, transformed into cement

—these vivid images correspond with shocking precision to those of “The Belly of the Whale.”

Rescue from Without and The Crossing of the Return Threshold#

Yozo, who had been completely absorbed in reading the letter, is pulled back into the ordinary world by the “clamor of the children.”

Filling in the Missing Stages#

To be written later.