Deep River

In the novel, Deep River by Shusako Endo, the author weaves the story of a journey
towards discovery and enlightenment for a group of Japanese tourists. The individuals in Endo’s
story are all intricate and interesting characters who embark on a soul-searching trip to the
Ganges River in India. In this mix of diverse individuals, one particularly intriguing character
stands out - Mitsuko Naruse. Hers is a story of a spiritual and emotional journey where she not
only seeks answers to her own perplexing questions of faith and spirituality but also where she
takes huge steps to counter the inner turmoil that rages in her life. Mitsuko’s story is
representative of what many of the other characters are looking for – a sense of deeper purpose
and meaning for their lives and for Mitsuko, in particular, it denotes her search for the capacity to
love.

Mitsuko Naruse is as an independent, educated, sophisticated and successful Japanese

woman. She is a woman with opinions, who is self-determined and oozes confidence. She is
also manipulative and self-indulgent. To many who know her, she comes across as a woman who
bows to no man. Outwardly, Mitsuko appears to be the antithesis of the subservient Japanese
woman. Yet as we read her narrative in this novel, we begin to see that Mitsuko is also inwardly
waging a war with her emotions – she seems to be a person incapable of love.

Mitsuko’s quest for answers begins in college when she meets Ōtsu, a fellow student.
Ōtsu is a total contrast to what Mitsuko is all about. Ōtsu is a deeply religious and pious man
who desires to serve his God by becoming a Catholic priest. Ōtsu represents everything Mitsuko
disdains and reviles. To Mitsuko, Ōtsu is a weak-minded individual and therefore not worthy of
her respect or appreciation. She loathes everything he stands for and so she plots with her fellow
students to use her feminine wiles on him to break his faith.

1
 Mitsuko succeeds in her seduction of Ōtsu. She believes she has broken him somehow
and for the moment, enjoys reveling in her triumph. However, her disdain for him only grows
when she sees that Ōtsu, although chastised by his humiliating experience at her hands, remains
strong and firm in his beliefs. Although Ōtsu does question his beliefs and even turns away from
them for a time, he never disavows the God he genuinely loves and desires to serve. His
devotion piques Mitsuko’s interest and she cannot comprehend why he holds fast to the beliefs
that he himself cannot clearly elucidate. Mitsuko’s quandary is stated clearly by the author on
Page 116, of Deep River, where he writes, “While at the base of her heart she rejected everything
Ōtsu stood for, she could not feel indifferent towards him.” There begins Mitsuko’s journey to
realization with Ōtsu as a very important part of that process.

Both Ōtsu and Mitsuko ultimately go their separate ways after college with Mitsuko
marrying and subsequently divorcing her husband after her marriage fails. Her failure to sustain
relationships throughout her life leads her on this quest to the Ganges hoping to discover why
this is so. What she experiences on this journey to the Ganges shows her through the lives of the
Hindu believers what a life of true devotion is.

The devotees of Hinduism believe the Ganges is a sacred river. Pilgrims travel from long
distances to bathe in its waters and many to die by its banks. They believe that water from the
Ganges can cleanse a soul and help them attain salvation and for many Hindus it represents a
pathway to Heaven. This sincere devotion and its outward expressions by its adherents is a
mystery to Mitsuko. It is something she also saw in Ōtsu and when she discovers that he is
rumored to be living near this place, she sets out to find him in hopes that he will offer her
redemption and forgiveness for her past transgressions towards him.

Mitsuko is what I would characterize as a “co-dependent” personality. She displays

classic co-dependent behaviors by trying to provide and control everything in a relationship,
thereby setting herself up for continued unfulfillment. She is representative of many women in
our day and age. They live miserable lives of disillusionment and discontent because they expect
others to live up to their ideals, most of which are unrealistic.

2
 I grew up in a single parent household with a mother who had been abandoned repeatedly
by her husband throughout their marriage. I could never understand why my mother would let
my father back into her life time after time and why she would subject herself to his continued
abuse. Many years later, I saw that same behavior in my younger sister. Whereas my father’s
reason for abandoning us was his constant philandering, my sister married a man with a chronic
drug problem who would disappear on her from time to time. We never knew if he was gone
because he was incarcerated or was just on one of his many extended drug binges. Inevitably, he
would reappear at some point and she would allow him back into her life. In spite of the many
years of pain and suffering she has endured from her relationship with this man, my sister
continues to live with him. In her mind, she is convinced they need one another, when in reality
she is a classic, co-dependent individual. I cannot convince her that her attempts to change her
husband are futile because he is a man who detests himself and has said so many times. How in
turn can he truly love my sister if he cannot love himself?

Mitsuko’s attempts to find some solace for the distress in her soul takes her to her most
important encounter with Ōtsu when she chances to meet him in India. She finds Ōtsu, now a
failed seminarian, rejected by his own church, by the waters of the Ganges continuing to
demonstrate his faith by imitating his Lord in helping the outcasts of Indian society. Mitsuko
asks the question, “Why are you doing this?” not only to Ōtsu repeatedly throughout the story
but also to the nun she meets at the very end, and the nun’s response to her is, “Because, except
for this…there is nothing in this world we can believe in.” Mitsuko ponders the response as she
sets out to find and care for Ōtsu in his hour of need. We are left with a sense that she has finally
found a purpose for her life – to live unselfishly, placing others above herself and hopefully,
ultimately finding the respite for her soul that she so earnestly desires.