Deep River

Shusaku Endo’s 1993 novel Deep River (深い河, or Fukai Kawa) follows a group of Japanese tourists on a tour of Buddhist sites in India. Each is searching for some form of spiritual understanding or healing. Isobe lost his wife years earlier and ruminates on reincarnation. Mitsuko, my favorite character for her type and for how well Endo develops her, is a cynical nurse who believes she’s incapable of love and mocks the priest Otsu for his devotion to Christianity and its “Onion,” the name she prefers to give its god. Kiguchi remains haunted by painful memories of the war and the Japanese withdrawal from Burma. Numada, meanwhile, a writer who seeks salvation in nature, is convinced that a myna died in his place so that he could live.

The novel sets a number of themes and philosophies against each other: East and West, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, egotism and compassion. We’re also given a wide range of perspectives, carefully presented as the characters recount their pasts and question who they really are.

The tour takes place during the final days of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and Endo’s rich descriptions of the atmosphere at that time, along with the Ganges, religious sites, relics and deities, as well as different strata of Indian society, leave a lasting impression. Endo has been referred to as the Japanese Graham Greene, and I could see why while reading this; it’s more evident in Deep River than in some of his other novels. Overall, it’s an exceptionally well-crafted story that makes you think about humanity, love, death, devotion, and spiritual paths.