Morrison

Study Guide for Demon Beasts (Kichiku , 2002) by Takahashi Genichir

*Purchase my translation of the story in Volume 4 of Monkey Business! Purchase the
original story here!

Takahashi Genichir (1951): born in Hiroshima. He graduated from a
nationally famous prep school and landed a place in Yokohama National University, but
his involvement in the student movement led to his withdrawal. He worked in
construction for about ten years, during which time he suffered from a kind of aphasia,
and it was as a form of rehabilitation that he eventually tried his hand at fiction. In 1981
his debut work, Sayonara gyangu-tachi (Goodbye, Gangsters), received an honorable
mention for the Gunzo New Writer Prize for Novel-Length Fiction. In 1988 he won the
Mishima Yukio Prize for his novel Yuga de kansho-teki na Nihon yakyu (Japanese
Baseball: Elegant and Sentimental). Drawing on material from literature both Eastern
and Western as well as from manga and pornography, and displaying a penchant for
both parody and pastiche, he has continued to be one of Japans leading postmodernists.
The novel Nihon bungaku seisuishi (The Rise and Fall of Japanese Literature), based on
the struggles of literary giants in the period when modern Japanese literature first took
shape, garnered the Ito Sei Prize in 2002; and his collection of stories Sayonora
Kurisutofa Robin (Goodbye, Christopher Robin) took the Tanizaki Junichiro Prize in
2012. He is also known as a writer of incisive essays on current events, and as a
commentator on horse racing. (Source: J-Lit: Books from Japan)

Study Questions

Narrative

1. Describe the style of prose.
2. What is the narrative point of view? Where is the focalization point? What narrative
techniques are employed in the story (e.g. interior monologue, free indirect speech,
etc.)?

Tanaka

3. Why does Tanaka converse with his mother in his head? What does he say to his
mother?
4. Describe Tanakas method for killing each of the office employees. What is his
motivation in killing them? How does he justify his act in his mind?
5. What do we learn about Tanaka from the following internal dialogue with his mother
at the end of the story? How does he justify his previous crime in his mind?

Oh, Mama! These people are demon beasts! No normal person would
ever do what they do! What would the world come to if they were
allowed to roam free? Dont you see, Mama? These lunatics are trying
to turn the world on its head! Its like what my doctor told meyou
know, that shrink who saw after me in prison. Youre not a bad man,
he said. Youre not an animal. Youre not evil. Something just came
over you at that instanta kind of veil fell over your eyes. You had no
choice. Yes, Mama, thats what he saidand he was right, too. Im
sure of it. How else could I have slit your and Daddys and Daisukes
throats? That wasnt me then, Mama. That wasnt my doing. That was
some demon beast I didnt even know. Im sure of it. Which is why I
must see to it that demon beasts like that never roam this earth again.
You understand, dont you, Mama?

6. Discuss the character Tanaka. Discuss his background. Discuss his current
psychological state.
7. Describe Tanakas first day after being released from prison.
8. What sort of work is Tanaka willing to do? What are his qualifications? What was the
result of his first few interviews?

The Site

9. Describe the interior/atmosphere of the swanky office that Tanaka enters. What is
the result of his first conversation with the man at this office?
10. Describe the appearance and demeanor of the man at the office. Describe his tongue.
11. Describe the tongue splitting procedure. What is the purpose of this procedure?
12. Describe the appearance of office secretary Maryanne. Describe her tongue.
13. Describe the tongue lengthening procedure. What is the purpose of this
procedure?
14. What service does this office provide? How does the man describe the concept of
somatic ornamentation aka body modification to Tanaka? Explain.
15. Do you agree with the concept/practice of body modification? Should there be any
limits placed on how far we should go with it?
16. Describe the tongue removal procedure. What is the purpose of this procedure?
17. Describe the physical appearance of Ken (the young man whose penis is split in
two). What act does he in engage in with Maryanne in front of Tanaka? How does
Tanaka react?
18. Describe the penis splitting procedure. What is the purpose of this procedure?
19. Describe the leg removal procedure. What is the purpose of this procedure?

Further Discussion Questions

1. The line between sanity/normal and insanity/abnormal is blurred in this work. Who
do you think is on the side of sanity/normalityTanaka or the office employees?
2. Discuss the meaning/significance of the storys titledemon beasts (kichiku). Who
are the demon beasts in the story?
3. Discuss the significance of the two lines at the end of the story: Suddenly everything
came into focus. The veil had been lifted. What does this veil refer to? In what way
has it been lifted?
4. In what ways are we all a bit like Tanaka? Explain.
5. Where is the storys climax? How is the structure of this story different from
Freytags Pyramid?
6. Comment on the violent and sexually explicit episodes/descriptions in the work.
What is their overall effect on the reader?