The Nose (Akutagawa) Literary Elements

Fiction, Short Story, Satire

Set in the year 1916, in a temple in the fictional town of Ike-no-o, Japan.

The narrator is anonymous, and tells the story from a third-person omniscient view.

humorous, insecure, obsessive, depressing

The protagonist is Zenchi Naigu, a priest at the temple in Ike-no-o. He has a very long nose that causes constant ridicule from others in his surroundings. The antagonist is his nose. It is unusually long; it measures five to six inches in length, and is the source of Zenchi's depression.

Zenchi Naigu becomes completely consumed by his deep-rooted desire to shorten his nose and make it appear normal. He exhausts all possible methods of trying to shorten it, ranging from bathing his nose in mouse urine to ingesting a concoction with a snake-gourd base. Despite his attempts, his nose refuses to change.

After finally succeeding in shortening his nose, Zenchi Naigu finds that one morning, his nose has miraculously returned to its previous appearance. Zenchi subsequently receives solace, as his newly-shortened nose only exacerbated the ridicule he endured from the people around him.

One night, Zenchi feels his shortened nose getting itchy, swollen, and feverish. This sudden change foreshadows the return of his nose's original form.

Throughout the story, Zenchi Naigu's position in the temple is not emphasized. He is described very simply as the palace chaplain of the temple, and no further descriptions of his occupation are provided. However, the role has extreme importance and significance within Japanese clergy, and is a position often bestowed to only senior officials.

The story makes several allusions to significant historical figures in Japanese and Chinese mythology. In the first example, Zenchi laments "how comforting it would have been to find that, for instance, that either Mu LIen or Sha Lien had a long nose". Mu Lien and Sha Lien are two important historic disciples within Buddhist literature. They are known for their magic abilities and intelligence.

In addition, while searching for historical figures that also have large noses, Zenchi Naigu bemoans the fact that King Liu Hsan-ti had long ears, but no long nose. King Liu Hsan-ti was a prominent Chinese king within Buddhist legends. Since Zenchi is presumably a Buddhist priest, he would have studied this figure during his training to be ordained.

Similarly, Zenchi would look up to a picture of Fugen, the Goddess of Wisdom, during times of duress. It can be noted that Fugen is a spiritually and morally superior being, who works with the Buddha to deliver redemption and mercy.

The most significant imagery deployed throughout the story is centered on Zenchi's nose. The author uses multiple descriptors for the nose, describing it as "dangling from his upper lip to below his chin, ... of the same thickness from end to end." In fact, his nose was so large, a disciple had to hold it up during meals with a long wooden board.

Additionally, Zenchi's nose during the steaming treatment is described as a "plucked and roasted chicken", from which "feathers of fat curled to half an inch in diameter" were extracted. This shows the extent to which fat constitutes his large nose.

Zenchi Naigu is a highly esteemed religious figure, yet he is wholeheartedly obsessed with something as superficial as his physical appearance. Priests are looked upon as the standard for virtue and morality, yet Zenchi is controlled by his vain quest for outer beauty rather than focusing on his spirituality. In this way, the author alludes to the fallibility of religion in a mostly secular society.

Zenchi's goal for beauty parallels the cultural shift to westernization in post-feudal Japan. By wanting to make his nose shorter and akin to everyone else's, Zenchi ultimately loses his sense of self in his desire to conform with the status quo. Japan as a country behaves in a similar way after ending its long history of isolation; once exposed to American and European values, the Japanese shed their traditional ways of old in favour of western ideals and standards.

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