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opinions
This is a collective discussion by Firuze Khanume, Kamorgana, and Wombat about why Enishi sees Tomoe's ghost, and what it means. As you will see, there is more than one way to think about it, and they would be all acceptable.
(wombat)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_about_yukishiro_enishi/message/142
When Kenshin sees Shishio and Tomoe in Rakmumble, or when Misao hears/sees
Hannya during the fight with Kamatari, both of them are under considerable
stress which, depending on how you look at it, might open their consciousnesses
to seeing the dead, or to hallucinating certain aspects of their own
subconscious into externalized personas. Tomoe and Hannya tell their visitants
to shake off their agony and keep going with life, which is a fairly general
message.
But in Enishi's case, he believes that Tomoe *wants* him to avenge her, and he
keeps checking for her approving smile to make sure he's on the right track. He
believes with all his heart that Kenshin deliberately murdered Tomoe and
deserves to be punished, not by the straightforward method of simply killing him
in exchange but by taking Kaoru away from him. Enishi also ignores any possible
guilt of his own for Tomoe's death from his collision with the Yaminobu(?).
The Yukishiro case is considerably more complicated. Did Tomoe deserve her
death, as someone who had sworn to avenge Akira but then turned her back on the
Shogunate and her own family for the sake of his murderer? Can Enishi be fairly
blamed with a role in her death, for having followed her to Kyoto in the first
place and then acting as a go-between from the Yaminobu? (IIRC in the manga he's
somewhat more involved, from having delivered the note to the house that
morning.)
(Kamorgana)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_about_yukishiro_enishi/message/143
Well, if we make abstraction of the cultural context, I will develop my own
theories about the ghosts.
To me, they are used by Watsuki to show the subconscious state of the
characters, not far from what you said, Wombat, about the ghosts telling to
shake up.
in Enishi's case, indeed, he believes that Tomoe wants him to avenge her
death, and he is checking on her reactions. To me, if he was completely
delusional, she would approve and smile to him. The important fact is that she
doesn't. Adding the fact that he mention to Kenshin the Tomoe *inside of him*,
to me, it means that his subconscious tries to tell him that there is something
wrong, and that he is mistaking. The shocks he has received, not unlike a
post-traumatic stress, is preventing him to rationalize the situation, after
all, he didn't see Kenshin's side of the story, he chewed on his own for years.
For Tomoe, though she is far from being my favorite person, I have the feeling
that she is blamed if she does, and blamed if she doesn't. I think that she
*thought* that she deserved to die, because falling in love with Kenshin is a
kind of betrayal of Akira to her. I think that the Yukishiro siblings are more
into following personal feelings than the political context, so she didn't
really care about the Shogunate in the first place, imo. But I can be wrong on
this, of course.
Yet, Tomoe didn't kill anyone, and as she reacted to save Kenshin, the other man
she loved, before he was attacked, I don't think that her actions *deserved*
death. If she hadn't tried to stop the conspiracy in spite of her feelings for
Kenshin, wouldn't that make her despicable to most?
Enishi was into this to get in touch with his sister, and though I can discuss
on his lack of compassion for outsiders like Kenshin's friends, as an adult, I
don't see why he should feel any compassion for Kenshin, who he blames in his
child's mind for his beloved sister's pain, when the events of Otsu happen.
To my knowledge, believing in ghosts is something very common here [in Japan], not the sign of any delusional state. I suspect that the belief is coming from their original religion, Shinto, based on the worship of the spirits of nature, and the fact that most Japanese are more superstitious than religious, but I didn't have time to research on that yet. I was extremely surprised to see how widespread this belief is.
There are even numerous TV programs, where they are looking for ghosts. In
particular, they were going for "kaisen", which are places marked by ghosts'
presence (usually, places where tragedies happened), a kind of opening between
the limbos and the human world, in company of "exorcists" or psychics. Once
again, these programs weren't serious, nor scientific documentaries, but with
the number of them, and the Japanese's reactions, I realized that it was playing
on a real belief.
Hearing people whom I considered as sensible (I'm not very much into that kind
of beliefs, myself), students or professors, telling me seriously that one
bridge of the university is haunted by the spirits of people who committed
suicide there, and seeing them actually avoid to go to that place, making a
detour, made me realize that they were actually *believing* these stories.
