Takaoka's Travels
In Tatsuhiko Shibusawa’s allegorical novel Takaoka’s Travels, there are questions about whether a lifelong dream to reach the Buddha’s place of origin is worth it.
Takaoka had a close relationship with his father’s consort, Kusuko. She introduced Takaoka to sexual pleasure and told him about Hindustan, where Śākyamuni was born and the kalaviṅka roam. Now a monk, Takaoka undertakes a pilgrimage to Hindustan, setting off from Tang and accompanied by shrewd monks Engaku and Anten. Akimaru stows away on their ship, disguised as a young man; rather than let the omen of a woman deter their chastity, Takaoka remarks that Akimaru may return to being themselves once they reach Hindustan.
Takaoka and his retinue have bizarre and enchanting encounters as they travel through southern Asia. At every turn, Takaoka is tempted by strange sights, like the honey men of Arakan and the harem of Chenla. But they lead him nowhere, or to places abandoned by time and lost to memory. In a haunting turn of events, Takaoka is forced to let the baku of Panpan devour his sweet dreams to save their princess. She holds the face of Kusuko, and Takaoka loses his grip on reality. He questions his original desire to reach Hindustan in a provocative rumination on sexual temptation and intentionality.
Anachronistic humor and historical context contribute to the dreamy and mystifying atmosphere. Akimaru and others go through a series of rebirths, falling victim to Takaoka’s taste for the exotic and the ephemeral promise of Hindustan’s glory. And as Takaoka doubts his own mind’s projections and the ambrosia of Kusuko’s stories, which led him so far from home, he begins to understand his ultimate destiny.
Takaoka’s Travels is a fantastical allegorical novel that traverses a man’s dreams in the name of Buddhist devotion.
Reviewed by
Aleena Ortiz
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