21 pages • 42 minutes read
Ryūnosuke AkutagawaThe Nose
Ryūnosuke AkutagawaFiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1916A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Zenchi Naigu
Zenchi Naigu, the protagonist of the story, is a Buddhist priest in the town of Ike-no-o. Zenchi is primarily perceived through a singular physical characteristic: his grotesquely long nose. The incongruent blend of spiritual seriousness and physical peculiarity is the basis of the narrative that unfolds. Despite his efforts to maintain a facade of indifference and spirituality, Zenchi is deeply troubled by the physical and emotional implications of his distinctive feature. His attempts to cope with the challenges posed by his nose reveal a broader struggle to avoid the suffering that comes from the illusion of a self separate from others—a “self-esteem” that becomes more fragile the more he tries to strengthen it.
In keeping with this ironic reflection on selfhood, the attempts that Zenchi undertakes to make his nose less prominent have the opposite effect. Not only is he as obsessed with his nose as ever, he also finds that, if anything, people are responding to him with even more laughter than before. When Zenchi briefly succeeds in making his nose shorter, he paradoxically reveals the paranoia and vanity that he had been trying to hide. Undergoing the procedure to shorten his nose, in other words, reveals the lie in all of Zenchi’s attempts to pretend that he doesn’t care about his appearance. The truth is, in a nearly literal sense, written on his face.
That Zenchi may have achieved some degree of self-acceptance—or, more accurately, self-transcendence—is implied by the image of his long nose flapping in the wind at the end of the story. However, his inner reflection that “no one will laugh at me anymore” (58) appears to indicate a continuing regard for appearances and the reactions of other people. Prior to the attempted nose-shortening, Zenchi had assumed that people had been laughing at him, but not when he could see them. His perplexity at the responses of the samurai, page, and others stemmed from the fact that, in his words, “[t]hey never laughed so openly before” (56); it is this realization that sends him into “gloom.” However, given the themes of the story—the source of suffering in the self and the enlightening power of irony—Zenchi’s final pronouncement can be understood as a sign that he has at least begun the process of untangling his appearance and his identity and realizing that he has never been his nose. People may laugh at his nose, but that does not, in the end, reflect on him, because the idea of his self is an illusion.
The Disciple
The nameless disciple enables Zenchi’s actions by traveling between the temple and the outside world and giving the priest cover for agreeing to the shortening treatment that he so clearly wants. Although Zenchi does not explicitly ask him to investigate nose-shortening methods, the disciple finds one anyway and, in a parody of the transmission of Buddhist teachings from one person to the next, brings this insight from the city of Kyoto. The disciple also has enough understanding of his master to know that he will not immediately agree to the procedure, and he does not resent having to offer to perform it more than once.
Despite the seemingly absurd nature of the procedure—boiling Zenchi’s nose and then stomping on it—the disciple engages in the process with a sense of earnestness. This willingness to undertake unconventional methods suggests a deep commitment to Zenchi and a desire to alleviate his master’s suffering, even if it involves unconventional and discomforting measures. The narrative humorously portrays the disciple’s role during the treatment, from procuring boiling water to expressing concern about hurting Zenchi during the stomping process. This blend of humor and earnestness adds depth to the disciple’s character, showcasing a mix of dedication and naivety.
The intimacy of the procedure, however, especially the part that involves pulling blobs of fat from Zenchi’s nose, threatens to overturn the hierarchical relationship between the two men. Indeed, even in agreeing to undergo the procedure, Zenchi “submit[s] to the disciple’s fervent exhortations” (54), reversing the more typical situation where the master exhorts the student. The disciple remains outwardly respectful of the master, but the process requires Zenchi to submit to a great deal of physical humiliation—far more than was suggested in its initial articulation: “[B]oil the nose and have someone tread on it” (54). As the process becomes more grotesque, Zenchi continues to go along with it, without questioning his disciple’s instructions. More than anything else, the willingness to keep agreeing to the next steps reveals how obsessed Zenchi is with his nose.
Just as he was the catalyst for Zenchi’s transformation, the disciple is also the figure who calls out the master’s increasingly erratic behavior. His remark that “[t]he Naigu will be punished for treating us so harshly instead of teaching us Buddha’s Law” (57) is immediately followed by the scene where Zenchi beats the page for seeming to mock him; together, these events enlighten the short-nosed Zenchi about how much his personality has changed.
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By Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
