The Artist by Shiga Naoya || Long Summary

 

Seibei was twelve years old boy, and he was still in primary school. He lived with his parents in a small harbour town in Japan. He was passionately fond of collecting gourds. On his way back home from school, he would wander along the streets of the town looking for a gourd of his choice. He had come to know of every place in the town where gourds were sold. If he found a gourd he liked, he bought it for a few sen. and brought it home. He liked only even and symmetrical gourds.

 

Preparing a gourd

In the evening Seibei would sit cross-legged in the corner of the living room. He would first make a neat hole in the top of the gourd, and take out the seeds. Then he applied tea-leaves to get rid of the unpleasant gourd-smell.
When he had finished treating it, he poured in a little sake and stopped the hole with a cork-stopper. Then he would wrap it in a towel and put it in a tin. Then he put the whole of this in the charcoal foot warmer.
Next morning he would take out the gourd and hung it in the sun to dry. Then he spent days polishing its surface with a little sake.

 

The Bekin gourd
One evening while Seibei was polishing one of his gourds, his father and his father's friend were discussing gourds. They talked of Bekin's gourd. It was kept at the agriculture fair. It had been a sensation. Seibe's father and his friend had also seen it. They said it was a beautiful gourd. Seibei too had been to see it. He remarked it was a clumsy big thing. His father rebuked him for making these comments. His father discouraged him too. His father's friend advised him to collect one or two unusual gourds. Just making a collection was of no use.

 

Seibei finds a gourd of his choice

One day Seibei saw an old woman selling fruit and vegetables. she had a string of gourds too. Seibei saw among them a small gourd. He was excited. The woman offered it for ten sen. Seibei did not have the money, He asked the woman to hold the gourd for him. He ran home to bring the money. He bought the gourd.

 

The gourd causes trouble
Seibei was engrossed with polishing the gourd all the time. He even took it to school. It was lesson of ethics but Seibei was polishing the gourd under his seat. The teacher belonged to another part of Japan. He disapproved collection of gourds. He was angry with Seibei and confiscated the gourd.

Seibei's father smashes all the gourds

The teacher went to Seibei's home. Seibei's father worked in a carpenter's shop. He had not come home yet. The teacher complained against Seibei to his mother. He told her that it was parents' responsibility to keep children away from stupid pastimes. When Seibei's father came home, he learned what the teacher had said. He rebuked Seibei and beat him. Then he smashed all the gourds that Seibei had polished with great care. This was the end of Seibei's passion for collecting gourds.

The confiscated gourd

The teacher gave the confiscated gourd to a porter who kept it in his hut for some time. One day the porter was in need of money. He took the gourd to a Curio-dealer. After some hard bargaining the Curio-dealer paid fifty Yen for the gourd to the porter. But the porter kept it a secret. Later the Curio-dealer sold the gourd to a wealthy collector for six hundred yen.

 

Seibei takes to painting pictures
Seibei could not collect gourds any longer, He now took to painting pictures, though his father often discourage him and rebuke him.