With life comes death, with destruction comes rebirth, and with fear often comes
understanding and growth. Constant change within our environment surrounds and
invades our existence--which too is ever changing, growing, digressing and
evolving. Often a sad tone resounds within this acceptance of uncontrolled
fluctuation. It is the sad or destructive experiences that one wishes could be
controlled; and often those become more apparent then the joy and happiness that
accompanies change. Throughout Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters the essence of
the novel is captured using subtlety to describe the timeless cyclical changes
in nature, thus revealing and enhancing the acceptance of the unavoidable
impermanence that is woven into the sister’s lives and experiences.
Transformations within their natural world saturate and undeniably affect the
lives of the characters in this novel. Throughout the novel the sisters are
constantly exposed to the beauties and destruction that the cycles of nature
produce, changing and affecting their lives for brief and lengthy durations.
Change in nature perpetually occurs and learning to adapt to its inconsistency
is often demanded of the sisters. Tanizaki poetically uses the fluctuation of
nature to delicately suggest fluctuation or transformations that occur within
the characters. For example, as massive flooding consumes the Kobe-Osaka
district with destruction, the Makioka’s lives are consumed with upheaval; and
yet, this inevitable chaos encourages realizations for Sachiko and
transformations within Taeko. The most disastrous flood in the district’s
history, its transforming effects on the river are vividly described as, “less
a river than a black, boiling sea, with the mid-summer surf at its most
violent” (Tanizaki 176). Its burdens afflict the land, and all of its
inhabitants, from scuttling crabs and dogs to the Makiokas, Stoltzes, and
countless other families. Physically destroying homes, railroads and schools,
the flood claims lives amidst clouds of dust, mud, and sand. The rain viciously
reveals its overpowering capabilities. As Sachiko searches for occupying
distraction from the worry that she endures concerning Taeko’s safe return,
she is drawn to the pictures of Taeko’s performance of “Snow” from the
previous month. The effects of the flood and its devastating possibilities
encourage Sachiko to view both these pictures, and Taeko in a revised light.
Sachiko admits her luring interest to a photographic pose of Taeko which reveals
a “certain delicate winsomeness and grace[in Taeko.] ...one could see from
this photograph that there was in her too something of the old Japanese maiden,
something quietly engaging” (189). In the midst of chaotic torment Sachiko is
able to appreciate the many aspects of who Koi-san is rather than concentrate on
her sister’s demise. And not without sadness, she questions whether it was
only by chance that Koi-san had been captured in this light or rather that it
had been an unhappy omen for the disaster that now lay lurking. For Taeko, the
floods transform her spirit as fear and lack of enthusiasm take root in her
heart. Her environment has instilled a previously unfelt sense of fear and
respect for its reigning force. Shaken, and perhaps disenchanted with the
changes around her and within her, Taeko avoids work and activity for an entire
month after the torrential storm. “Taeko, usually the most active of the
three, had evidently not recovered from the shock of the flood. This summer she
showed little of her usual energy” (204). As the natural destruction drains
her energy it also transforms her interests in Kei-boy, killing the last of her
love for him. Within both of the sisters, the inevitable changes that the floods
bring, seeps deeper than the surface damage; bidding and encouraging new growth
and challenge within the characters hearts and minds. Yet another encounter with
a severe storm, this time a Tokyo Typhoon, reveals the destruction and terror
that nature can display, disrupting lives, and harshly revealing the change in
direction that the Makioka’s prestigious lives have taken. The worst typhoon
in over ten years, winds literally shaking the house, dirt and sand forcefully
flying through vacant cracks, and walls billowing seemingly ready to burst; the
family must remain calm although terror chills their bones. They eventually find
safety and solace next door in a sturdier home than their own. The storm not
only reinforces the necessity to accept and deal with the atrocities that nature
randomly brings, it also reveals the depths to which the Makioka’s have fallen
with their move to Tokyo. “To lose the Osaka house was to lose their very
roots” (99). Change in prestige and economics has obviously affected the
conditions of the home that they are now reduced to invest in. Dramatic changes
have touched the Makioka’s lives, and the storm is a reminder that even the
deepest rooted traditions are susceptible to change. As the next morning brings
a clear crisp autumn day, the reality that destruction can be followed with
beauty and rebirth rings regardless of the previous day’s chaos. As the
sisters partake in an enchanting hunt for fireflies at the Sugano residence, an
understanding of the impermanence of time and life that surrounds them unfolds.