Though I have personally another interpretation for the ghosts, they are not, to
me, the sign of insanity in Enishi, neither of any other character, at least
with my knowledge of Japanese culture, which is only, of course, relying on my
personal, limited experience (^-^).
(Firuze Khanume)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_about_yukishiro_enishi/message/145
Hehe... Can Tomoe HONESTLY be blamed because SOMEONE killed her fiancée and
wanted revenge? ?
Ok. IMO, I don't think so, she is very reasonable to some standards,
particularly Japanese standards on revenge. So, we must NOT forget that Kenshin
is the principal actor here, by killing Akira. Poor Kenshin received what he
built for himself... He is not an innocent passerby. and I see that most people
tends to forgets this 'little' incident. Killing Akira, first, and then opppssss,
he sliced Tomoe in two halves... Must I expect that Enishi should be happy about
it? I don't think so. So, Tomoe and Enishi's reactions are the logical outcome
of the victims side... Not that they are right, and Kenshin absolutely wrong,
but their reaction is completely understandable. After all, Kenshin's line of
work was... murdering people as a routine... So, why Enishi should have
considered the possibility of Kenshin's innocence at all? And they were (the
Ishin) rebels against the government, so, in a way, this could be seen a samurai
family members were doing a patriotic service to the Shogunate eliminating a
traitor. These are slight facts that nobody cares to consider at all.
Concerning Ghosts, all the characters had the sights. This is a fact in the
manga. One can give it the twist/interpretation it fits to his or her own POV/beliefs.
To me, as an spiritual person, they’re ghosts, and I especially take in account
the cultural background in Japan about it.
Now, to me, the manga is pretty clear about this, and TO ME, it is based in
Japanese beliefs. They all play active part in the characters knowledge/
decisions. Let's not forget this. Stress or not, they had it, and I don't think
Enishi had a calm life all those 15 years...
Let's talk about Kenshin. He went to the Island BECAUSE Tomoe had let him know
about Kaoru was alive (that counts as a ghost interfering actively into the life
of a person in the material world, more or less in the way of Enishi's visions
of Tomoe. If you ask me, she gave him information he didn't know BEFOREHAND, and
that shows that there is NO possibility of being an hallucination OR a
manifestation of his own self. It's a supernatural apparition. PERIOD. We (you
and me) don't need to agree with Watsuki on this (or with Japanese in general,
but to me, considering the background, this is what the original author wanted
to tell us.
I can see that the whole argument about Enishi's psychosis rest here, but, as
many other characters have them, the argument is weak, according my POV. These
ghosts participate ACTIVELY in the person's life at the point of the meeting,
so, it's not only Enishi who thinks that he receives messages from the dead.
Pressure, stress or not, this is the fact that remains, at least to me.
Now, considering the Japanese tradition that shows that the dead takes ACTIVE
participation in the life of the humans, no, Enishi's case as Misao's as Kenshin
CAN'T be counted as hallucinations, at least in that context.
Of course, this line of thinking can be acceptable if you prefer to apply
Western psychoanalysis to this point, instead of the cultural approach I chose.
OK, it's a valid election of an author/reader of RK, I respect it. Now, as I'm a
believer, and I'm a bit sensible about cultural issues. I prefer to accept this
other POV... Obviously, our opinions will differ then. But, hey, it's ok!
Back to Enishi, the definitive proof that he is not hallucinating, at least to
me, is that the ghost, at the end, is not smiling to him, and then, when Kenshin
mentions that the real Tomoe will always protect Enishi, we see Tomoe's figure
and the meeting of Oirbore with Enishi. So, to me it's an outer manifestation,
different to his own will. And Watsuki is using the traditional spiritual
beliefs of Japanese to communicate part of his message. At least, to me.
I know that there are people who prefer to deal only with reason and logic, and
is upset at the mention of supernatural or spiritual world. Others, simply shrug
at it, don't believe on it, but are not upset, it's after all a different POV. I
can understand it. As I can understand that people is not ready to deal with
other culture’s POV. And I also think that all of us re-interpret the events
according with which is more comfortable in our experience.
To you, Enishi sightseeing of ghosts is a proof of his insanity. Not to me,
because the other also see ghosts, and all the conditions applicable to the
other characters are also applicable to Enishi.
Other discussions:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_about_yukishiro_enishi/message/141
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_about_yukishiro_enishi/message/144
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_about_yukishiro_enishi/message/149