Rashomon

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In Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short story “Rashomon”, Akutagawa uses many symbols in order to add deeper meaning into his work. One of the prominent symbols in “Rashomon” is the crow, which a dark obnoxious bird, and it is used in order to provide a commentary on the period of rapid Westernization occurring in Japan during the time that the piece was written. It adds another gruesome and ugly element to the story. The crows are first mentioned at the beginning of Akutagawa’s story, when he is describing the city of Kyoto after its economic downturn. This period of instability is caused by a series of natural disasters which leaves the city and the Rashomon in ruins. Kyoto was once the capital of Japan during the golden age of imperial rule. The …show more content…

The Rashomon is the entrance to the old capital city Kyoto, a symbol of the traditional Japan. This gate is a physical barrier that separates the old and new. It is a passageway between the two; a transition period. However, this gate is falling apart. The shiny gold paint is peeling off, revealing what the structure is truly made of. The Rashomon is decorated with high “fish-tail ornaments”, which ts are some typical Japanese elements and remnants of the original magnificence that the gate once had before the downfall of the city. The crows symbolize Westernization, obnoxiously circling the remains of the traditionalism, greedily trying to peck it apart. Akutagawa uses the abandoned bodies to emphasize this further. Instead of there being some honor or respect for the dead, they are left in a tangled mess for the crows to peck apart. Even with the absence of the crows, the results of their visit still remain with the birds droppings still staining the ground even after they fly away. Similarly, during this period, the West has a huge impact on Japan. The people started to abandon their traditions in favor for the new Western way of life. These people are shown through the woman, who seems to imitate the crows because of her desperate situation. Even after the island entered isolationism, it could never truly go back to its original lifestyle because remnants were still there, just like the white bird droppings remaining on the

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