The hunt takes place at dusk as both the day and energies of the participants
wane, emphasizing the fleeting beauty of the sisters experience. Tanizaki
describes this beauty as “the delicate moment before the last light goes”
(342), again delineating the brief duration of the event. The fireflies are at
first invisible to their pursuers as they are darting back and forth across the
river among the long grasses that line the water. This moment is described as
the “impressive moment of the evening” (342), when the fading light and a
sudden abundance of fireflies leave behind a multitude of tiny bright trails
combining. Sachiko finds a yearning connection to be a part of their bright band
of existence “cutting her own uncertain track of light” (342). After the
fireflies are caught, the participants walk back to their base releasing the
fireflies into the garden of the country home allowing them to disperse. The
final firefly of the evening is found inside the house by Sachiko as she is
getting ready to end the day; it’s presence draws her attention to a
calligraphic scroll bearing the motto “Pavilion of Timelessness.” (343). In
this world of timelessness, cycles of joy and experience permeate the
Makioka’s lives and are yet in constant flux. The motto Pavilion of
Timelessness truly sums up the experiences of the evening as Sachiko releases
the firefly into the garden, noting that all of the others have flown, thus
revealing the transience in all of their lives. The thread of impermanence is
woven through the novel with the changing seasons and flourishing cherry
blossoms, revealing the essence of change within nature and in turn, within the
Makioka family. An excerpt from Sachiko’s thought’s reveal the essence of
change that the event symbolizes. All these hundreds of years, from the days of
the oldest poetry collection, there have been poems bout cherry blossoms. The
ancients waited for cherry blossoms, grieved when they were gone, and lamented
their passing in countless poems. How very ordinary the poems had seemed to
Sachiko when she read them as a girl, but now she knew, as well as one could
know, that grieving over fallen cherry blossoms was more than a fad or a
convention. The family...had for some years now been going to Kyoto in the
spring to see the cherry blossoms. The excursions had become a fixed annual
observance...the three sisters were always together. For Sachiko there was,
besides pleasant sorrow for the cherry blossoms, sorrow for her sisters and the
passing of their youth. She wondered whether each excursion might be her last
with Yukiko. 85 Although anticipated with enthusiasm, for the beauty and
significance that they bring, the cherry blossoms reveal symbolically the
passing of each year and the cycle of saddening change that inevitably occurs.
“The flowers would come again but Yukiko would not. It was a saddening
thought, and yet it contained almost a prayer...” (89). Each year the sisters
grow older, and soon the tradition of experiencing the blossoms all together
will simply be a treasured memory. Sachiko is particularly engrossed and drawn
to the cherry blossoms each year as she accepts an understanding of spring. She
finds a obvious connection amidst the beauty of seasonal cycles, which creates a
haven of understanding for the impermanent nature of her natural world and her
familial one. Sachiko witnesses the evolving changes within the social structure
of her family as she deals with the responsibilities involving her younger
sisters. Feeling responsible to help marry off Yukiko, she can’t escape the
cherry blossom festivities without an underlying feeling of guilt. “A wedding
party was just leaving ..this was not the first time they had seen a bride at
the Heian Shrine. Sachiko always felt a stabbing at the heart, and walked on”
(89). Realizing that soon her family will again be altered, she hints at a note
of sadness although the change will possibly bring a joyous communion for
Yukiko. A transition will be made to a new life and journey. It is at every
passing year that the beautifully exotic cherry blossoms suggest the nearer
possibility of that adjustment. Nature’s cycles are vast and endlessly
progressing. Threading it’s way through the lives of the Makioka sisters,
change burdens and at times terrifies them. But it is these evolving
transformations within themselves, each other, and their environment that they
must in turn come to accept and respect. Nature is an intricate part of Japanese
life and culture, reflecting many aspects of their lifestyle and beliefs. In
having central aspects of life concentrated around nature, one must learn to
live with it’s rhythms and cycles. In an attempt to accept the changes that
constantly occur around them, the Makioka’s must also accept the impermanence
which continues to pass within their own daily lives. The subtle suggestions
that Tanizaki incorporates into The Makioka Sisters truly reveals the deeply
rooted connections concerning impermanence within the lives and experiences of
the sisters and those that occur in their environment.

Bibliography
Tanizaki, Junichiro. The Makioka Sisters. New York: Vintage Books, 1995